Miss Anderson's First Grade All-stars at McAnnulty
practiced their reading strategies with Mrs. Tomnay,
a special guest reader. Mrs. Tomnay shared a special
Valentine's Day Interactive Read-Aloud story and
combined reading with holiday fun! The students
interacted with the story and used their strategies
to answer the comprehension questions.
Posted
3/5/07
MES
- Rose's Rockets' Bar Graphs
Miss Rose's Rockets at McAnnulty learned how to
create bar graphs in math class using hidden Valentine
pictures! The first graders then used the data on
their bar graphs to determine which pictures were
found most and least often!
Posted
3/5/07
MES
- Miss Pavelka's Class Explores Chromatography
As part of the "Changes" science unit,
McAnnulty second grade students in Miss Pavelka's
class explored chromatography. They used water to
separate the colors in markers. They discovered
that black is actually made up of many different
colors, and green is made up of blue and yellow.
This fun experiment was enjoyed by all!
Posted
3/5/07
MES
- Griener's Greats Grammar Review
Griener's Greats at McAnnulty worked hard in small
groups to review for their upcoming grammar quiz.
The second graders have been studying past tense
verbs. Together, they made a word web of past tense
verbs. Words could be found in books or just written
from their minds! Reviewing for the quiz was fun
and social!
Posted
3/5/07
MES
- Wyatt's Wizards Graphing
The Wyatt Wizards at McAnnulty enjoyed a fun graphing
activity for Valentine's Day. The first graders
used their math strategies for sorting and graphing
their candy hearts. Then they had to count how many
of each color they had. The best part was eating
them at the end!
Posted
3/5/07
PES
- Third Grade Rocks and Minerals Science Unit
As he has done for the past few years, Geode Jeff
made an annual visit to Paynter’s Third Grade.
He brought with him crates of geodes (formed by
a gas bubble in an ancient lava flow that hardens
into a round hollow rock, usually with crystals
inside). After Mr. Jeff Smith showed a video presentation
of one of his many trips to Mexico to mine for geodes,
he allowed students to purchase an unopened and/or
cut and polished geode. Students were fascinated
to see what was inside their geode as Jeff cracked
it open in front of them. This wonderful activity,
correlating with the Third Grade Rocks and Minerals
science unit, was sponsored by the Paynter PTA.
Posted
3/5/07
WES
- DARE Graduation
On Friday February 9th, the fifth grade at Whitehall
celebrated their DARE Graduation. Present at the
Ceremony were Baldwin’s Mayor, James Nowalk;
Whitehall Police Chief, Donald Dolphi; Deputy Police
Chief, Richard Danko; former Whitehall Dare Officer,
Bruce Marchetti; and Elementary Curriculum Director,
Dr. Randal Lutz. This year, the DARE program at
Whitehall was directed by Whitehall Officer, Dave
Artman. In his first year at Whitehall, Officer
Dave was a great success. His easy going nature,
and his natural ability to interact with the children,
made him a popular person at Whitehall. We look
forward to having Officer Dave working with our
Whitehall kids for many years to come.
Posted
3/5/07
PES
- Mrs. Vu’s Room Celebrated the 100th Day
Paynter Elementary children in Mrs. Vu’s
room celebrated the 100th day of school by making
hats and Gorp. Gorp is a snack mixture of high-energy
foods such as pretzels, raisins, and chocolate chips.
Students counted ten items each from ten different
snack choices. When they finished, they had a bag
of 100 pieces of snacks to take home and share.
Posted
3/5/07
MES
- Queen of Hearts
The Queen of Hearts visited the Royal Students
at McAnnulty on the 100th day of school. She read
a proclamation to the students as well as a story
in which many students participated. The Queen kicked
off a month of reading for Jr. Great Books, the
MS Read-a-thon and issued a challenge to the students
to read 1000 books in one month. If the challenge
is completed, she will return on Dr. Seuss' birthday,
Read Across America Day.
Posted
3/5/07
PES
- 100th Day of School
Kindergarten students at Paynter Elementary participated
in many fun activities on February 1st, the 100th
Day of School. A few ways this annual event was
celebrated was by making necklaces with 100 pieces
of cereal, wearing 100 Day hats, and observing other
students’ 100 Day projects. These fantastic
projects were completed at home and displayed in
Paynter’s lobby for all to see the many creative
ways Kindergarten students can show 100.
Posted
3/5/07
MES
- Dentist Visit
Dr. Charlene Andes visited Mrs. Urban's and Ms.
McPaul's classrooms at McAnnulty on Thursday, March
8, 2007. She brought lots of examples of how to
keep teeth healthy, and each student received a
toothbrush. Thank you Dr. Andes!
Posted
3/12/07
PES
- Green Eggs and Ham
Second grade students in Mrs. Myers’ and
Mrs. Zamboni’s classes at Paynter Elementary
enjoyed a morning of green eggs and ham to celebrate
Dr. Seuss’s birthday! Boys and girls played
Green Eggs and Ham Tic-Tac-Toe, enjoyed a wonderful
breakfast, and listened to Dr. Seuss stories.
Posted
3/12/07
PES
- Kindergarten Registration
March 8th was Paynter’s Kindergarten Registration.
Approximately 90 children were screened for Kindergarten
readiness skills. Parents were able to meet the
principals and the social worker. The secretary
and nurse reviewed forms and answered any questions.
Students and their families will be invited back
to Paynter in August for Kindergarten Orientation
to become more prepared for the first day of full-day
Kindergarten on September 4, 2007.
Posted
3/12/07
MES
- Dr. Seuss' Birthday
On Friday, March 2, 2007 McAnnulty Elementary
celebrated Dr. Seuss's birthday. The students had
great fun reading Cat In The Hat, One Fish, Two
Fish, and other Dr. Seuss books. They sorted colors
of fish crackers and created their own cats and
hats. Their imaginations were inspired by the various
characters from Dr. Seuss, one of McAnnulty’s
favorite authors.
Posted
3/12/07
PES
- The Cat in the Hat Comes Back!
March 2nd marked the 50th anniversary for The
Cat in the Hat book! If author Theodore Geisel were
alive (he would be 103 years old), he would have
delighted in the way that his book was commemorated
throughout the nation. Paynter was no exception
to this celebration. While the Cat greeted students
when they arrived on Friday morning, he returned
to lead the reading of The Cat in the Hat in the
auditorium that afternoon. At 2:36 PM, children
across the USA joined together to read in unison.
There are a total of 236 words in the story. After
reading the Dr. Seuss book, the children took an
oath to read every day. When they returned to their
classrooms they received an award: “Hats off
to you” for making a commitment to read. The
children also made and wore red, cat ties throughout
the day in school.
Posted
3/12/07
PES
- ASSET Science
As part of the ASSET science unit on The Human
Body, Paynter students in Mr. Kobistek’s 4th
grade were given the task of constructing a working
model of a human leg using only paper clips, rubber
bands, rubber connectors, and wooden dowels. Upon
completion, they had to sketch in their science
notebooks, label the parts, and write how they compare
to the tissues in an actual human leg.
Posted
3/12/07
MES
- Prewriting Strategies
Bruder's Busy Buddy Bees at McAnnulty Write Persuasive
Paragraphs about February Presidents! the learners
in Mrs. Bruder's Busy Bees Second Grade Classroom
have been busy this year learning about the importance
of using Prewriting Strategies in order to help
them write a great paragraph. Their latest writing
project was using Venn Diagrams as a prewriting
strategy to plan for Persuasive paragraphs. Learners
worked together to use Venn Diagrams to compare
presidents, and then were asked to create a favorite
president poster using the facts from Venn Diagrams.
This prewriting strategy made drafting their Persuasive
Paragraph about why their favorite president is
the best very easy! The class shared paragraphs
and held an election.
Posted
3/22/07
PES
- Kindergarten Math and Literacy Centers
Morning Kindergarteners in Mrs. McWilliam’s
class at Paynter work independently at Math and
Literacy Centers. Small groups create math patterns;
practice art expression, ABC order and initial sound
sorting. They are working very hard at becoming
1st graders!
Posted
3/22/07
PES
- Food Pyramid
Following a unit on the Food Guide Pyramid taught
by Ms. Wolf’s student teacher, Ms. Husband,
Paynter students enjoyed a Food Group Feast. Everyone
pitched in to bring an item from a different food
group. There were many items to choose from. Some
students tried a new food that day! There were pineapple
pieces from the Fruit group, baked beans from the
Meat and Beans group, whole grain crackers from
the Grains group and much more! Room 126 will certainly
remember this delicious culminating activity.
Posted
3/22/07
Administration Building, 4900 Curry Road,
Pittsburgh, PA 15236
