FAYETTEVILLE — Summer vacation for most of the students in Fayetteville schools starts Friday but until then teachers say it will be businesss as usual in their classrooms.
Even if fun events are scheduled, an element of learning will be involved, such as the economics skills third-graders learned at Vandergriff Elementary School. Students will have a competition to sell the most lemonade at a field day Thursday. The competition developed after they read “The Lemonade War.”
At A Glance
School’s Out
Most Fayetteville schools will finish the school year Friday. Asbell and Happy Hollow elementary schools will be in school another two weeks. They operate on a continuous learning calendar and open about two weeks before traditional schools and end about two weeks after.
Source: Staff Report
Ashley Osburn laughed when told a common perception is students watch movies or play games during the last few days of school.
Not in her first-grade classroom at Owl Creek School, she said last week while supervising sack races during field day for students in kindergarten through fourth grade.
“This is probably one of the busiest weeks of the year,” Osburn said.
“I’ll be doing the same thing I do all year,” said Deena Brown, another first-grade teacher at Owl Creek. She and Osburn said they will continue with reading and phonics instruction. The important thing is to keep the classroom schedule or routine going.
“If I’m still teaching, they’re still engaged,” Brown said.
Richard Armendariz, physical education teacher at Owl Creek said, “I will keep my nose to the grindstone until 3 p.m. on the 31st, even in PE and health. There are nutrition and fitness needs.” And, instruction will continue in the fundamentals of baseball in his classes this week.
“We’re trying to develop some baseball players,” he said.
Ashley Jones, a second-grade teacher at Holcomb Elementary School, said activities are planned throughout her school to keep students engaged while providing some fun in a learning environment.
While activities such as field days or variety shows provide fun activities and a break in the day, the students settle right back into the routine of their classrooms.
In her class, students write letters to next year’s second-graders to explain what to expect. They also write letters to their third-grade teacher telling a little bit about themselves.
“We also play review games. They’re fun but students are also learning,” Jones said.
One day, students will bring their favorite book and and will spend the day reading in the classroom.
There will be some science experiments as well, Jones said. Last week, the students made ice cream in a bag. It was a lesson on how liquid can be changed to a solid.
Bill Maxey’s students in his seventh-grade science class are studying weather this week, such as hurricanes and tornadoes. His social studies students are delving into the Renaissance, Englightenment and Reformation periods, based on a curriculum from the History Channel.
“We’re scheduled to work until the end of the year,” Maxey said.
“There is emphasis on collaboration and reflection and expression in their writing,” he said.
Carri Finley’s fifth-graders in language arts will finish planning philanthropic projects, some of which will extend through the summer vacation. The projects, developed by students working alone or in small groups, are the conclusion of the fourth quarter study on making a difference in the world.
The projects range from raising awareness about ovarian cancer and diabetes to operating lemonade stands to fighting childhood cancer, selling Compliment Grams throughout the school and collecting school supplies to send to Moore, Okla.
“The intent is to teach them to participate in lifelong philanthrophy, to be good people,” said Finley. “These students are 10 and 11 years old and they can’t dream too small.”
Michelle Hayward, principal at McNair Middle School, said the seventh-grade celebration on the last day at her school is a reward because students have worked so very hard as sixth and seventh-graders and this allows the students to strengthen their bonds as they prepare to move to junior high.
Still, the seventh-graders know they have to take final exams and finish projects before they can celebrate, Hayward said. At the same time, the sixth-graders are writing personal reflections, making a video to help incoming sixth-graders or visiting with students about their math or literacy performance.
“We never quit,” Hayward said.