The Monthly Snapshot
A Monthly Newsletter for LES and NPLibertyHS
Building reading fluency in kindergarten
Kindergarten students at LES have been hard at work learning high-frequency words, letters, and sounds. Since these concepts are all new to some students, it can be a lot to remember! Students have been putting forth their best effort each day and are now at the point where they are bringing all of those skills together to become readers and writers. Kindergartners have been learning one letter and its sound as well as a high-frequency word (or two) per week. With all of the letters that they have learned so far, the students have begun to build words and blend sounds together to expand their knowledge even more. The word families -am and -at were recently introduced to students.
Each morning, the students review the letters/sounds that they know, their sight words, and the recently learned short "A" word families. Once students have activated their prior knowledge, sentences in a pocket chart are put together and students come up to read to their classmates. It is truly a sight to watch these students transition into readers! With a passion for reading coming from each student, it is only a matter of time to see how much more growth they will show in the upcoming months.
Pictured below is Benjamin K. using a pointer to identify each word as he reads the sentences out loud to his classmates.
Building a third grade "masterpiece"
The third graders are beginning a quilting project!
In October, we read The Patchwork Quilt. This realistic fiction text tells the story of a family making a quilt out of scraps of material. Each square has a special meaning or memory to go along with it.
Our third graders are choosing a piece of material that is special to them in order to create our own class quilt! The students will be sewing with the help of Mrs. Leona Schmouder. She began the quilting project when she taught third grade at Liberty Elementary several years ago. We are proud to carry on the tradition!
The students will begin sewing during the month of December. We will be displaying our quilt in the hallway between our classrooms when the project is completed. You are welcome to come in and see our “masterpiece”!
Below is an example of a class quilt from last school year.
Butterflies abound in grades 5 and 6
This fall, the fifth and sixth grade science classes were able to be a part of a wonderful conservation project. They reared monarch butterflies! For the fifth grade class, who had been comparing and contrasting life cycles of different species, this was a great, hands-on look at a life cycle in progress. The sixth grade was able to focus on the migration patterns and internal and external cues that animals have directing them to begin migration. The sixth grade also read about the monarch's overwintering sites and the issues that surround them and threaten their migration.
We were able to order around 40 live larvae from Monarch Watch, which is a nonprofit education and conservation group based out of the University of Kansas and specializing in Monarch butterflies. The larvae arrived in late September, and as they grew and transformed, we watched and learned! Many of the children offered to bring in milkweed from their homes to support our larvae and quickly found out that although they may look small, they really like to eat! The students were able to track the days for each phase of metamorphosis, and when the adult monarch’s emerged, the sixth graders tagged their wings with a tracking device before we released them to begin their fall migration to Mexico. The information on the tracking devices was sent back to Monarch Watch, and we hope to hear the whereabouts of our butterflies soon!
Holding larvae
Female monarch
Emerging from the chrysalis
Several sixth grade students watch as a monarch emerges from the chrysalis.
Culture club visits our nation's capital
On November 19, 2016, a group of NPLHS Culture Club students, along with Mrs. Barnes, Dr. Brion, and Mrs. Bubb, went to Washington, DC. While there, the group visited Arlington National Cemetery, including the Kennedy Memorial and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Students also visited the Smithsonian museums, including the Natural History Museum as well as the American History Museum.
Following the Smithsonian visits, the students went to the National Holocaust Museum. It was a powerful experience, and many students were deeply touched by the images they saw and the stories of both survivors and liberators of the concentration camps that they were able to hear. The students were reminded that “When you witness hatred, think about what you saw. The next time you see injustice, think about what you saw. And the next time you hear about genocide, think about what you saw.”
Arlington National Cemetery.
United States Sentinel
Guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Photo by Kiley Goetz, NPLHS Class of 2019
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Photo by Kiley Goetz, NPLHS Class of 2019
Loyalty and compassion save lives
By Ms. Wojcik
Early in November, students in Ms. Wojcik’s class began reading the novel Twenty and Ten by Claire Huchet Bishop. The students have been hard at work learning about how World War II affected several societies in the world. They learned that Germany wanted to be a leading world power and would do whatever it needed to gain that power.
The novel is a true story written from the point of view of an eleven-year-old girl, who was one of twenty orphans. The story was set during World War II in Nazi-occupied France. This story tells how twenty school-aged children creatively hid ten Jewish children from the Nazis. The loyalty and compassion helped the children withstand the interrogation and harassment by the German soldiers.
Below is a collage created by the students based on their study of the text.
Horticulture students work with the third graders
By Mr. Schanbacher
In early November, the NPLHS horticulture class worked with Mrs. Alexander’s third grade students to teach them about the importance of soil fertility in their garden. Each third grade student was able to take a soil sample in the school garden. The horticulture students then demonstrated some simple tests used to check on the soil’s pH and levels of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium.
The lesson culminated with the students working together to make a dirt cake. A comparison was made between how each ingredient in the dirt cake is important to make the cake taste great just like each soil fertility factor must be met to make the garden grow properly. Each third grade student was asked if they ever ate a prepared food in which a key ingredient was forgotten. Most students were very quick with an example, and this proved to be an effective comparison to highlight the importance of each soil fertility factor.
Below is a picture of the high school students working with the elementary students.