The National Aviary Visits First Grade at Heritage

The National Aviary visited First Grade at Heritage Elementary today! As part of the First Grade curriculum, students study the habitats of plants and animals, focusing on habitats of Pennsylvania and then the world. Through the Aviary’s traveling program, our first grade was able to learn about different penguins and their habitats as well as meet a female African penguin named, Tribby. Tribby was named after the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. A big thank you to the Heritage PTO and the Pittsburgh National Aviary for sponsoring this amazing educational experience!

                        

Civil Engineering in Grades 4 & 5

Teams of students in Compacted Math 4/5 have been tasked with designing and building a city as a culminating project for the 2018-19 school year. Today, Civil Engineer John Frydrych presented at Sloan about the “must haves” and constraints of city building. He also provided insight on the importance of teamwork and collaboration. At the end of his presentation, Heritage, Newlonsburg and Sloan students had the opportunity to ask questions about engineering and to get advice on their Geocities projects.

4th Grade Mini-Career Fair Speaker Series

Heritage students in 4th grade participated in a mini-career fair speaker series this past Monday. After presenting, career speakers encouraged students to ask questions and in turn provided valuable information pertaining to their field of expertise! Career day was a wonderful opportunity for students to engage in further exploration and investigation of potential careers that exist ahead of them!

From left: Lauren Cheyne , pharmacist , Susan Stewart Bayne,mental health therapist, Lisa Hanington, graphic designer/illustrator
Back row from left -Officer Jerry Cooley & Tim Skoog FRSD police

First Grade Integrates Art and Writing @ The Westmoreland

First grade students at Heritage visited The Westmoreland Museum of American Art for an annual educational trip generously sponsored by the museum. At the museum, students were encouraged to interact with the art using their senses and through writing.  Prior to visiting the museum first grade curriculum centered around the utilization of art as a means to evoke descriptive language - specifically poetry.

Heritage PTO Brings the Carnegie Science Center to our Students!

Heritage PTO member Jill Hopkins enthusiastically organized science assemblies for students in grades K-5. These assemblies were engaging, hands-on, and exciting opportunities for students to interact with science in a unique way.  Below are just a few pictures from this fun and educational day of science!

Heritage Wins the Cup One More Year!

Heritage Elementary families once again prove to show just how generous they are by raising an amazing $10,341.10 for the Westmoreland County Food Bank and winning the Turkey Cup Challenge for the 6th year in a row! Congratulations to Mrs. Sherwin's 5th grade class for raising the most at $1,611.34! A BIG thank you to Kristie Praksti and her team for leading this effort.

Heritage 4th Grade Mixes Poetry and Art with Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation

Each year Louise Sturgess, Executive Director of Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, engages Heritage 4th grade students in a one-of-a-kind workshop of poetry and art!  Students begin by selecting a historical detail of a local landmark and then work to craft poetry about the detail utilizing literary devices such as alliteration, simile, metaphor, and point of view. Students then get messy with charcoal to sketch the detail. A big thank you to our PTO for once again sponsoring this authentic and worthwhile experience for our students! 

Artwork Created by Students at Heritage is Part of a National Traveling Art Exhibit!

Two years ago, fourth grade students at Heritage Elementary created quilt squares in art class that were included in a national collaborative fiber arts initiative called The Cancer Moonshot Ribbon Quilt. This month, the quilt will be on display in our home state! The 363 foot quilt is a traveling fiber arts exhibit that will be featured at the Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza from September 13-16 2018 in Philadelphia, PA. Heritage Elementary was one of only two schools accepted into the project (the other school being the British International School of Houston).

Each quilt square in the entire project has been photographed and assembled into a book, which is available in our school library. Congratulations Heritage artists!

Franklin Regional's 11th Annual Fourth Grade Science Olympiad

Franklin Regional's 11th Annual Fourth Grade Science Olympiad featured Edison Robots and a STREAM platform. Awards were presented to the winning team for each of the ten stations. An additional award, The Team Spirit Award, celebrates collaboration, respect, cooperation, and teamwork was presented to the team that most exemplified those characteristics. Congratulations to Team Purple for this great accomplishment.

Congratulations to Heritage Girls on the Run!

The Heritage Elementary Girls on the Run team completed another season culminating in a 5K at Hartwood Acres on Sunday, May 20th. The 5K had a record 2,300 participants from all over the Pittsburgh area. All of the Heritage team members and coaches completed the 5K and received a medal, high fives, and hugs for their efforts. The Heritage GOTR coaches are so proud of the team. Way to go GOTR!

An Engaging Experience for Heritage Readers and Writers

What do you get when you mix reading, writing, and an expert on both? Kids and teachers who get excited about reading books and writing stories...that's what! This past week, world renowned author, Ralph Fletcher visited students and teachers for a PTO sponsored event. Ralph Fletcher has published over fifty books for young writers and teachers of young writers alike. During his two-day visit with the Heritage family, Mr. Fletcher conducted engaging workshops for both students and teachers in all grades. In his workshops, participants sat at the edge of their seats while engaging in oral storytelling, read-aloud, and acquiring numerous tips to use in their own writing as well. A big thank you goes out to the generous support of the Heritage PTO for providing this incredible experience for our students and our teachers!

First Grade Visits Loyalhanna Watershed Farm

This past week, first grade visited Loyalhanna Watershsed Farm to participate in a unique, hands-on STEM/Environmental Science field trip called "Habits for Homes."  First graders have been studying habitats this year as part of their science curriculum. Dressed to interact with mud and muck, students eagerly engaged in learning how the natural world works and trying to make sense of how we as humans impact the environment in which we live. Activities included creating a terrarium, searching for insects and birds, petting a frog and much much more!   For more information on the Loyalhanna Watershed Farm, please visit their website http://www.loyalhannawatershed.org/index.php.

Good Enough to Eat!

On Thursday, March 22, Franklin Regional hosted the second annual Festival of the Arts featuring elementary, middle, and high school student artwork. This year, fourth grade students at Heritage created realistic paper mache' sculptures of ice cream sundaes. The paper mache' 'sundae bar' looked good enough to eat!

The Best Part of Me!

Second grade has been dedicated to working on writing. Using the mentor text The Best Part of Me by Wendy Ewald; students wrote about the part of themselves that they are most proud of. Students wrote through all the stages of the writing process and incorporated their own illustrations accompanied by an individual picture of the best part of them. The publishing company Student Treasures, helped to bind and publish the class books for students to share this memory of second grade with their families. Second grade classrooms had publishing parties to celebrate their work and share their success.