The Monthly Snapshot
An Electronic Newsletter for LES and NPLiberty HS
Volume I, Issue VI (April 2017)
Kindergartners experience busy month
By Ms. Raniero
In like a lion; out like a lamb! The month of March was a busy one for kindergarten!
We kicked off the month with Read Across America Week. Throughout the first week in March, we celebrated timeless children’s author Dr. Seuss through a variety of math and literacy activities that helped instill a love of reading in our kiddos. To wrap the celebration up, the sixth grade students came to visit with and read to us! We also got to make a "Thing 1 & Thing 2" craft with our sixth grade friends. Much fun was had by all!
Amidst the mid-month blizzard and snow days, students had a creative family project due: Leprechaun Traps! Students used science, technology, engineering, and math to create their traps in hopes of catching a leprechaun. We set them up the night before St. Patrick’s day, hoping to find a leprechaun trapped inside the next morning, but boy those little guys and gals are tricky. We didn’t catch one! But, the leprechauns did leave behind some ticks and treats for us to enjoy!
At this point in the year, we have successfully learned all our letters in our alphabet! We can identify them, produce the sound they make, and write them . . . ALL of them! We can also add and measure now!
In April we are revisiting narrative writing and beginning to learn digraphs and how to subtract! We are also looking forward to the "Night at the Museum"!
Fourth grade participates in numerous activities
By Alivia Colley and Kaylee Graham
Here are a few activities that happened in grade 4 at LES.
In ELA, we did opinion writing. We have an anchor chart in the front of the room which helps us stay on task and shows us how to write an opinion essay with boxes and bullets. After we finish our rough draft, we conference with Mrs. Piquero. We work together to correct anything that needs to be edited. Some of us peer edit before we conference with Mrs. P. After our final draft is finished, we do one more quick conference and then illustrate our writing. The latest opinion writing we did was about the terrific play we saw at the high school called “The Lion King.” We all had a great opinions about the play, and we also really enjoyed writing and illustrating our opinions!
In math, we do an activity called “Wilson-omics”. You need a whiteboard, marker, and an eraser. Mr. Wilson gives us a math problem, and each group has to figure it out. If we get it right, we get five points and get to throw the ball at the target. The target is foam and has numbers that are velcro. If we make the target, we see where the ball lands and get that amount of points. If we miss, we don't get any extra points. At the end of the activity, each group adds up all their points. The winning group gets an award.
In social studies, we studied the Chinese New Year by celebrating in class with egg rolls, Chinese noodles, and fortune cookies. We listened to Chinese music and learned about the lion dancers. We also made banners with the Chinese symbols for "Happy New Year". For St. Patrick’s Day, we learned about the cottage industry and then each group tried to make the best Irish potatoes so the merchant would buy the best batch! We even had a visit from Leprechaun T. McCarthy!
Properties of matter is one activity we studied in science. We made posters depicting these properties. We also studied organisms and their environment, and our posters really turned out well with this lesson. We just finished studying electricity. We also created a “Life Processes Man”. He is ten feet tall and guards Mr. Wilson’s room!
These are all the groovy activities going on in fourth grade at LES! However, for the last month we have been also revisiting and reviewing for our upcoming PSSAs.
Grades 5 and 6 students are geniuses!
In science class, students in grades 5 and 6 are getting time to work on projects that they are passionate about.
"Genius Hour" allows students to explore their own passions and encourages creativity in the classroom. It provides students with a choice in what they learn during a set period of time during school. The concept was adopted from Google, which allows its engineers 20 percent of their work week to work on projects that interest them. It has been shown that when someone is working with a topic of interest, productivity goes up dramatically. Gmail was started as a result of this 20 percent time!
This concept fits well with PA science and technology standards as there is a high importance placed on the engineering design process and the creative processes behind inventions and innovations. Our students spend their class time fully engaged, brainstorming topics to research, developing a good question, and then searching through reliable resources to help answer that question.
Ideally, a Genius Hour question is not something that we can type into Google and find our answer. Genius Hour digs deeper. Students have come up with a wide variety of topics to research ranging from “How can I run a fundraiser to make money for a local charity?” to “Can I invent a solar-powered paint that could be used on cars instead of headlights?”
If you want to know more about the concept of Genius Hour, click on the button below!
Some student projects will also be displayed at the upcoming LES Academic Fair called "Night at the Museum".
Pictured above article: Grade 5 student Lydia Sparks researched and presented her findings to the class on the similarities and differences between lungs and gills
Pictured below article: (Left) Grade 6 student Caidence Faughnan researched and demonstrated the science behind hair dye and how it works. (Right) Grade 6 student Mackenzie Broughton organized and operated a bake sale and donated all proceeds to the Ryan Ostrom Foundation.
Twelve students represent LES at spring chorus festivals
By Mrs. Feaster
Twelve students have been selected to represent LES at the PMEA Chorus Fests this spring.
The festivals are day long opportunities for students to participate in large choruses with students from up to 20 area schools. They will work with guest conductors through each day and present evening concerts for family and friends. The students work diligently to learn six songs ahead of time and increase their musicianship skills through these experiences.
Elementary Chorus Fest will be held April 28 at Loyalsock High School. Participants are Tierney Patterson, James Nearhoof, Ethan Schneider, Mackenzie Kieser, Dan Sherant, and Emma Cook (pictured above).
Middle School Chorus Fest is on May 5 at Bloomsburg High School. Participants are Caidence Faughnan, Grace Bishop, Amy Feaster, Khloe Mitstifer, Jaclyn Nelson, and MacKenzie Broughton (pictured above).
Our spring elementary band and chorus concert will be held May 11 at the high school auditorium. This evening will also feature an art show of elementary artwork coordinated by Mr. Boarts.
LAPAT gears up for the Race for Education
Contributed by Mrs. Reed
The Liberty Area Partnership Action Team (LAPAT) has started its campaign for the Race for Education. Fliers were sent home, and hopefully, parents sent back their labels with lots of friends and family members identified for future mailings. This is the only fundraiser done specifically for LAPAT, so we hope everyone is helping out. LAPAT rewards students who reach the highest goal for their class, but they also reward anyone who helps.
For those parents and friends who do not know what LAPAT does for our school, and for those who may not realize the extent they help out, here are just a few of the ways: field trips (contribute over $5,000), Mobile Ag Lab (every three years), Battle of the Books, our Maker Space (LAPAT funded a lot of the setup and continues to help with resupplying the materials), extra supplies for the classroom, guest speakers, prizes for the Spelling Bee, snacks for Field Day, Santa’s Shoppe, and help with Family Night.
Please consider giving generously and reaching out to other members of the community. We appreciate all of your help for our students.
NPLHS student artwork on display in Annual Youth Art Exhibit
Select artwork from our students is on display at the Gmeiner Art and Cultural Center in Wellsboro from April 2 through April 30.
All high school students from schools in the surrounding area were invited to submit their artwork for the annual Youth Art Exhibit.
Mr. Boarts and the students whose artwork was selected for the show as well as other grades 11 and 12 art students traveled to the Gmeiner on April 10.
Please go to Gmeiner to check the show out this month!
NPLHS student artwork pictured above and on display at Gmeiner: 1 and 6 by Sarah Stille (11th grade), 2, 3, 7, 11, 13, and 15 by Morgan Weber (12th grade), 4 and 5 by Kiley Goetz (10th grade), 8 and 14 by Cheyenne Bower (11th grade), 9 by Savannah Doney (10th grade), 10 by Logan Weber (10th grade), 12 by Katelyn Feaster (10th grade)
Studying slavery through creative writing of historical fiction
Seventh grade students are studying world cultures with an emphasis on the African and Asian cultures. Mr. Munford’s seventh grade class delved deeply into the issue of slavery.
The students developed the background knowledge on the African slave trade through written and visual content. They created their own historical fiction stories called “My Life as A Slave.” This entailed imagining their lives in Africa, being captured, the boat trip or the “Middle Passage” to America, the auction, their lives as slaves, and their lives after slavery.
The students were coached through the process with one on one guidance from the instructor on content validity, written flow, and conventions.
Students read aloud to the class their finished projects. As each story was read, the class used a listening guide to choose a few memorable events from the stories. After every story, the class discussed the memorable elements. Through this inquiry, students gained a base of knowledge and applied it to a creative and memorable activity.
Keeping pace in physical education
By now, parents may have heard their sons/daughters talk about "Pacer Mondays" in physical education class. It is actually a 20-meter test that progressively gets more intense. The longer the student can run, the less time they have to complete the 20-meter distance.
This test gives the student and the teacher information about a number of things that pertain to cardiovascular health. Probably the most important component is aerobic capacity, the highest amount of oxygen consumed during maximal exercise in activities that use the large muscle groups in the legs or arms and legs combined. This capacity, if at acceptable levels, is associated with a reduced risk of high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, obesity, and other health risks.
This test has great importance as the students learn how to take care of their health for the rest of their lives. As we go through the nine weeks or a semester, the goal is to see the score get gradually higher as time goes on. One of the most important things I try to teach the students is that your body can do more than you think. Most students are learning to push through when their minds say they are done and increase their scores to the point that their bodies have actually run out of energy.
Showing the students that they can gradually score better on this test is an important aspect of physical education.
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Contact Information
8622 Route 414
Liberty, PA 16930
570-324-2521 (P)
570-324-2440 (F)
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North Penn - Liberty Jr./Sr. High School (NPLiberty HS)
8675 Route 414
Liberty, PA 16930
570-324-2071 (P)
570-324-2313 (F)
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