Escape Room

Students in Mrs. Lynn's math class attempted to "escape the classroom" using their problem solving and decimal math skills.  Students worked in groups of three and four and had 45 minutes to solve a series of puzzles, combination locks and decimal math problems.  A team could choose to receive up to two teacher hints if it was stumped, but would have to pause their work for 60 seconds per hint as a penalty.

Julianne L., Sean Y. and Alexandra M. were the first to escape, and did so in 28 minutes!  The team comprised of Connor L., Sophia L., Jadyn L. and Evelyn M. finished closely behind! Luckily all teams escaped with even a few minutes to spare so no one was stuck at school through the Thanksgiving break!

Mannequin Challenge - Project Fit America

Students from Mr. Berardinelli's Physical Education class created a video for our friends at Project Fit America.  Project Fit America's indoor and outdoor equipment were obtained through a grant from Excela Health in the 2014-15 school year. Great job Mr. Berardinelli and all the students in this video!!

Click here to view the 
Mannequin Challenge video

Heritage Students Get Patriotic With Uncle Sam

Students in grades K-5 celebrated American History  with Uncle Sam from Uncle Sam's Comedy Jam during a 40 minute PTO sponsored bash this morning!  Program topics included facts about the Constitutional Government, The Importance of Rules, Separation of Power, Symbols of Freedom, Checks and Balances, The Bill of Rights, and much much more! With help from the audience, Uncle Sam engaged both students and staff in history lessons that were filled with plenty of learning and laughter.

First Grade Storyboards in the Writing Lab

First grade students visited the Heritage Writing Lab today to kickoff a study of narrative storyboarding. Storyboarding is a strategy writers utilize to pre-tell or pre-visualize a story by sketching the character's want, problem and solution in sequence. The idea of storyboarding was first developed at the Walt Disney studios in the early 1930's. Walt Disney animators created the idea of sketching scenes on separate sheets of paper. First grade writers will continue to develop their narratives from their storyboards and will celebrate published pieces upon completion.

Technology is the new canvas in 5th grade

Technology is the new canvas in fifth grade, where students extend the possibilities of creativity while integrating art and technology. In November, the computer and art teachers teamed up to teach a unit on 3D design and printing with 5th grade students.  The students used Tinkercad, a 3D design application, to create Franklin Regional themed pottery stamps that will be printed on a 3D printer. Eventually, the stamps will be used to create clay tiles in the art room.  We are thankful to the Gurrentz Company for their generous donation of 3D printers to the FR elementary art rooms. Because of Gurrentz's generosity, our students and staff are able to benefit from this exciting learning experience.

Muffins with Moms

Our Heritage PTO sponsored "Muffins with Moms" for 3 days this week. Students and their moms enjoyed muffins, juice and coffee. Thank you to our wonderful PTO and the hundreds of moms and students that attended. It was a wonderful event enjoyed by all that participated!

Heritage Fitness Club

Our Physical Education teacher Mr. Berardinelli is very excited about designing and directing our first Heritage FITNESS CLUB! This club is open to all 4th and 5th grade students. Students participate in fitness-based activities such as runs, challenges, fitness-gram practices as well as games they love! Heritage staff members are invited to participate as well!

The Fitness Club meets on the first and third Thursday of every month from 7:45-8:30am. The first meeting took place on Thursday, November 3.

National Honor Society partners with 5th graders

For the third year in a row, Mrs. Sberna's class worked with National Honor Society students to complete the publishing of their informational writings.  The high school students helped the students with formatting, editing, and enhancing their writings with lists, pictures, charts, and other features of informational texts.

Clean sweep at Calcu-Solve

Franklin Regional won first place overall with the amazing efforts of a Heritage Elementary team consisting of Julianne, Katelynn, Nick and Roman!  Julianne also won second place overall and Katelynn tied for third place overall.  Be sure to congratulate them on their big win!  
Furthermore, the younger students gained some great problem solving experience and were able to solve at least a few of the very difficult math problems!  We are so proud of them for giving it a go!
In addition to the first place finish, the second and third place team wins went to Newlonsburg teams so it was a Franklin Regional sweep at this year's event.

Veteran's Day Assembly

On November 9th and 10th, members of the American Legion Post 711 from Murrysville visited Heritage Elementary School. 

During each program our students learned about:

• Veterans Day 
• The five military branches of service flags and the history behind each flag
• The experiences of one veteran that served four presidents on Air Force One
• The military experiences of each legionnaire
• Flags Over Murrysville-how it is accomplished and how residents can help out 
• see form below for details

All Things STEAM!

Science Week Pittsburgh October 22-28, 2016 Sponsored by Pittcon (The Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh and the Society of Analytical Chemists)
Science Week Pittsburgh presenters Brett Bielewicz and Megan Melucci offered outreach and support programs for science education in the Tri-State area by sponsoring teacher/student workshops and grants for science materials.
There were weekend teacher workshops hosted by Heritage Teachers Bielewicz and Melucci including Science Olympiad and Roundtable Discussions, as well as three days of interactive student workshops for students in fourth through seventh grade. Grants were available for attendees to provide relevant science materials for their schools. Workshops were held at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.
Heritage fourth grade students and teachers were able to attend the student workshops on Wednesday, October 26. They were able to participate in all six workshops!
CLICK HERE to view a brief video of the week!

1. Atoms, Molecules, and Matter
2. Pittcon Planetarium
3. STEAM DREAMS: Student Connections that Count
4. Sounds Like Fun: The Physics of Sound
5. Light, Color & Spectroscopy
6. How Wind Does Work