As it appeared in the Westside Bulletin, March, 2017.
We’ve crossed the 100th day of school threshold in February! We’ve had a busy 100 days of school, but with several big events, guests, and plenty of academics left, surely the last 80 days will push into summer rather quickly. February was the shortest month, but not short on academics.
In conjunction with our unit on biomes, we hosted several birds of prey, known as raptors, from the Delaware Valley Raptor Center in Milford. Mr. Bill brought hawks, eagles, and owls to showcase to the students. The students had a great time observing the birds up close. Local news station, WBRE, covered the event and two of our students were interviewed and featured on the 5:30 news broadcast! You can view the story by visiting our Facebook page.
In the classroom, students have been starting the initial planning stages of their Science Fair projects. They have been developing their research question and planning what type of presentation they will create for the Science Fair on March 31st. Students have been working to prepare the garden for its spring planting season. Now that the garden has been expanded and most of the foundation work complete over the past year, classes have chosen projects to help increase the garden’s animal species and functionality. This will culminate with Earth Day on April 21st.
In physical education, classes have been playing volleyball, practicing skills in small groups and games. They have been also learning the importance of team communication so no one runs into each other and so they can better get the ball over the net.
As part of an ongoing partnership with Wilkes University’s MEDUCA Bilingual Panama Project, a fourth group of Panamanian educators spent the day observing Graham Academy staff. The educators have been studying at Wilkes and observing area schools to learn about the American education system. The Graham Academy is the only special education school they are visiting.
Earlier in the month, as part of the humanities experiential curriculum, a local balloon twister from Lollipop Party Services spent the morning teaching the students about balloon art and how she developed it into a career. The students had a great time learning about balloon twisting and each student received balloon art to take home with them.