Making Dreams come True

Students in Room 222 at Heritage provided a gift for a child who had a special wish. Sa’fyre Terry was involved in a very serious fire. After a ten month recovery, her only wish was to receive holiday cards from all around the world. With the help of Mrs. Janeen Lanham, the students were able to create cards to help make Sa’fyre’s wish a reality. Mrs. Lanham provided the stamps, cards, labels with Sa’fyre’s address, and even the return address labels. Students used the art of calligraphy to send Sa’fyre a positive message of holiday cheer. The students hope that their contribution helps to make Sa’fyre’s wish come true. 

High school visits 2nd grade

High School readers visited Mrs. Seymour's 2nd grade on 12-15-15. The high school buddy readers work with the second graders to model reading skills and serve as role models in the classroom.

Motion and Design

The fifth grade science unit focusing on Motion and Design is a favorite each year.  In order to understand rubber band energy, students must work together to build and test a standard vehicle under various conditions.  In this lab, students record and measure the distance a rubber band powered vehicle travels when the rubber band is wound twice, four times, and eight times around an axle.  Students will eventually combine this knowledge and other important concepts about vehicle design, motion, energy, and friction to create their own vehicle and compete in a fifth grade race.

The Writing Lab: Literary Essay

Students in grades 3, 4, and 5 participated in Writing Lab lessons this month as they embarked on a Literary Essay unit of study together.  Students in 3^rd grade climbed inside the book FOX by Margaret Wild and Ron Brooks to inspire their writing and thinking. Students in 4^th and 5^th grade closely read The Other Side, by Jaqueline Woodson.  As Literary Essay is a form of Opinion or Argument Writing, students worked to form an opinion about a character in the book, support their opinion with reasons, and back their reasons with evidence from the text.  As students paired reading and writing in the Lab, they paid focused attention to the tiniest details in the text and then wrote to grow their ideas about those details.  This process encouraged them to analyze and then articulate their thinking rather than simply retell what’s “right there” in the text.

Our next Writing Labs will focus on Poetry and will run in February. 

Heritage Elementary Wins the Turkey Cup Challenge a Third Time!

Heritage Elementary School raised the most money of all participating schools in the Westmoreland County Food Banks annual Turkey Cup Challenge. Heritage students, staff, and families raised $11,615.47 for the Westmoreland County Food Bank in this annual drive. This is the third year in a row that Heritage Elementary has raised more money than all other participating schools.
For every $1 donated the food bank is able to purchase $5 worth of food. With the contributions of all participating schools, the Westmoreland County Food Bank will be able to purchase $187,418.00 worth of food for local residents during this holiday season. Franklin Regional School District regularly donates money to the Westmoreland County Food Bank. All three elementary schools participated in the Turkey Cup Challenge this year.