The Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera performs for entire school!

The Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera performed at Heritage on Wednesday morning.

The Incredibly Innovative Innovators of Pittsburgh was a 50 minute production that taught students in grades K-5 about Pittsburgh’s past, present, and future in one fully-staged, exciting musical!

The story features a girl named Lisa who has been putting off her social studies assignment too long. All of a sudden, her favorite rock band magically appears in her game room.  To help her with her neglected studies, they take a musical journey exploring the historical innovators from Pittsburgh over the past 250 years.

Students explored Western Pennsylvania’s greatest innovations, from the launch of the environmental movement and professional football in America, to the invention of the Polio vaccine and banana splits.  Our entire school had the chance to meet the local men and women who helped change the world as and learn about the infinite possibilities that exist within us all.

http://www.pittsburghclo.org/

2nd Annual On-Demand Writing Marathon

This month Heritage kicked off its second annual on-demand writing marathon review in the gym! Writers in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade, along with their teachers, reading specialists, and principal will participate in a marathon review of the three modes of writing: narrative, opinion, and information.

The purpose of this unique and purposeful time together is three fold:
1. It serves to bring pencil to paper.
2. It reminds us what we know and what we still have to learn about each mode of writing.
3. It allows our brains to practice transferring from one mode to another in an on-demand setting.

Remember to ask your 3rd, 4th, and 5th grader about their experience.

Soaring to new heights

Fourth grade students have applied their knowledge of the eight planets in the solar system to design their own scientifically sound planets. Students considered revolution period, rotation period, mass, density, gravity, surface temperature, diameter, and location in space as factors in their design. This final common assessment is based in part on Next Generation Science Standards. The unit provides opportunities for students to analyze and interpret data, as well as communicate their ideas. It is part of the Franklin Regional award winning science program.

Snapology after-school classes

Some of our students in grades K-5 have been participating in an optional after-school program called Snapology.
Snapology’s approach is based on proven research; that children’s’ best learning experiences come from actively designing, creating, interacting and inventing.
Snapology activities encourage social skills and teamwork, while teaching science, technology, engineering, art, math and literacy concepts.

3rd and 4th Grade Before School Workshops: A Mentor and Mentoring Environment for Argument Writing

This morning 43 eager young writers in 3^rd and 4^th grade arrived super early in the morning to debate a hot topic: Position A – professional athletes make too much money, and Position B- professional athletes earn what they make.  We began by creating a “Top 10” list of what we thought to be the most valuable and important jobs in the world.  You’d be surprised at the jobs that were added to our list!  From there we jigsawed two articles: one supporting position A, and one supporting position B.  Through inquiry and dialogue we synthesized a list of pros and cons for each position and jotted notes from both claim and counterclaim.  So far, the majority of our writing group is advocating for position A…leaving only a handful currently supporting position B.  Stay tuned for changes made in our stances based upon researched evidence explored over the next 3 weeks!