This week's Patrick Henry Post has been taken over by our 2nd and 3rd grade teachers. These middle grades are essential years when students transition from "learning to read" to "reading to learn." We push our students beyond phonics and word strategies into complex sentence structure, original writing, and research projects. This is a truly transitional phase of academics and life for this age group. Take a look below to see what is happening in three amazing classrooms at Patrick Henry!

Hello from Room 110! We have been doing a morning check in before we start our school day. We recite our rules and expectations each day. We have been doing more independent reading time by designating a block in the morning to solely focus on reading. We enjoy picking out a book of our choice and then sharing it with the class! We have done so many fun Science experiments the past few weeks. We built our very own birdhouses and recently planted Radish seeds. We currently have a Grass Head plant growing that we cannot wait to see what happens next!

Ms. Sierra is helping my students find books that engage us in the learning of Black History. Peering tutuoring is in full affect in my classroom, where students are working together to help enrich their reading readiness. Students work on Word Work activities, daily centers, and third graders are helping second graders during this process with Buddy Reading and enrichment pairs.

Ms. Wendy has been with Patrick Henry this school year, but she is a new addition to Ms. Ivory's class. She will be completing her Student Teaching in Ms. Ivory's 2nd/3rd grade room, and we are so excited to support this portion of her journey towards becoming a certified teacher. This year, Ms. Wendy has impacted students throughout the school, assisting with preschoolers in Ms. Womack's class and second graders in Ms. Hadley's class. She has now transitioned full-time to Ms. Ivory's class, and we wish her all the best as she begins her Student Teaching experience!

We have been very busy in third grade! We have been working hard on multiplication and have two students that have mastered fifty multiplication problems in five minutes for their threes! We have also enjoyed having Junior Achievement join us while we learn about earning, saving, and donating money!

Community partners Junior Achievement and Stifel Bank infiltrated Patrick Henry this week for an amazing program called "JA in a Day." Normally, Junior Achievement is a semester-long program where students engage in real world activities and lessons to learn about how adults find jobs and keep jobs, how they pay the bills, and how they decide on a career path. This week, we had a sneak peak for all of our students of this fun program by bringing in volunteers from Stifel Bank to have a mini Junior Achievement day. It was incredibly fun to see our students engaging in real world situations and dreaming about their future. It was also special to welcome not new volunteers from Stifel Bank, who is a continuing partner of Patrick Henry's. When it comes to community partnerships, relationships are the most important part, and we love building long-lasting connections with our St. Louis business community. Thank you, Junior Achievement and Stifel Bank, for your continued commitment to the students of Patrick Henry!

Stay tuned next week for pictures of "JA in a Day" in action!

This week, all second graders participated in a universal screening for giftedness through an assessment run by the district team from the Gifted Department. This is a district initiative to provide a screening for all students throughout the district to ensure that students are receiving the services they need to challenge them at their level. We are proud of our students for taking the assessment seriously and showing what they know!

On Friday, February 3rd, all Kindergarten - 5th Grade students will receive an electronic Progress Report Card via email. Please call the school at 314.231.7284 if you do not have a parent email address on file, or if you have not received any email communications from us in the past.

On Tuesday, February 14th, some classrooms will celebrate Valentine's Day with treats, cards, and tokens of appreciation. Please be on the lookout for communication from your child's teacher on what to bring to school that day. No child is required to bring anything in order to participate.

On Friday, February 17th, all SLPS schools will be closed. Staff will be in Professional Development throughout the day so there is no school for students.

On Monday, February 20th, all SLPS schools and offices will be closed in honor of Presidents' Day.

All families are invited to an IN-PERSON event on Friday, February 24th to celebrate Black History Month. This event will take place in the afternoon from 1:00-2:30pm in the Patrick Henry gym. Students will perform dances, songs, and skits during the performance, and we encourage all family members to attend!