Building+News

On October 13th, the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest Pennsylvania held a luncheon at their facility on Grimm Drive, Erie to present their annual awards. Waterford Elementary School was awarded with first place in the elementary school category. There were 26 elementary schools who competed in 2009 to raise both money and collect non-perishable food items for the Second Harvest Food Bank. During the school’s 2009 Red Ribbon Week activities, students brought in food items and money for both the Waterford Food Pantry and the Second Harvest Food Bank. Waterford Elementary School filled a small yellow school bus with 70 boxes of food that was donated to the Waterford Food Pantry distribution site and over $500 was presented to the Second Harvest Food Bank. A blue plate with the award emblem was presented to Mrs. Diane Woodie, school counselor, who organized the fund raiser for the food bank. It will be displayed in the school’s front entryway showcase. **AUTHOR'S TEA** The kindergarten and fifth grade students amazed their parents at their Author's Tea. Students in Mrs. Henry and Ms. Heist's classes wrote a creative writing piece which included things such as their favorite food, animal and their families in the writing. During the school year, the fifth grade students wrote their autobiographies. Students in both grade levels had the opportunity to read their creative writing pieces to family, friends and classmates.
 * WATERFORD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL RECEIVES AWARD**

**GEMS** May and June have been busy months for the students who participated in the Gifted and Enrichment Programs under the direction of Mrs. Dahn. The third grade GEMS students participated in Thomas Edison Day and explained their inventions to the attendees. Fourth grade students traveled to Hornby School to experience a one room schoolhouse. The fifth grade students participated in the Greek Mythology showcase.

**POEM IN THE POCKET** Students attended a school-wide assembly where classes read a selected poem to the student body. The assembly started off with "Wake Up Sleepy Head" and ended with clips from YouTube videos showcasing specific poets reading their piece. In order to better understand how the eye processes light, Mrs. Eaton's science classes dissected cow eyes. The students worked in groups to dissect and identify the parts of the eye. The groups were made up of two to four student scientists. "It was a really cool experiment and I thank Mrs. Eaton for doing this," said Dylan. Mrs. Proctor's third grade students created geobots during their most recent math class and placed them in the museum at Math Night for all participants to see. Each student was permitted to use various 3-D shapes to make their own creation. "I used cylinders, a cube, a square, pyramid, cones, spheres and rectangular prisms. I had fun making my geobot with my dad," said James. "My mom, my dad, and I made my Geobot named Infero. What I learned when I was making my geobot is the new shapes I did not know about. It was so much fun!," said Garrett. Cassidy shared "I used my mom to help but the idea to make a squirrel was originally my idea. I learned that building may look easy, but when you do it, it could be hard or easy once you try." Dakota said "I had lots of fun making my Geobot and enjoyed helping in the Geobot Museum." All in all the students learned their 3-D shapes through this project based assignment and "I had lots of fun with my mom," said Taylor.
 * LIGHT AND THE EYE**
 * GEOBOTS**

**MATH TOWN IN WES, PA** Fourth graders at Waterford Elementary School celebrated mathematics at the annual Math Night held on Friday, March 26th. “Math night is really cool. We get to learn about math and have fun,” said Greg and Katie. Students demonstrated the cooperative spirit it takes to produce a meaningful, fun and educational experience for the children in the school. Jeremiah said “It’s one of my most favorite nights of all the year. It is so AWESOME!” Students were trained to work in jobs in the post office, tax office, library, restaurant, bank and grocery store. “I loved making stuff to sell with Mrs. Zylak and my classmates. Best of all I liked working. It actually felt like I was doing a real job,” said Brandon. Visitors to the math community used play money to purchase items in the fictional community and were also given the opportunity to complete a Webquest on the Census.

** BIOGRAPHY BAGS ** Non-fiction stories can be challenging for second grade students to read because there are so many facts that are presented in the book. This year, second grade students selected a biography to read and placed items relating to the book in a bag so that when they gave their presentation in front of the class, they would remember the important facts and share them with their classmates. Mrs. Stacy Bukoski and Ms. Cindy Haibach had students place three items in the biography bag so students could better connect with the person who they read about. “Christopher Columbus was the greatest explorer every! I had pictures of Indians in my bag and I made an Indian hat because he found American and the Indians lived in America,” stated Kayla. Some students had stuffed animals in their bags while others had food items to represent the biography. “I think that the class had cool bags, and I got to watch them and learn about other people,” said Amyra.


 * THE BLARNEY STONE**

by Sydney, Annie, Alexis, Brittney, Ryan, and Brandon Have you ever felt the urge to kiss a rock? Now you have a reason, and you can get the power of persuasion, too! It’s like killing two birds with one stone. You can acquire this power by kissing the Blarney Stone. The Blarney Stone is located in the Blarney Castle in Cork, Ireland. The castle was constructed in 1446. Cormac McCarthy sent men to help Robert the Bruce in battle. As a gift of thanks, Robert the Bruce sent Cormac McCarthy a stone to be built into his castle. The stone was called the Blarney Stone and it sits 90 feet above the ground as a part of Blarney Castle. It is said that anyone who kisses the stone will be granted the power or persuasion – the ability to convince anyone of anything. On March 17th (a.k.a. St. Patrick’s Day), in Miss Coletta’s class, we discovered the wonders of the Blarney Stone. We walked into the classroom to find a replica of this piece of rock. We discussed the rock and came to discover its history and meaning. We even watched a few videos about Blarney Castle and saw many people – young and old – brave the height and kiss the stone. In order to obtain the power of persuasion, we all kissed the Blarney Stone. After we all went up to the stone individually and simulated the experience, we were given a certificate proving our new power of persuasion. We felt like superheroes! We now had the power to overcome the challenging persuasive writing unit. In conclusion, we all conquered the persuasive writing unit because of our newly found gift. We are ready to persuade anyone, just try us!

**EXPLORING THE OCEAN BOTTOM** By Camrin and Kaylee Fifth grade students used cardboard, salt, flour, paper, water and food dye on their most recent project based assignment of creating salt maps of the ocean floors. 21st century skills such as collaboration among group members and higher order thinking skills were used by students to help design their project. “If you think this is an easy project, well it’s not” stated Camrin. She continued by saying “If you would have asked me what a guyot is, I would have no clue. Now after the project, I know it is an underwater mesa.” Lane best describes the step-by-step construction of the salt-water map. “First we had to make the body out of cardboard. Then we had to use a piece of construction paper for the continental slope. Afterward, we made seamounts and the mid-ocean ridge. After we did all of that with a lot of tape we were ready for goop! On goop day we did not wear our best clothes because it can get messy. We made the goop by mixing a little water with the salt and flour so it would spread easily. After making sure it was mixed well, food coloring was added and we spread it on the map. After the map dried, we made labels for the different parts of the maps.” Kaylee said, “Making the salt map took time and patience, but it was all worth it in the end.” Several students in Mrs. Becky Hetz’s third grade classroom performed a school-wide Reader’s Theater performance of an excerpt from the book, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, on Wednesday, March 3rd. Lindsey, Renee, Derrick, Bridgette, Jedidiah and Nick traveled throughout classrooms answering questions, giving information about the author, along with their Reader’s Theater performance. Even Edward Tulane made an appearance so everybody could meet the popular rabbit character. As part of the activities, students participated in postcard writing about Edward’s next adventure.
 * READER'S THEATRE**

**SECOND GRADERS VISIT NASA THROUGH VIDEO CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE** Taking a trip to Houston, Texas to visit NASA’s Johnson Space Center would be a wonderful experience for any child, but that is not always feasible. On Tuesday, February 9th, NASA brought the Johnson Space Center, where the astronauts are trained, to Waterford Elementary School’s second grade classrooms. Eighty students extended their science classroom learning experience by listening to NASA’s presenter, Patricia, reinforce what had been taught earlier in the year. Students actively participated in the video conference by answering questions posed by Patricia and demonstrating how the planets revolve and rotate.

**ALICE IN WONDERLAND CAST MEMBERS CHOSEN FOR THE** **WATERFORD THEATRE GROUP** Mill Village and Waterford Elementary School students will be performing on Friday, April 30th and Saturday, May 1st in this year’s production of //Alice in Wonderland//. This year’s production consists of 58 fourth and fifth grade students and the stage crew consists of 50 fourth and fifth grade students from both schools. Students were given the opportunity to audition for the role they wanted on Thursday, January 21st.

**ART AND LITERATURE NIGHT** Thirty-six students participated in the annual PTO sponsored Art and Literature Night. Students were given the opportunity to create a piece of artwork or write a piece of literature on this year’s theme, Season’s. The competition was open to all children in grades K – 5. Students were able to express their creative side through their artwork and literature. Participants visually and verbally expressed their experiences with the audience members who attended the Art and Literature Night on Wednesday, January 27th. Independent judges evaluated the submissions with awards going to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners. All students who entered the contest received a participation certificate.