Written by Shannon

I chose Miss Dantonio as my person for Humans of Pinewood because not a lot of people know her.
Tell us some facts about you.
She went to Michigan State.
This is her first year at Pinewood.
She has one sister.

Two dogs.
Favorite sport is soccer.
Favorite color is green.

So what would be your dream outfit ?
She would wear a blue dress with lace ,comfy heels , and dangly earrings. Written by Shannon V . From 5th grade.

Kindergartners are learning all about the purposes of signs.  We learned that signs provide information, tell people what to do, where to go, or to be warned about danger, signs use pictures or words.  Mrs. Richey’s friends went on a scavenger hunt looking for different signs in the building and in our room.  We then made signs to hang up in our own classroom.  It was so much fun making signs to hang up!

Today Mrs. Palmer’s Kid Cats got to meet Chad Lemke, our Wildcat football player! The class was very excited to meet him, learn about football, hear a story and play on the playground with him! Several children are ready to cheer him on tonight at the game! GO GREEN! GO CATS!

TLAP Day 2016

Please take a moment to watch the video linked above it will give you a snap shot of our day last Friday. Teach Like a Pirate Day is always a very fun day for students and for staff. The fun and exciting activities, the guest teachers, the costumes, all make it a fun day. But the trade-off is a full day of instruction, so as an educator and a leader in the building I have to ask myself is it worth it, is a day of fun worth giving up our very precious instructional time? As I look back and reflect on our TLAP days over the past three years I can answer a solid yes to that question. We are not giving up a day of instruction we are gaining a day of amazing experiences. I see value in this day on many levels but I wanted to share the top ones with our school community.
The first and most evident reason our TLAP day is valuable is the level of engagement from our students is very high throughout the entire day. Students are so excited for each session, the biggest behavior issue we have is them running to their next session. If you have a chance to spend anytime in a session you hear students digging deep into the subject asking great questions because of their own curiosity. At one point in our session on unmanned ariel vehicles, UAVs, a whole group of students cheered because they figured out what GPS stood for on their own. Anytime we can have students cheering about their classwork it is a win.

The second benefit of TLAP day is promoting student independence.  All of our students are taken outside of their normal classroom and mixed in with new classmates and new teachers on TLAP day.  Our lower elementary students participate in a class rotation and work with other lower elementary teachers, even this small change in schedule helps our students learn how to advocate for themselves and work with new people.  Our upper elementary students are responsible for their entire day.  3rd-6th grade students choose their own schedule from the menu of options and use that schedule to guide their entire day.  Upper elementary students have to problem solve if their first choice session is full, if they can not find a classroom, if one of their friends chooses a different session from them, this provides a great opportunity for students to practice independence.
The third, and most important benefit TLAP day provides is RELATIONSHIPS. All of our students work with a variety of teachers from throughout our building getting a chance to meet them and start to build relationships with them. Later on during the school year when they see these teachers in the hall or at a school event they know them and feel more comfortable with them. Our upper elementary students get to mix up with students from different classes and different grades. This brings our students together when they see each other on the playground they have some common experiences to talk about. TLAP day creates connections throughout our entire school community, connections that go far beyond one day.

I am very appreciative of Pinewood’s amazing staff that work to create lessons that all students will enjoy and who welcome all students into their classrooms.  I’m also appreciative of all of our parents, everyone is so supportive of TLAP day and help in any way they can.  Finally I’m appreciative of our students who jump into the day and fully participate in every session.  I’m already looking forward to next year.

First Day of School and the temperature rises up to 90º outside. The temperature inside gave no relief.  However, Mrs. DeWitt gave the students the opportunity to cool off with a game of Water Ball.

She soaked a fabric covered ball in a tub of ice cold water and brought this tub of water and water ball outside for students to show what they remember learning about Mrs. DeWitt as a person, not just as a 4th grade teacher.  When students gave the correct answer, they were able to squish the ball of water over themselves.  Those sitting, have already answered a question correctly.

Pinewood kindergarteners first day of school!  Mrs. Machiela is reading a book to get the morning started in the right direction.  Our kindergarteners are ready to learn!