THE PATHFINDER PRESS February 2021

Quote of the Month: "February is the border between winter and spring.” -Terri Guillemets

Index

Room 136 - pg. 2 Room 213 - pg. 6 Room 137 - pg. 2 Room 216 - pg. 7 Room 139 - pg. 3 PRIDE B - pg. 7 Room 200 - pg. 3 WAC - pg. 8 Room 201 - pg. 4 Phys. Ed. - pg. 8 Room 208 - pg. 4 Home Ec. - pg. 9 Room 212 - pg. 5 February Events- pg. 10

Room 136 Room 137

M S . G R E T C H E N M O R G E N S T E R N M S . K E L L Y H O U G H

Room 136 got some new Room 137 has been busy. We friends that we are getting to have been doing a lot of know. Dexter and Eddie have Science experiments. We been a great addition to our made different types of classroom. We enjoyed the volcanoes. We even made a virtual Valentine's Day. We volcano out of snow. We have also got to go outside and go been learning about tornados, sled riding. We all really also. The students have really enjoyed enjoyed all of these activities. that. On Fridays, we continue to cook. We have made waffles, chocolate bark, cupcakes, muddy buddies and chocolate covered pretzel. The students love to participate in the cooking lessons.

We all loved seeing the Chick - Fil- A cow and enjoyed the chicken sandwiches. The Valentine’s Day dance party was a lot of fun. We loved dancing. We are looking forward to March and all of the fun activities that are planned.

2 Room 139

M S . M I S S Y B O S W E L L

Room 139 has loved celebrating school spirit week and the 100th day of school. Many of our classmates dressed up to celebrate these special days! We made gumball machines to celebrate the 100th day of school. Last Friday we had an indoor “snowball” fight with Mr. Nick and Ms. Meghan. Of course the students won! Happy Birthday to Nia on the 19th!

Room 200

M R . C H R I S T I A N W O J T O N / M S . S A M A N T H A H O L M A N Happy 100th day of school at Pathfinder in Room 200! Everyone put together a paper chain of 100 paper links. Everyone helped with cutting the paper, stapling the links together, and counting out the circles. Our chain is red, white, and blue because the students love representing America.

Students are really enjoying the IXL program on their iPads and Chromebooks. They enjoy learning and building their math and reading skills and working towards earning their medals when they master a skill.

The students had a great time at the Zoom Valentine’s Day party. They had a lot of fun singing, dancing, playing BINGO, and the glow sticks.

3 Room 201

M S . M O L L Y M I C H A E L Happy March Pathfinder! February went by so fast but it was a busy, exciting, and fun month in room 201! As always, we have been working hard each day to learn and master our targets for the Verbal Behavior Program. Ryan, Dan, and Janel are mastering their typing words and Umit Ali and Justin continue to improve with vacuuming. Jarrett has been busy practicing his mastered skills – since he graduates this spring! A few weeks ago, some of us went sled riding. We hope it snows again so we can go one more time.

Room 208 M S . T A R A I A N N E T T A We have been busy reading about Monarchs migrating, the butterfly lifecycle, and Black History. Next, we are excited to read about Women’s history and to celebrate Read Across America! We are sad that Miss Bekka isn’t part of our classroom anymore but thankful that she is still at our school. Congratulations on your new position Miss Bekka!

4 Room 212 We began our month with many activities celebrating M S . D A N A B A C K O Friendship and Kindness. February in 212 was Fabulous! Students enjoyed making a We welcomed a new student chain and adding a link for into our room and his every act of kindness they did. classmates were so excited! We made Valentines sling He has been a wonderful shots out of balloons and addition to our room. plastic cups and we shot Valentine hearts against our Room 212 celebrated the plastic desk shields. Everyone 100th day of school by aging did a great job of following our faces, making a tower of a directions. We also made 100 mini cups, and doing 100 Valentines graphs using our different exercises! Valentine heart candies. We graphed how many of each color heart were in our boxes. We painted Valentines boxes and made bracelets for inside them.

We have begun to study our solar system. Students enjoyed learning about the moon and made moon rocks out of baking soda, water and food coloring. We learned the names of all the planets and made posters showing their distance. This is a very popular unit.

5 Room 213

M S . K R I S T I E M O R A N The students have been very busy participating in group lessons and activities. First we started with Black history and learned about how they pick a theme every year. This year’s theme is family. The students were taught about Dr. Bernice King who was the daughter of Martin Luther King, Jr. and how she continues to do his work for equality. Next the students read about The Superbowl. They learned about the two different teams, the Chiefs and the Buccaneers, and what states they were from and how they won games to get to the Super Bowl. And finally, the class read about different kinds of birds, how they migrated and that there are people throughout the United States that count the birds, We talked about the kinds we see here such as the cardinals, blue jays and robins. Our class really enjoyed reading these articles!

The students continue to work on their reading goals and money math goals. They are now practicing counting money and making change. We are in the process of setting up a store in the classroom where students can buy and sort items such as fruits and vegetables, meats, and dairy products. We are excited for the students to start using it!

Mars Perseverance mission project has been a topic in the news and our classroom. We have learned that it took seven months from Earth to land on Mars. Our class has been following the update and pictures that have been posted. The students created their own planet Mars as a class project. We used wax paper and crayon shavings and ironed them to melt the crayons. Then we cut out the shape of the planet Mars. We hung them up in our classroom. The students enjoyed it!

Thank you to all who organized the Valentines day dance. Room 213 had a great time as they love to listen to the music and dance. They also enjoyed playing bingo. Thanks to all!

With February being National Children’s dental month, we had a great presentation on cleaning and caring for our teeth which was set up by Ms. Lori. The students learned how to properly brush and floss their teeth using props. They were all giving new toothbrushes and toothpaste. Our class really had a great time learning about teeth!

Chick-fil-A also came to the school and had their cow mascot visit with all the classes. Our students got to shake hands with the cow and have our picture taken. Then when the students got back to class they had a chicken sandwich and a pencil case for all the students. Thanks Chick- fil-A !

And finally, we got lucky, Room 213 loves to take outside walks. On Wednesday February 24th we had a beautiful spring like day. The students and staff practiced doing a firedrill followed by a nice relaxing walk. We took note of the beautiful blue sky and breathed in the fresh air. A good time was had by all!

6 Room 216

M S . L E E S A C I R I N E L L I February has been a very productive and exciting month for Room 216! On February 2nd, Punxutawney Phil saw his shadow and declared 6 more weeks of winter. To commemorate the declaration, 216 had a "snowball" fight with the principal and secretary using cotton snowballs. The students continued to hone their career ready skills of vacuuming, sweeping, washing windows, wiping tables, and washing dishes. In addition to the importance of working hard, 216 knows the importance of play, too -- the Connect Four tournament continues! The newest bracket winner was Shane, who joins Braeden and Jules. Connect Four has been a fun way for the students to practice their patience, turn taking, and sportsmanship.

February 7th was Superbowl Sunday, and the classroom celebrated with a pizza party and a healthy snack. Continuing the fun, later that week the students celebrated 100 Days of School by creating paper cupcake crafts with 100 rainbow sprinkles! Later in the week was the school-wide Valentine's Day Zoom party. The students exchanged Valentines, munched on some candy hearts, and enjoyed listening to some of the classic love songs from throughout the ages. Of course, the students know that they need to work hard to play hard. Over the month of February, the students learned about the biology and environment of the barn owl. The lessons concluded with the students dissecting owl pellets! It was a fun and interactive way to learn about the life and body of the barn owl.

PRIDE B

M S . E R I N P O L L A C K

February was a busy month in PRIDE. Both classrooms worked very hard filling out, sorting, and delivering Candy Grams for Student Council. Students learned how to read an order form, how to package Candy Grams, and then delivered them to each classroom.

Students are also learning about job applications and the interview process in class and with OVR. Students are practicing filling out different job applications in both paper forms and online. This month MJ started a volunteer opportunity at Goodwill in Peters Township one day a week. He really enjoys scanning books and putting them out of the shelves.

7 Home Maintenance/STEAM/Work Activity Center/Buildings and Grounds

M R . T O M K E L T O N

The technology education classes have been working on coding apps. Room 213 designed an app for their daily check in that would give each student their own daily schedule. Room 212 designed an app for each student to fill out their own lunch order. Both classes had a lot of fun using the problem solving process to design something that could be used in our school! As the weather gets warmer, I am hoping to do more STEAM lessons outside with all of the classrooms in the school. In PRIDE, home maintenance students learned how to hang pictures on the wall. They also learned how to use anchors to attach things to walls. After students learned both of those tasks, they learned how to patch holes in walls. All of the students did a great job learning something they could do at home.

Physical Education

M R . C H R I S G A R O F A L O In swimming class the students are working on the breast stroke as well as engaging in water basketball. I have been using the prompts “clap at your chest, stretch out your arms, pull the water back towards your chest” to help the students refine their arm motion. Water basketball is one of the students’ favorite game in the water and they have really been enjoying it. The next game will focus on Pin dodge.

In physical education, the students just finished our soccer unit. The next unit will focus on bowling. The students will focus on using the ramp, stepping and throwing, or using the four step technique. The students will be assessed at the end of the unit via rubrics like with all other units. The students will get to the pick the next unit once bowling is over.

8 M R . K A R E N D E R I S O

9 February Events Valentine's Day Zoom Party The school celebrated Valentine's Day with a Zoom party! The students danced to music in their classrooms and played a virtual Valentine's Bingo Game. Students from the PRIDE program helped arrange, organize, and deliver the candy grams to each classroom. Thank you to PRIDE and to the Student Activities Committee for such a fun day!

Dental Education Day Dental Education Day was held on February 24th. Ms. Melissa Stewart and her team of Dental Educators organized a Zoom presentation for each classroom to discuss the importance of dental health. The team generously donated bags for each student that contained toothbrushes, toothpaste, a timer, and much more. The students were so excited to get a bag of goodies. Thank you Melissa and friends for taking the time out of your day to educate us!

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