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!

2nd Grade Engages in Text Evidence and Opinion Writing this Week

Should the pigeon drive the bus?  This is the question that 2^nd graders are grappling with this week in their ELA classrooms as they begin to study text evidence and opinion writing.  Today students in Mrs. Morton’s and Mrs. Calfe's class participated in a writing lab where they worked with peers to co-construct a pro/con list of reasons why pigeon should…and why pigeon shouldn’t drive the bus.  All pros for the list were taken right from the text and classified as text-dependent.  All cons for the list were generated through student thinking about the text. 

In continuation of this genre study, students will weigh evidence in the following categories to support their position: compare/contrast, cause/effect, problem/solution, and types/kinds.

Celebrating Outstanding Leaders in Argument Writing

Today concluded week 4 of our 5^th grade before school argument writing workshops.  Students celebrated with a group read-around of hooks, positions, researched evidence, thinking and explaining and conclusions.  An audience of teachers gathered to hear our words and weigh in on our positions. Participants were recognized in front of the school via the morning announcements and awarded a leadership certificate from Mr. Buffone. 

2nd Grade Engages in Text Evidence and Opinion Writing this Week

Should the pigeon drive the bus?  This is the question that 2^nd graders are grappling with this week in their ELA classrooms as they begin to study text evidence and opinion writing.  Today students in Ms. Kilbury’s class participated in a writing lab where they worked with peers to co-construct a pro/con list of reasons why pigeon should…and why pigeon shouldn’t drive the bus.  All pros for the list were taken right from the text and classified as text-dependent.  All cons for the list were generated through student thinking about the text. 

In continuation of this genre study, students will weigh evidence in the following categories to support their position: compare/contrast, cause/effect, problem/solution, and types/kinds.

Do the Risks Outweigh the Gains?

Today, argument writers continued to grapple with two positions: Position A -Professional Athletes Make Too Much Money and Position B – Professional Athletes Deserve What They Make. 

Engaging in dialogue around a video clip which showed a variety of professional MLB catcher collisions, students had to question, “Do the risks outweigh the gains?”  In doing so, students added fragments of their thinking to either directly support their claim, or respectfully acknowledge the counterclaim.  Writers also examined a few statistics which showcased the top MLB injuries of all times.  This information included invaluable data, including whether or not these players were able to return to the sport after the injury, or if the injury hindered their ability to play.

Writers are working to piece their arguments together, utilizing various mentor article exemplars to coach their writing.  Some began to write hooks, while others worked to fill in the thinking and explaining portion of their position.

Next week will be the final week and writers will continue to work to bring all researched evidence and thinking and explaining to a close. As this workshop is process over product, a finished piece is not necessarily the goal.  The gathering, collecting, dialogic thinking, rehearsing, and fast drafting is what’s important.

Week 2 - Before School Argument Writing Workshop

Researching both sides of an argument is key to an unbiased essay. Today in week 2 of our 5^th grade before school argument writing workshop, participants worked to investigate both sides of their argument.  The goal of today’s lesson was to attempt to artfully and respectfully acknowledge the counterclaim while still defending the integrity of the original position.

In bringing authenticity to our work, we called upon the expertise of our Franklin Regional wrestling coach Eric Mausser. Student writers generated questions for Coach Mausser. During the interview, writers took careful notes that they then utilized in their arguments in the form of researched evidence quotes!

One participant crafted this in her writers notebook after the interview. According to Coach Eric Mausser, there are many sacrifices athletes have to make, “like time commitments, not as much time with their friends and family, and they have to eat junk food to get heavier.” Although that is all true, professional athletes do not need millions of dollars.

This young writer addressed the counterclaim, while still standing firm on her position. In the next two weeks writers will continue to plan their claim, structure their essay and utilize evidence by both paraphrasing and directly quoting from articles and interviews and analyzing information to synthesize in written judgment.

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