School Days

Cape May County Technical
Cape May County Special Services School District students from Mrs. Soennichsen’s class at Ocean Academy went on a “Trek to the Tech” school next door. The “Trek” was part of their OXE experience with Miss Gina Lanza. The students have been learning how to be “bird watchers” by going around their school with binoculars. The students have also added to their sightings by hanging a bird feeder outside of their classroom window. On Thursday a few students from Mr. Toft’s class at the Cape May Technical High School took the young bird watchers to several “special” birding sights around their school. They were very excited to see ospreys building their spring nest out in the wetlands. The two groups hope to get together again soon for another “Trek to the Tech” adventure.
Dennis Township
A famous Frenchman by the name of Joseph Joubert once said, “To teach is to learn twice.” This truism was put into practice on April 1st and the learning experienced by Dennis Township fourth and seventh graders was no joke. Fourth graders in the classes of Ms. String, Ms. Creamer and Ms. Fetsick joined the seventh grade World History classes of Ms. Flack for an opportunity to “teach and learn”. Ms. Holman and Ms. Curvan also accompanied the fourth graders.
To begin this exchange of learning, the seventh graders sang songs they composed about the civilizations in their most recent unit of study, Expanding American Cultures. Their songs, sung to the tune of television theme songs “The Brady Bunch” and “Green Acres”, described farming, warfare, religion and government in the civilizations of the Inca, Aztec and Maya. Fourth graders were able to participate in these songs by holding up word cards containing phrases like “jaguar”, “sacrifice” and “emperor” when they heard them in one of the songs.
After the seventh graders finished their songs, they were paired up with fourth grade Iditarod experts. As a part of their social studies unit on the northwestern United States, fourth graders created information al booklets about the lengthy and dangerous dog sled race called the Iditarod. They rotated around the classroom, teaching seventh graders about the jobs of dogs, the role of a musher and stops during the race itself.
Once the fourth graders returned to their classrooms, the seventh graders enthusiastically reported to Ms. Flack that they had learned quite a lot about the Iditarod from “those little kids.” When asked if singing their songs helped them remember the Inca, Aztec and Maya, they all nodded. “Those songs are going to be stuck in our heads forever!”
Glenwood Avenue
Donna Troiano, John Siciliano and Linda Davenport, presented students with certificates, magnets and pencils for the Greater Wildwood Kiwanis program “Bringing Up Grades” (BUG). Students who improved in one subject and maintained all other grades were recognized in grades 3 through 5.