Instead of just reading about it in books and on websites, students at Northwest Elementary School experienced animal life cycles first hand. Kindergartners recently raised butterflies and second graders welcomed baby chicks to their classrooms. 

Every kindergarten class received a cup with five caterpillars and some food. Children watched each caterpillar grow larger and eventually transform into a chrysalis. They were relocated to a small, soft cage and soon butterflies emerged. Students placed cut up oranges inside as a nutrition source. Teacher Christine Bloom said the butterflies were then released on a nice day. 

In second grade, every class received an incubator with several eggs. After 21 days, the eggs started to hatch and the baby chicks were born. Teacher Ada Harris said her students checked on the incubator to make sure it consistently provided the warm and humid climate needed for the eggs. 

Second grade teacher Annette Fox taught her students the candling technique, so they could use a light to see inside the eggs and check on the progress of the chicks. She said that it was an exciting moment for her students to watch one of the chicks hatch, as they gathered around the incubator as it broke out of its shell. 

After the chicks arrived, they were moved to the brooder, where children made sure they had a steady supply of food and water. Students also learned how to carefully hold the small fluffy birds.

May is Better Hearing and Speech Month and the speech therapists at Northwest Elementary School are raising awareness about the services they deliver to foster language development.
 
Patrice Scavo and Katherine Thorn explained that they provide a wide range of support to children. Much of the work focuses on language enrichment, such as helping children improve their grammar skills and understand sentence structure. They also discuss good communication practices – ears listening, eyes looking and brains thinking – and show students how to follow directions. Noting that teachers spend much of their day talking, they support their colleagues by sharing vocal care techniques.    

For Better Hearing and Speech Month, each of Ms. Scavo’s and Ms. Thorn’s students drew a picture based on the prompt, “What Good Communication Means To Me” which were hung together in a collage near their office. 

Only in second grade, students in Maria Cottone’s class at Northwest Elementary School can already call themselves published authors. The class created a book, with each child receiving a copy, as a culminating activity in the personal narrative writing unit.

Each student wrote a small moment story, about a special memory in his or her life. Ms. Cottone said that children could write their stories in either English or Spanish, and also included an illustration. The stories were compiled together in a bound, hardcover book as a memento for every student. 

Not only do men and women make sacrifices to serve in the United States military, but so do their families. In April, which is designated as Month of the Military Child, Northwest Elementary School recognized the children of members of the Armed Forces.

On April 28 and 29, students and staff were encouraged to wear purple to school to show their support. The mother of one child sent in a video, who spoke about her role in the military and what it’s like as a military parent. She even gave students a virtual tour of her base. A father of another Northwest student sent in photos.

In art class, students made cards for military families. On paper shaped like butterflies, each child created a design on one side and wrote a personalized message on the other side. Teacher Lydia Robinson shared some words with students, like brave and courage, that they could include. The cards would be distributed to families through the parent of a Northwest child currently serving in the military. 

Social worker Debra Lee, who coordinated Northwest’s celebration of military families, said the goal was give students and appreciation for the different branches of the military and the sacrifices made by both those who serve and their family members. 

April is National Poetry Month so even though students at Northwest Elementary School have been reading poems all year, recently they have done a little extra. Several teachers combined poetry and song as a unique and engaging way to teach children about rhyme and rhythm. 

In Mackenzie Sipp’s and Jaclyn Wittschiebe’s first grade class, students were immersed in the poem, “Five Little Ducks.” They began each day by singing it aloud before using it to focus on different literacy skills. Children searched for rhyming words, different consonant combinations known as digraphs, and vowel teams. 

Meredith Cohen’s first graders analyzed “Bee and Sheep.” Students closed their eyes as she read the poem aloud. When she was done, they opened their eyes and drew what they imagined in their heads in their poetry journals.

With her guitar in hand, first grade teacher Margaret Brooks led singalongs of different poems. Appropriate for National Poetry Month, students sang the lines to “April.” They also learned a poem about the letter Y – how it can sometimes sound like E and other times like I. Her students have their own poetry binders filled with thematic poems about different seasons and academic subjects.