It has been a busy October at HCA! This month, the fifth grade has enjoyed visitors, exciting announcements, and school celebrations. See below for some snapshots looking back on the month.
Last Thursday, fifth grade visited with Lt. Lanni as part of our partnership with the Upper Darby Police Department.
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HCA students enjoyed a picnic lunch outside on Monday sponsored by Student Council.
Making the most of beautiful fall weather!
Enjoying the sun while it lasted this week.
Chris and Sam enjoy dining al fresco in the shade.
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Fifth and sixth graders visited the Book Fair on Tuesday.
Izzy and Gabby searching for the perfect book!
A successful visit!
A HUGE THANK YOU to the Danifo and Swain families for their donations to our classroom. The students will enjoy new nonfiction and fiction books in our library.
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Sixth graders have finished composing their original myths. On Wednesday, they printed them out and used a dying process with tea bags to turn them into ancient scrolls. They will be displayed in our hallway to showcase our mythology unit. To read a digital copy of their myths, please visit the slides below!
Grant uses a tea bag to dye his myth.
Garrett and Sean use tea bags to "age" their myths.
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A few snapshots of collaborative learning in our classroom:
Fifth graders participate in a Vocabulary Word Talk in reading.
Busy at work with their partners discussing and answering vocabulary in context questions.
Partner work and frequent movement in Stand-Up, Hand-Up, Pair-Up allows our students to socialize while constructively discussing learned concepts with all of their classmates.
Izzy and Joslyn looking for text evidence to support their discussion question.
Patrick, Aidan, and Arrington collaborate on another discussion question.
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Moments before this year's musical was announced: Frozen, Jr.!
The fifth graders enjoyed a visit today from Lt. Lanni, who brought with him a surprise guest speaker, Brent Celek. The former Eagles tight end shared stories of his experiences in school, and the challenges he overcame as a student and athlete to get where he is today. His advice for our students? Respect others, work hard, and dream big. A big THANK YOU to Lt. Lanni for this exciting surprise! Mr. Celek's visit coincided perfectly with a STEAM lesson today, called "Passion to Purpose," where the class had to work together to identify a way to apply their passions in a way that would inspire real change. Their ideas are displayed in the slides below; they hope to expand on this project as they continue their work in the lab. There is no school tomorrow or Monday, Feb. 17. Tuesday will be a Day 1, which means that fifth graders will need to wear their gym uniforms to school. Thank you, and Happy Valentine's Day!
Fifth graders celebrated Fat Tuesday for Mardi Gras with a King Cake in Religion class! On Monday, the entire school took part in a Black History Month celebration. Here, Ms. Brown leads the middle school in a round of "Finish the Lyric," where they completed song lyrics by Whitney Houston, the Jackson 5, Bob Marley, Beyonce, and more! At another station, they were given iconic images in black history to recreate through illustration. The best work from each division will be chosen to be posted around the school! At their last station, middle schoolers answered trivia questions about famous figures in Black History. This weekend is the annual auction! We hope you can join us this Saturday evening, February 29 for "A Night in Philly" at the Springfield Country Club. The re-enrollment deadline is next Friday, March 6 ! Please remember to send your registration in by next week.
Fifth graders show off their placemats! This week has largely focused on preparing to celebrate Thanksgiving. Fourth and fifth graders came together to make Thanksgiving placemats for the families in need who will receive the gift baskets. Over the past few weeks, fifth graders have also led the entire school in our afternoon prayer at dismissal. Izzy leading us in prayer. Joslyn leading us in prayer. Raheem leading us in prayer. Lauren leading us in prayer. On Thursday, Lt. Lanni visited our class and shared his experiences from his time on the S.W.A.T. team. The students learned about the Baker Bat Shield and were even able to try on a bulletproof vest! Wishing all of our families a restful, enjoyable Thanksgiving season!
