Onion Harvest

Mr. Hornsby's class has been hard at work in the habitat this year. They planted sweet onion and potato seeds (courtesy of Real School Gardens) in March. Since then they have made several class visits to the habitat to observe, journal, measure, and take note of the changes they saw happening.
Last week it was finally time to harvest their onions. This learning experience has been an excellent opportunity for their class. They have been able to enjoy read alouds about gardening, potatoes, life cycles, and plants.
The habitat lends itself to many cross curricular learning opportunities for our entire school!!

Community Garden

We are so excited to see the community garden come together at our school. This past Saturday, dozens of volunteers from our school and community helped build 20 raised beds. Check out the write up in the Grand Prairie Reporter!!!

Interested in helping???

20 more beds are scheduled to be constructed this Saturday from 10am-2pm. We would love to see more volunteers out there as we continue this exciting addition to our community. Look for information to come home with your student, or contact Tammy Chan at 927-237-8152.

Thanks for helping to Keep Grand Prairie Beautiful!!!

5th Grade TAKS

Today (and tomorrow) our 5th graders will be taking the TAKS Test. They have worked all year to prepare for this moment in time. We wish them the very best of luck... knowing that their teachers are the BEST teachers around and have done absolutely everything they can to ensure nothing but success.

In the weeks leading up to today, the 5th graders participated in a Math and Reading Boot Camp. Boot Camp provided students with small group instruction. Each day they worked on a different skill and really put to use the strategies their teachers have taught them. Throughout Boot Camp students worked to earn points for homework, using strategies, and participation. All students earning 40 points over the two weeks will get to participate in Game Day this Friday. It's a well deserved reward for their hard work this year!!

You can do it, 5th grade... We're all rootin' for ya!

Science Club

Our K-2 students have spent the last 10 weeks studying composting – both leaf composting & vermicomposting - and the benefits it brings to our environment. We used the curriculum ‘Worms Eat Our Garbage’ to guide our lessons and understand that we can reduce our waste by using such a simple concept. The students culminated their studies by creating their own ‘mini worm bin’ for use at home. Our hope is that this concept will spread beyond the walls of our school community.

We Wrote An Author!!

Mr. Martin's 2nd grade class recently finished reading an autobiography titled, Small Steps by Peg Kehret. He first read this book about seven years ago and became quite moved by the author's story and life experiences. He was unsure how his 2nd graders would react to the book, but he decided to use it as his read aloud each day after lunch anyway. Each child became so engaged in the story and anticipated the special time they shared on the carpet reading the book.

Upon completing the book, the students decided to write letters to Mrs. Kehret. It was their desire to follow up on their reading with questions they hope to get answered about Mrs. Kehret's life. Mr. Martin wrote a letter as well... click HERE to read it!!

Shortly after sending Mrs. Kehret their letters, Mr. Martin's 2nd grade class received THIS letter. Needless to say, they were very excited!! This activity with Mr. Martin provided these students with very rich learning opportunities such as: character traits, supporting details, inferencing, differences in life now and in the 1940s, and letter writing.

Thanks for sharing with us!!

A CBS Weatherman Was HERE!!

Garry Seith, a meteorologist from CBS News Channel, visited our fourth graders yesterday to talk about how weather forecasts are presented on T.V. Topics included high pressure (happy weather) and low pressure (lousy weather), most dangerous types of weather, the green screen in a television studio, how weather predictions are made using information such as wind speed, and meteorologists wearing make-up and having to get to work by 3:00 a.m. Some lucky students even got to see a hail demonstration using a ping pong ball and hair dryer.



Marine Biome Creation

4th grade classes are studying biomes in Science and Mrs. Leyton's class is in charge of creating a Marine Biome. Here are some photos she took when they began. She is especially proud of Erik, who took upon himself the giant task of creating an orca whale.