October 6, 2023
Elementary Cross Country Race!
Preschool
Pre-K has had a fun week of creativity and imaginative play including building a castle for zoo animals making cookies in the sand!
Kindergarten
This week in the World of Work, we continued to learn about the letter I in the RIASEC code. We explored and named different types of careers for people with INVESTIGATIVE interests. We named careers that interest us and shared these with the class! We enjoyed being a letter detective and using a magnifying glass for this activity. Check out the photos from this week!
1st grade
First graders are learning how to represent a 2-digit number with different amounts of tens and ones. This is a tough skill to learn, and they are rocking it!
This week, first graders learned about Johnny Appleseed. We learned many true facts about him and a few exaggerated ideas, like wearing a pot for a hat. Then we sampled green, red, and yellow apples. We made a graph about our favorite kind and did math problems about the data. The apples were delicious with the caramel dip.
2nd grade
Second grade has been learning about Arrays in math this week and writing addition problems for the array. We had fun using connecting cubes to build our raise and talk about them with our partners. In social studies we have been learning about maps and did an activity where we looked at three different maps with our partners, and answered questions based on features, we had learned in our study of maps such as a Compas rose, map, grid, symbols, and a map key. Using our fluency and fitness we continued our study of nouns and verbs.
3rd grade
Mrs. Ely: Wow! The week before Fall Break has been a busy one! We have worked hard and played hard! We cheered on our classmates as they ran in the county cross country meet! They did fantastic! We designed, built, and improved skyscrapers during our STEM challenge! We reviewed for and took a big unit math test and we cooled down from a hot recess with popsicles! It”s been a good week! Everyone, enjoy your time off!
4th grade
Hold onto your hats because 4th Grade had a very busy week! We started the week with Brown County Plumbing visiting our classroom. Owners, Mike and Kara Miller, along with their apprentice, Harrison, shared with us all about plumbing. They shared about the training needed to be a plumber and the training needed to own your own plumbing business. They also shared the tools they use, and we got to see inside their truck. We are learning about the “R” in the RIASEC Code, so this was a fun way to see the “R” in action!
We practiced using a map distance key this week in Social Studies. We practiced measuring the distances between cities in Indiana.
99 Math is always a favorite, and we had time on there this week to practice our multiplication facts. We had a blast!
Our class had the best attendance for the month of September, so we earned a popcorn party! Yum!
We had a great week!
5th grade
Wow! It is hard to believe our first quarter is about over. Fifth graders are striving toward being the best they can be, identifying character qualities of themselves, and noticing how these characteristics correspond with their RIASEC code. Students created “I Am A WONDER” posters to share their strengths with others.. As we continue through our novel, Wonder, students are identifying the protagonist and antagonist of the story- time will tell if they are correct! Students are creating words in Morphology using the prefixes and suffixes that they have learned, and have memorized 49 prepositions and a plethora of capitalization rules. Each student is writing a personal narrative, “ A Moment in TIme” learning how to express themselves as well as how to narrow a topic. We have some amazing writers this year!
FIfth graders have finished the Adding and Subtracting with Decimals Unit with a fun, but competitive game of Buzzer Beater! Students are excited to learn how to multiply and divide with double digits and decimals in our next unit.
In Social Studies, students learned some very interesting facts about the Inuits living in the Arctic – and all the ways they had to adapt to the environment. As we learn about these indigenous peoples, students will begin building their Native American dwellings based on the regions they lived in.
Fifth graders at Helmsburg help a lot around the building. They have a heart for helping others. One way they help is to take care of the recycling every week. So proud of how they are maturing and stepping up to meet the needs of others!
Science
Scientist of the Week: Veronica Erick
Fifth grade students continued with their Web of Life unit by making mold terrariums. Students discover the role fungi play in decomposing dead materials and in creating soil. Students planned and conducted an investigation to discover the factors affecting decomposition. Students filled Ziploc bags with different types of foods and changed the environmental conditions to study how different variables affect mold growth.
Fourth grade finished their Human Body unit. In this unit, students investigated structures and functions of the human body. Students explored how our bones and muscles are interconnected, how our eyes interact with light and impact our vision, and how our brain responds to stimuli in our environment.
Second grade students investigated which kinds of birds are likely to visit a bird feeder based on what they eat. Students drew their own bird feeder design to attract a specific type of bird. Then they build a prototype of their bird feeder using available materials.
Robotics
We also had our first HES Robotics Club meeting this week. The kids started building the field they will use to compete on. Everyone worked so well together!
Speech
Fall is my favorite time of year for so many reasons! Pumpkin-flavored goodies, cool weather, and brilliant fall colors.
It is also a language-rich time of year. In speech-language therapy, we talk about the life cycles of pumpkins and apples. We read soooo many books about fall! Not to mention, we learn amazing fall vocabulary words. Here are a few of the words we are learning.
To talk about fall goodies: cider, tart, bake, chop, carve
To talk about pumpkin and apple picking: orchard, patch, harvest
To talk about the life cycle of pumpkins and apples: stem, bare, blossoms, ripe, seed, sprout, stem, vine
To talk about fall weather – crisp, chilly, foggy, dew, twilight
Happy Fall, y’all!
