The Royal Scroll - March

Wax Museum

Science

Students are wrapping up the fifth and final Science unit “Super Survivors.” The unit started with students closely examining a plant’s structure. Students have spent the past few weeks investigating how the senses play an integral role in an animal’s survival. Recently, we have learned methods humans have used to communicate over long distances now and in the past.

Math

It is hard to believe, but fourth grade is in its 12th unit this school year. Students have worked hard adding and subtracting fractions. Understanding unit fractions and fractions greater than 1. For some us older folks, we would call them improper fractions. Students also worked with adding and subtracting mixed numbers and regrouping when needed. They are now moving into how fractions and mixed numbers are equivalent to decimals.

ELA

Our current module focuses on the World’s Natural Wonders. Students are currently reading about the deepest place on Earth, the Mariana Trench. This piece of informational text is always a student favorite. We learn about the different types of submersible vehicles used to explore at those extreme depths and the creatures that live there. Ask your child about bioluminescence? Some animals in the Mariana Trench have bioluminescence. However, you don’t need to use a submarine to see a creature with bioluminescence, fireflies or lightning bugs also have it.

~Fourth Grade Teachers

5th graders made lava lamps in Mrs. Woodbridge’s Science class while learning about combining substances.

BH Play - Pure Imagination!

Student Spotlight!

Some classes even did some reading outside!

Thank you to all our families who came out to learn about all of Charles Kelly's Kindness Initiatives and for reviewing our District Bullying Policy. Friends from Lakeside Neurologic talked about the magic of Calming Corners (available in almost all of our classrooms). A model calming corner was also on display. Plus 11 lucky families got to go home with items to furnish their very own calming corner at home!

Read Across America Week Celebrations!

Students earned an extra recess to celebrate their reading accomplishment.

Need Tutoring?

Miss Chang and her students are super excited about something special they have been doing in Room 10 called "The Great Valentine's Day Exchange!" It's like sending big hugs through letters to kids in other schools all over America! The students have been writing letters to tell them why Garrettford is the best place ever! They talk about our fun activities, awesome friends, and all the cool things they learn every day. And guess what? We've been getting letters back too! It's like getting surprise presents in the mail!

The children learn all about what makes their schools awesome too! It's not just about Valentine's Day; it's about making new friends and learning about different places. The class loved joining in this super fun adventure of sharing love and friendship with kids everywhere!

Mr. Donahue runs a fifth grade Chess Club. This activity helps the students to learn critical thinking and planning ahead, all while having fun. Mr. Donahue makes the activity interesting with a tournament at the end. He develops a bracket system much like what is used in the NCAA Championship, narrowing the group down to a final chess champion. The excitement grows each week as the students compete for the crown.

This year’s winners are: Ana Vargas (2nd place), Barbara Linguin (1st place) and David Phillips (3rd place).

We had over 50 entries of Young Author’s stories at Garrettford. There were 13 finalists here from Garrettford that we sent in to the contest to compete with other Delco elementary schools.

The YA county winners were:

Zehaan Bhuiyan - Story: The Best Teacher

Aya Hrimch- Story: The Legend of Redwill Creek

Miranda Sanders- Story: The Small Knight & the Monster

The winners will be honored at an awards ceremony hosted by Keystone State Literacy Association of Delaware County on May 15th. Their story will be published in the 2024 Young Author’s book.

Highland Park's fourth and fifth graders in the BB/BS program went to Wawa to see their BIGS 3 times in February. They learned about nutritious foods and how Wawa is helping local food banks. Here are a few photos of our students having a great time with their Big Brothers/Big Sisters.

Highland Park is proud of Maliah Harrow, winner of the Upper Darby Township Black History Month Poetry Contest, sponsored by Upper Darby Town Council. She was presented an award at a town council meeting, and read her amazing poem to our school at our Student of the Month assembly.

The Highland Park first graders made their debut Highland Park musical performance in "Winter Wiggles." They worked very hard in music class to learn the songs.

Students at Hillcrest celebrated Lunar New Year with an assembly! The assembly taught us about the Lunar New Year traditions that are celebrated by many people and countries. Students also learned about the Lion Dance, Wu Shi! The Asian Lion came around after the assembly to visit students in their classrooms! Thank you to Dr. Fox for putting together a wonderful experience!

Crazy Hair to Crazy Hats!

In Mrs. DiPaul's class, we played "Heads Up Dictation Sentences." The kids wore a sentence on their head and a partner read the sentence to them. They had to dictate the sentence onto their white board. This was great reading and spelling practice while working with a partner and having fun.

Students and staff were given a different theme each day to celebrate Read Across America Week!

Wear Your Clothes Backwards Day

Wear Something that Represents your Culture

Guest Readers

Thank you Mrs. Devlin for this amazing display and event!

Students from Room 113 had the opportunity to enjoy the warm weather. They had fun with bubbles and practiced handwriting with sidewalk chalk.

Read Across America Week

Students were encouraged to wear something from their culture.

Read Across America Week

Students wore their favorite teams jerseys/colors and buddied up with their Buddy Classroom to read together.

Fifth grade made lava lamps to determine whether the mixing of two or more substances results in a new substance!

To celebrate Black History Month, fifth grade created and presented black history presentations.

Grow your home libraries!

Librarian: Margie Weil

Multiple studies have shown that having a home library (link to research) is one of the strongest predictors of academic achievement. Increasing children’s access to books correlates to “dramatically positive effects” on reading growth and achievement (Allington, 2014). We continually offer free used books (most have been donated) to students and families to take home to add to their home book collections. We have given away over 1,000 books so far this year and plan to give plenty more before the year is done. Our Little Free Library can be found in the Stonehurst lobby. Let the security guard know that you want to access the Free Library which is right beside his desk. We also often have free books available to students to take home right outside the library as well. Take home as many books as your family will read! If you have books that you would like to donate for students to take home or have questions about obtaining books, please let Ms. Weil know at mweil@upperdarbysd.org.

Second graders went to The Franklin Institute Science Museum. They had lots of fun going through all of the exhibits. They journeyed through Wondrous Space, The Giant Heart and Your Brain. They sparked their curiosity in the Electricity exhibit, hit the turf in the Sports Zone exhibit and tested their piloting skills in the Franklin Air Show.

In February the OT students trace and cut various heart sizes and used these hearts to make various animals. They also used tangrams to build various Valentine day themed shapes. The students challenged their fine motor skills and enjoyed the activities.

We had a positive response to the Black History Month musicians who we went over in all our classes, as well as a nice discussion on why we continue to celebrate Black musicians even beyond February. Now that it is March, I plan to do the same with Women's History Month to celebrate the women who have made a huge musical impact. Third graders have learned enough notes on the recorders to start performing songs like Mary Had a Little Lamb and Hot Cross Buns. For the fourth and fifth grade chorus, the students have challenged me to write my own song for them, which is now complete and being rehearsed. With the concert being two months away, we are super excited to be sharing the spring program, which will be taking place on Wednesday, May 8th at 7PM in the gym

Mrs. Sharkey's class decked out for St. Patrick's Day is our cute photo of the month.

Black History Fair

On Friday February 23, the Black Student Union held a Black History Fair that celebrated in African American history and culture. The celebration, which was open to students and teachers alike, featured slam poetry, a dance performance, and food.

Another exciting celebration was the Black Authors and Artists Rock! event on Thursday February 29. Students displayed their artwork and read works written by themselves or by black authors.