Tuesday, March 27, 2012

More Science....

Mr. Hamilton and our 6th grade students were getting their hands wet today in science.  Working with a partner they conducted a series of experiments to determine how water refracts light. 





Monday, March 26, 2012

Scientists!


Our fourth grade “scientists” have been conducting heat experiments.  They tested to see how different substances would react to heat.  Students compared their hypothesis to the test results.




Friday, March 23, 2012


Hartwick College and Mr. Zeh have partnered up to bring an adventure-based program called, Challenge Education to our fifth grade students.  The program provides challenge activities which allow students the opportunity to problem solve, work together, share ideas, and develop as a group and individuals.  The fundamental goal of the program is to teach tolerance and provide skills that students can use to alleviate bullying between peers. The students will work together for five sessions. Four half-hour classes are being held at RS and the final fifth class will take place at Hartwick Colleges's Pine Lake Environmental Campus.





Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Technology in the "Hands" of Students


After taking an ELA test, students worked with SMART Response Clickers to review commonly missed questions.  With the questions presented on the Smart Board students used their "clickers" to select the answer they believed to be correct.  Within seconds a graph was shown on the Smart Board indicating the percent of students that selected each answer. This evolved into thoughtful dialogue regarding why a particular response was chosen. Mrs. Johnson used this as a springboard to review the importance of key words in a question and instructional strategies that students should be using in an effort to 
identify the correct answer.  




TAKING ACTION!


On Thursday, March 15 6th graders took part in a 12 hour Read-In from 9am to 9pm to raise money for Africa. After studying Africa and the drought that is occurring in the Horn of Africa students learned about the millions of people that are being affected and they felt compelled to make a difference. The class teamed up with the "We Can Be Heroes"  DC Entertainment campaign which double all donations.

Their Read In included reading on their own, reading to pre-kindergarten students, and being read to. The whole class gave up recess and PE to take part in reading activities and games. Those who stayed after school had a dinner of rice and corn meal gruel. The students were offered a free pizza dinner from Dominoes in Oneonta, but they decided that it would be more meaningful to eat something similar to what children might be eating if they were in a poverty ridden country.

Volunteer SUCO student participators, Mr. Doak and Ms. Knabe and student teacher, Miss Stocker were of great help. Students especially appreciated Mr. Doak's athletic abilities during the end-of-night Halloween Ball game. Guest readers included Middle School Principal, Mr Johnson who read from Hemmingway's Snows of Kilamanjaro and Documentary Studies major, Devan Johnson, who read the book she created containing her photos from her work with African wildlife. Students also took part in a reading activity designed by Lucas Johnson, Humanitarian Geography major specializing in African Studies. They had to match up DC superhero powers with who would be the selected heroes to fight attributes of poverty such as gender inequality, shortages of water and food, and war.

How can we help our world?   We can be heroes.
Total amount raised will be totaled by the end of the week as we are still awaiting for final sponsorships to come in.








Thursday, March 15, 2012

Celebrating Riverside!

Click the video to take a virtual visit to our classrooms....  There is so much to be proud of.  
Feel free to leave a comment. Your thoughts are important.


Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Third Graders Embrace School Theme - Everyone Counts!


Conflicts involving seating at lunch time began to get in the way of peaceful meals for our third graders. Students were beginning to have issues with who sat where and with whom.   As a result Mr. Sider introduced the class to the beautiful song “One Love” by Bob Marley.  The chorus, “…let’s get together and feel alright” emphasizes the importance of including everyone.  Now, after selecting their numbered popsicle stick from the One Love Box, students sit side by side with different classmates each day.  
The response has been very positive.
View the short video to hear how the students feel...






Friday, March 9, 2012

Kindness...

Everything begins with love and kindness.  At Riverside we are extremely fortunate to have children who 
demonstrate this every day.

Learning With Twizzlers

Miss Novellano created a weekly 30 minute program called Fun Friday.  During this time her first grade students participate in creative fun-filled activities that support concepts covered during the week.  Tastey Twizzlers seem to be a big hit.

Students used shoestring Twizzlers to practice "fancy" writing.





Rainbow Twizzlers were a fun way to practice the several different kinds of plane shapes and patterns that they are studying!




Thursday, March 8, 2012

Who Kissed What - For What?


Mr. Sider’s 3rd grade students lead the charge in supporting families of our sister city school in India.  They challenged students in each class to raise enough money to purchase goats for the families in need. If the class raised $60 their teacher had to kiss a goat. 


 Amazingly enough over $1,000 was collected - enough money for 18 goats! Every teacher kissed a goat - including me!    
Check out the short movie to learn more about the project and catch a glimpse of the assembly by viewing the pictures…














Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Terrific Tuesday...

As I walk around the school each day and visit classrooms I am always extremely impressed by what is taking place.  I thought I would share my walk around with you....


Mrs. Lewicki praises and supports her kindergarten students.


Mrs. Rivera's kindergarten students, Madalyn and Athena, celebrate their outstanding writing.


Collin, a fantastic first grader, works through a morning math problem.

Second graders weave their way though an obstacle course that Mr. Slater created.

 Students learn about the skeletal system with student teacher, Miss. Roth and a life size skeleton.

Ruby makes some pancakes to go along with the syrup they made. (Check out earlier post!)

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Friday, March 2, 2012

Mrs. Johnson's reading group just started the book,  No More Dead Dogs, by Gordon Korman. In the book, the teacher is fixated on dog stories.  This is the first time Mrs. Johnson has included this comical story in her reading program and the first time  Max, her dog, came in for a visit.  Max's visit offered inspiration.  While Max wasn't actually able to 'read', he provided some entertainment and acted as a snugly pillow.






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