News from Fieldcrest East

 Fieldcrest East Eighth Graders Finish Web Quest

8th graders in Mrs. Keith's class at Middle School East  finished a Web Quest Unit on the Shadow children series. Students read Among the Betrayed by Margaret Peterson Haddix.  Some of the Quest activities included defining 30 vocab words, writing 4 journal entries, taking 2 quizzes, and doing a crossword puzzle, word search and jeopardy.  The entire unit is done on the Internet.  Students get immediate feedback on quizzes and games.  Students are also encouraged to read the other books in the Shadow Children series:  Among the Hidden, Among the Imposters, Among the Barons, Among the Brave and Among the Enemy.  Extra credit is given for additional books read.  During the two-week unit, students must locate the 5 most populous countries in the world using a map and then use a color-coded key to mark them accordingly.  Also, students must use the classroom  daily newspapers to find 3 articles on population

News from Fieldcrest South

 Second Grade Pen Pal Trip 

On Friday, February 3rd, the second grade classes will be traveling to Washburn to meet their pen pals.  The students have been writing letters to their fifth grade buddies since the beginning of the school year.  The students will be celebrating the 100th Day of school on this day (the actual 100th Day was 1/30).  Students will be participating in art, reading, math, and physical education activities that focus on the 100th Day of school.  Some of the activities include creating glasses out of the number 100, engaging in an addition game revolving around the number 100, and reading 100 books together as a class.  Students will also investigate how many different ways they can make 100 cents.  The students will enjoy eating a pizza lunch with their pen pals as well.  At the end of the year, the fifth grade buddies will come visit Fieldcrest South.

News from Fieldcrest West

5^th Graders Research Olympics

Just as citizens all over the world are following the Olympic events in Torino, Italy, so are the fifth graders at Fieldcrest West.  The students in Mrs. Bachman’s class researched the sports of the Winter Olympics and the athletes who have distinguished themselves by their performances in the games.  They used the internet to gather information and then, with the help of their computer teacher, Mr. Nuttall, published their findings, including pictures or diagrams, using Microsoft Publisher.  These reports will be shared with their classmates. As the games are played the class will be graphing the medals won by each country and then using this information in a variety of math lessons involving fractions and percentages.  History and geography lessons will also be included in their study. They are making maps of Italy and have studied the Olympic venues, even designing the Olympic villages the 15,000 athletes and journalists will call home for two weeks.  One classmate, Alessio, has visited Italy with his family several times.  He is teaching his classmates some Italian words such as ciao (hello), arrivederci (good-bye), and maestra (teacher).  His parents will be visiting with the class to share their knowledge of Italy and some mementos from the country.  By the end of this year’s Olympic games, the fifth graders will have a better appreciation of this event as well as the country of Italy.

Fieldcrest West Kindergarten and First Grade Celebrate 100 Days of School

The 100^th day of school for Fieldcrest West Elementary was on January 30^th, 2006.  The students of Ms. Hahn’s kindergarten class and Mrs. Stromberg’s first grade class celebrated the 100^th day by collecting 100 cans of food for the local food pantry.  The students were able to collect 100 cans with the help of Mrs. White’s second grade class.  Thank you to all who helped!  The students also enjoyed activities such as counting to 100, collecting 100 items from home, jumping 100 jumping jacks, and a lot more. 

Fieldcrest Teachers Awarded FirstGrants from National City

Two teachers in the Fieldcrest District were awarded grants from National City on January 17, 2006.  Fieldcrest South Elementary’s Barbara Baumann was awarded $500 for an ethnicity project for the school’s multicultural fair, while Fieldcrest East Middle School teacher, Wendy Smith, was awarded $700 for a thematic unit on self-esteem, including activities in the content areas of literature, English, and health.  The FirstGrant program provides grants up to $1,000; the program was developed by the bank as a direct means of helping classroom teachers accomplish creative and innovative projects they would otherwise be unable to fund because of budget limitations.  This year, National City distributed thirty-two FirstGrants totaling $17,500.