Teacher Talk: 1st Grade Fun Days

First grade class finishes up the school year with “Fun Days!"

Click here to see all the First Grade photos

The students participated in several activities that were connected to different subjects that they learned this year.

1. Money: Students had a Children’s Store where they bought and sold different articles using play money.
2. Spelling Bee Contest: Students used all the words they learned in spelling, including the high - frequency words.
3. Other fun activities were: Snuggle UP Reading, Addition & Subtraction Math Bee, and a Coloring Contest.
   

Congratulations to the following winners:

• Spelling Bee - 1st place: Zachary, Antoine, & Elijah
• Addition Math Bee - 1st place: Heavyn, 2nd place: Antoine, Trey, & Daecobi
• Subtraction Math Bee - 1st place: Kintrell, 2nd place: Bryan
• Coloring Contest - 1st place: Ashley, 2nd place: Christian, 3rd place: Elijah
  

Pizza Party & Game Day: Students’ hard work and efforts gave them a great reward - a Pizza Party!!

Thanks, first grade and everyone who contributed to Teacher Talk all year long!

Teacher Talk: 3 in 1

It's the last week of school, and St. Ethelreda is abuzz with activity. In our final Teacher Talk post of this school year, we have 3 contributions rolled into one awesome post.

Preschool: Painted Ladies
Ms. Jordan, Ms Seaton and the Pre-3 class celebrate the arrival of spring in our classroom by watching caterpillars transform into butterflies. We welcome five (5) caterpillars to our classroom. They arrived in a small container already stocked with special food to help them grow.

Click here to see all the Preschool photos

Most of the children called the caterpillar’s worms and wanted to know why we had bugs in our classroom. I want them to understand that this is a part of our classroom learning experience. Many books were read about caterpillars and butterflies. I showed the children pictures of the different stages of butterflies and what to expect during the caterpillars transformation to become butterflies.

The children were amazed to actually see the caterpillars’ growth each day. They invited their siblings and friends from other classrooms to share their science experience. We saw the caterpillars spin what is called silk around their bodies. The silk harden and became what is called chrysalis. The caterpillars crawled to the top of the container and got into an upside down position. They stayed in this stage for five days. I removed the chrysalis from the small container and placed them into a larger home.

On the sixth day to our surprise, we had one, two, three, four, and five butterflies which developed into adult Painted Ladies. We sprinkled sugar on sliced oranges and placed them inside for the butterflies to eat. Immediately they began to eat and fly around their new home.

Art activities were also done. Each child colored a caterpillar and placed it on a pair of paper wings to make a butterfly. We combined our butterflies together and made a mobile. We pretend that our paper butterflies are flying around the classroom.

Wow! Caterpillars to butterflies right before your eyes. We also learned three new big words transformation, chrysalis and metamorphosis.

Science Experiment: The Egg Drop Challenge

Ms. Finn submitted this Teacher Talk entry about recent Junior High science experiment she had the students complete. It's called "The Egg Drop Challenge".

Click here to see all the "Egg Drop Challenge" photos

This year’s junior high science project was a technological design challenge called the “Egg Drop” in which students created a container that would prevent a raw egg from breaking when dropped from a height of 15 feet. Students used their knowledge of the concepts of gravity and Newton’s laws of motion to design their containers following the strict specification requirements for size and mass.

Although the challenge proved to be more difficult than anticipated, the project was a “smashing” success! With great anticipation, students dropped their containers (with a raw egg inside) from the balcony of the Church building. Points were assigned according to whether the egg was broken or intact and whether the container was in or out of the target area.

We congratulate the following students for their winning designs:

8th Grade

• Gevonte Clark and Mariah Wimberley – 1st
• Joseph Pointer and Raeshawn Pierce – 2nd
• Joshua Wright and Tranayle Fortineaux – 3rd

7th Grade

• Razell Cash and Robert Jackson – ***High Score for Junior High***

6th Grade

• Robert Gholston and Terrance Roberts – 1st
• Anthony Peoples and Dirk Jordan – 2nd
• Deja Starks and Dejaniria Ferguson – 3rd

3rd Grade: Study Island

Mrs. Johnson's 3rd grade class is working on our new Study Island program on-line. This program is designed to enhance students skill in Reading and Math.

Click here to see all the 3rd Grade photos!

Third grade has been studying multiplication and division of whole numbers. Study Island has different modes for students to work at their on: game or test mode.

Students log in under their own names and work at their own pace to complete a topic. As students progress through a topic, the difficulty increases.
Once a student masters a topic, they receive a blue ribbon for that topic.

Wrap-up
Thanks to all our teachers over the whole school year for your contributions to Teacher Talk and the St. Ethelreda website!

Teacher Talk: Library Fun & Teamwork

Mrs. Hannah keeps the library buzzing with fun and teamwork.

2nd Grade Teamwork
Ms. Auriene, our new 2nd grade teacher, was welcomed by Mrs. Hannah and put to work right away in the library!

Want to see more? Click here for the entire photo set!

PUTTING THE “T” IN “TEAM”

Accompanying her class to the library she participated in our lesson for the day. The students paired up with partners and shared one of the books in the Henry and Mudge series written by Cynthia Rylant. They shared by reading the book to one another and collectively writing their summary of the plot. For their culminating activity they presented their reports to their classmates. The students were assisted with their project by the A.B.H. Team (Auriene, Brown & Hannah).

Ms. Auriene snapped photos of the busy students and Mrs. Brown, who is always willing to become a student when needed, paired with Jordan for this fun, and meaningful activity.

Here are some photos of the students sharing the JOY of READING!

There’s nothing like TEAM WORK!

Mitten Fun in the Library
The boys and girls in the Primary grades shared two versions of the Ukrainian folk tale, titled, “The Mitten”. One was retold by Jan Brett and the other by Alaex Tresselt. The chill in the air on the outside, served as a backdrop for our “Mitten” journey. We began with a discussion of the proper attire for winter weather, and among the necessities of course, were MITTEN!

Here are some of the activities to enjoy following the reading and sharing the stories…

1. Students will compare the two versions, citing their likenesses and differences. (Grade 2 will use a Venn chart to note their observations.)
2. Students, some verbally, will put the animal characters in sequential and/or alphabetical order.
3. Students assuming the roles of the characters can tell the methods used to get into the mittens, using the appropriate verbs such as flew, hopped, squeezed, etc.
4. Students using the animal mask can recreate the plot of the story.
5. Students compared the illustrations found in both versions.
6. Using sentences strips the children can put the story events in order.
7. Cutting out coloring/text pages from both books learners will create mini-books.
8. Preschoolers placed the corrrect animal character in the right book.
9. Colorful character bookmarks will be distributed as tokens of our “MITTEN” journey.

Want to see more? Click here for the entire photo set!

These are just a few of the activities to discover and use before, during and after this mini unit, THE MITTEN!

Thank you Mrs. Hannah and all the faculty and students!

Teacher Talk: Math and Mrs. Pass

Today's Teacher Talk comes from Mrs. Pass and her math class:

Teacher Talk: Math and Mrs. Pass Photo Set

"Dr. Pelech and I did our team teaching on Multiplicative Inverse of Equations. We showed the students how to use the original equation and subtract from both sides using a two-step equation.

We use the Multiplicative Inverse of Equation by first modeling the problem on the board then we let each student go the board and see how well they can model and get the problem correct,by solving an equation with fractional coefficients, remembering to check your solution by substituting the value of the variable in the original equation. I hope this will help you to understand our goals.

Dr. James Pelech is a Assistant Professor at Benedictine University,Benedictine is in partnership with St. Ethelreda doing a study entitled How Middle School Students Perceive Their Learning Process.The results of this study will be an important part in helping middle school students learn mathematics."

Thank you Mrs. Pass (and her math students) for the fine Teacher Talk contribution!

Teacher Talk: Library Happenings

Thank you to Mrs. Hannah for this edition of Teacher Talk. In it, Mrs. Hannah describes happenings in the library over the past month or so. Go, Mrs. Hannah!

Teacher Talk: Library Happenings Photo Set

The month of January gave all of us a moment to pause, reflect and celebrate, the birthday of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King on the 15th, and the Inauguration of our 44th President, Barack Hussein Obama, on the 20th.

In the library, we engaged in many activities, to connect the two events and support the premise that knowing, appreciating, and embracing the past is an important stepping stone in preparing for the future.

In the primary grades, we used, “Famous Americans, Martin Luther King, Jr., by Marcia S. Gresko.

This brief bio, gave our young set the opportunity to discover the importance of getting along together. Follow up activities, after listening included discussions of the challenges Dr. King faced even as a little boy, and how getting a good education prepared him for the future. I introduced the term “illustrations” and “illustrator” and compared different formats for illustrations. (photos and artwork). Mildred Johnson’s 1974’s tribute to Dr. King, titled “You Can Be Like Martin”, is always a winner. Children love to join in on the lines…”You can be like Martin, Yes you can”. That theme, the students noted, is associated with President Barack Obama likewise.

One of David Adler’s great biographical offerings for young readers, A Picture Book of Martin Luther King, Jr., was used for its illustrations, text and chronology of events. All of which helped the students to understand more about Dr. King, and life before and during the Civil Rights Era. They were asked to not just let the day (19th) pass by without thinking about the man who made
so many things possible for not only the African American Community, but peoples all over the world. Further I suggested that they give their television a big hug, for without the use of this form of media, our story would not have reached the far corners of the world. (I had to remember that not only were the students not born during this period but many parents also.

Intermediate students engaged in creating time lines, based on the events in the lives of Dr. King and President Obama. Students were quick to note the similarities in the lives of these Americans and how predictive were the statements and aspirations made by Dr. King over 40 years ago. They also read and shared some of the many Dr. King biographies available in the library.

From the internet, Junior High Students, found and used copies of Dr. King’s prophetic speech delivered the night before his assassination, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop”, They viewed , with awe and reverence, the footage of that event. Two weeks of discussion & questions followed the viewing. When asked to reflect on the speech, the student’s comments were sincere and
inspiring. Here are some of their thoughts.

“…believe in what you can do…do not give up!”

“It was touching…it changed my whole life…made me more grateful to God.

“…when Dr. King told us we need to straighten our backs and rise to the problem, because when we do that we are going somewhere. He said,’…a man can’t ride your back unless it’s bent’.”

“…the aspect that was vivid was when he said, ‘Only in the darkness can up see the stars!’”

“…it makes you wonder what the world is coming to.”

“I mostly remember when he talked about the promise land & the repetition of
the phrase, “But I didn’t stop there.”

Many of the students were moved about the letter from the little white girl, who wrote she was happy he didn’t sneeze! (In response, to his near fatal stabbing in New York). They concurred with her thoughts. One student summed it up ably. “The reason this stood out because Martin… had an impact on her. (He) fought for blacks and whites to get along… she was one… who listened.”

Plans are during Black History Month, to discover more about our history as we prepare for the future.

“Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history.”
Abraham Lincoln, December 1, 1862

- Mrs. Hannah, St Ethelreda Librarian

Teacher Talk: Kindergarten's First 100 Days

Kindergarten celebrated the 100th day of school on Feb. 5th.

Kindergarten 100 Days Photo Set

The pictures show a variety of things we did that day:

• Counting to 100 by 1's and 10's
• Writing our numbers from 1 to 100
• Sorting and counting 100 pieces of cereal for graphing(We enjoyed a snack after graphing)
• We wrote and illustrated a book entitled 100 days in Kindergarten. The children each wrote a page and drew a picture to go with it.

Thank you to Mrs. Griffin, Mrs. Boatman and the Kindergarten class for their Teacher Talk submission. Grade = 100%!

Teacher Talk: Sister Mary Social Studies Project

Martin Luther King had a dream. St. Ethelreda teachers had a dream. First graders, too, have a dream for what they would like to achieve when they grow up.

Each student interviewed one of the staff and shared their experience in the class. Then they each formed their own dream for their future and typed it using the computer.

Click on the photo set below to see these wonderful 1st-graders at work.

Teacher Talk: Social Studies Photo Set

Thank you for the great work Sister Mary and all the 1st grade students!

Teacher Talk: Ms. Finn and Junior High Science

Welcome to our first "Teacher Talk" post on the St. Ethelreda web site.
Our Teacher Talk series will feature St. Ethelreda faculty and students in action with their own photos and descriptions of projects going on at our school.
Enjoy!

The first Teacher Talk post is by Ms. Finn and her Junior High science classes.

Highlights from junior high science classes:

An edible science activity! As the eighth grade class began a new unit on planet
Earth’s processes, students used their homemade PBJ sandwiches to simulate three
types of faults involved with earthquakes: normal faults, reverse faults and strike-slip
faults. Students then learned about seismic waves and the use of seismograph stations
to identify the epicenter of an earthquake.

Meanwhile, in the sixth and seventh grade classes, students became detectives for
a day as they conducted a fingerprint investigation to analyze their arches, loops and
whorls. They concluded that the majority of students have loop patterns, and their data
was found to be consistent with statistics from the general population.

Click on the photo set below to see these experiments as they happened.

Teacher Talk Photo Set

Thank you to Ms. Finn and her junior high science classes!