Martin Luther King Jr. Day

The first graders took the famous words from Dr. King, "I have a dream..." and recorded their dreams.  Enjoy these very poignant thoughts from our little ones...

Facetime - Longmeadow, MA to Dallas, TX!

In their study of landforms, the fourth graders researched Mt. Kilimanjaro (which has six different landform) and prepared excellent questions to ask our guest.  Then using Facetime, we had a video chat with Mr. Joe Coleman who resides in Dallas, Texas.  Mr. Coleman successfully climbed to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro and kindly shared his experience with us.  We all learned a great deal about the accomplishment of this incredible goal.  Enjoy!

The Continents - Tech Style

The second graders learned about the seven continents by researching with a partner on the laptops.  They created these beautiful brochures (pictured front and back) to demonstrate their knowledge from their research as well as their social studies classes.  Well done brochure designers!

Operation Integration

The fourth grade teachers brought technology integration to the next level!  Developing a project for their students on inventors, they involved students and teachers, parents, the media/library specialist and the technology integration specialist.

Fourth graders researched their inventor and then completed storyboards at home.  They created Powerpoint presentations with the help of their classroom teachers, and utilized their specials time with Mrs. Dufraine and Mrs. Giuggio to learn more about how to use Powerpoint effectively.

Finally, the fourth grade teachers invited parents in to watch the presentations.  These teachers are to be commended for bringing together so many resources to help their students achieve incredible learning success!

First Grade Movie Stars!

First graders became actors and actresses as they starred in their own Water Cycle movie!  Learning the skills of choral reading, projecting their voices, and of course the steps of the water cycle were the goals of this project.  Hollywood, here we come!

Poetry Reading, Podcast Style

Mrs. Kearing has been looking for a creative way to work on reading fluency with her students.  After taking the Apple professional development class, she discovered GarageBand, a tool for recording podcasts.  Together we created a poetry podcast!  Each student was recorded reading a poem utilizing the skills of inflection, pace, volume, etc.  The third grade definitely rose to the occasion!  What an outstanding job!!

The Perfect Community!

Fifth graders have been working on Operation: Create a Community project.  By learning that throughout history, people have grouped themselves together for protection, assistance and companionship, thus becoming linked together not only geographically but emotionally, the students learned about becoming a community.  "Learning Crews" designed the "perfect community" utilizing their skill in persuasive writing to describe characteristics that make their community a desirable place to live.
Special thanks to Mrs. Quinn's fifth graders for letting me observe their project, the writing process and final creations.  Below is just one example of a book that was created.  This book can be downloaded on your iPad, iPhone, Nook, Kindle etc. by going to https://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=forest+hills and signing up for a free account.  Well done fifth grade!