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PEC
Participants and Winners
What is PEC and how do I participate?
April 2009
| Dierdre Wicker** |
Holocaust
After learning the characteristics of memoirs, students in Miss Wirta and Mrs. Wicker's language arts classes researched children of the Holocaust. Taking on the viewpoint of the child, the students wrote memoirs for a child of the Holocaust, complete with pictures of the children. |
March 2009
| Mary Jo Sarff |
Photo Story Project
Student's in Mrs. Sarff's fourth grade class will be working collaboratively with a partner to design there own Planet Photo-Story. Students will be gathering research on a planet and will use that information to go far and beyond with a Planet Story in Pictures. |
| Joy Gronewald and Lisa Walenda |
Endangered Species
Mrs. Gronewold's and Mrs. Walenda's 7th and 8th grade science classes have been working hard on a research project about endangered species. Each student picked a species, researched, made a powerpoint presentation, and presented their project to the class. |
| Christy Gardner |
Animal Reports
Students in Ms. Gardner's room used text from their Mondo reading series to guide their animal reports. They also went to the computer lab to look up more information on several kids friendly websites. |
| Becky Rulis** |
PowerPoint
Mrs. Rulis and her class are learning about the different animal groups. Each student did research on a different animal with their Reading Bubby. When they were finished each student completed a PowerPoint slide about their animal. Mrs. Rulis put them all together to make a class slide show and classroom books to share. |
| Dierdre Wicker |
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Students in Mrs. Wicker's and Miss Wirta's language class used the mentor text,Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, by Judi & Ron Barrett to write and illustrate descriptive stories with food-inspired adjectives. The students will share the books with students in CBI. |
| Stacy Slagle* |
Bora Bora
The student's in Ms. Slagle's 5th grade class read a story that took place on the island of Bora Bora. After reading, the students did on-line research about the tropical life native to the island as well as the geography. Then they created a travel ad about the island and a crayon resist painting of the ocean life. |
| Katie Wiese* |
Diamonte Poetry
Miss Wiese's 6th grade class wrote diamonte poems using characters from two different versions of a fairytale. Next, they searched for pictures to represent the nouns, adjectives, and verbs in their poems. Finally, students inserted the pictures into PhotoStory and were able to narrarate and add background music! |
| Traci Guenther |
Pi Day
Students in Mrs. Guenther's 7th Grade math class celebrated a belated pi day since 3.14 fell on a Saturday this year. We listened to the "Pi Song," participated in a circle investigation in order to discover the relationship between circumference and diameter, and played a number of circle games in order to pay tribute to pi. |
| Traci Guenther |
Newton's Laws of Motion
Students in Mrs. Guenther's enrichment class are applying Newton's Laws of Motion as they design foam tube roller coasters and compete for the highest thrill rating. Coaster thrill points are earned by creating inverted loops, u-turns, upward hills, creative jumps and landings. |
| Katie DuBois |
I Am Healthy
Mrs. DuBois and Miss Gerrisha's first graders did a health unit in March. We learned about eating healthy foods, exercising, taking care of our bodies, and why it is important to be healthy. To conclude the unit, each student created his/her own PowerPoint presentation title "I Am Healthy" to be shared in April at Open House. |
February 2009
| Sherry Harding |
Senteo Responders
Ms. Curtin and Ms. Harding's students have been reviewing measurement. Senteo responders gave instant feedback, a computer gorilla reviewed capacity, and Olympic stations provided a chance to measure and burn off energy at the same time. Especially on days with indoor recess, it's great to have "active" activities like these. |
| Nikki Giosta* |
Q and U
K students in Mrs. Giosta's class at Smith learned that "Q and U stick like glue" when they had a wedding ceremony for the 2 letters. Students dressed up for the occasion on Jan. 13. They wrote and illustrated words like squirrel and quarterback, which they presented at the ceremony. There was even cake and punch to celebrate! |
| Victoria Timko |
Astronomy
Broadmoor 8th graders in Ms. Timko's class chose various topics in Astronomy then conducted research and created projects to teach others their topics. Products included Publisher brochures, Power Point Presentations, Word scrapebooks, posters, and bulletin boards. |
| Monica Jacobs** |
Presidential Reports
Third Graders in Mrs. Jacobs' Class at Willow School researched a president of their choice using books and the internet. They then captured computer pictures and set them to music. The students used microphones to narrate the presidential photostories. Parents enjoyed the show when the projects were complete! |
January 2009
| Traci Guenther** |
SMASH
SMASH is a science and math after school hangout for junior highschool kids. SMASH students had fun learning about reflections and symmetry as they made their own kaleidoscopes last week. |
November - December 2008
| Victoria Timko** |
Experiments
While learning the scientific method, Ms. Timko's 8th grade classes wrote,
conducted and presented experiments to discover how a ball's bounce is affected by
the height from which it is dropped. Students used various computer software to
complete typed reports and presentations using the Smartboard. |
| Traci Guenther |
Horse Apples
Often incorrectly referred to as Hedge Balls, Green Brains, or Horse Apples; Hedge Apples can be found in abundance in Pekin, IL this time of year. SMASH (Science and Math After School Hangout) students spent a recent sunny afternoon katapulting them through the air to see if circumference had an effect on distance chucked. |
| Sherry Harding |
Plants
Ms. Harding's class has been busy "growing" in their knowledge of plants. After much student and research, the students' favorite part of the unit was using the Senteo responders to submit their answers and get instant feedback during the test review. |
| Amy Lydic** |
Voting
Student in Miss Lydic's kindergarten class got to experience voting in the technological age. Using Senteo responders they submitted their answers to questions such as "Do you like ice cream?" The votes were tallied and students practiced the kindergarten math skill of reading information from a graph. |
| Kassidy Facker |
TAll TAles
Mrs. Facker's class spent the month reading Tall TAles. They also picked out the important elements of Tall Tales discussed them. They each wrote a Tall Tale of their own. They used the computers to type them up and create illustrations for them. |
| Angie Bollinger * |
Election 2008
Mrs. Bollinger's class has spent the last few weeks learning about election 2008. On of the many activities students completed included a WebQuest in which they learned about the election process and the candidates. Finally, the Pioneer Village organzied a school wide election in which Barack Obama won. |
| Kelly Galyean & Kari Sturch |
Christmas Trees
Mrs. Galyean's and Mrs. Sturch's 6th grade classes participated in helping the community by decorating Christmas trees in the Pekin Park. The park will light the trees and Santa will arrive on Sunday, November 30th. Students decorated over 200 trees and were treated to a magic show and snacks. |
| Monica Jacobs |
Native American Tribes
Students in Mrs. Jacobs' third grade class became the teachers for Native American tribes this month. Student researched websites, books and articles to learn all about the tribe of their choice. They worked together in partners to teach the class using a PowerPoint presentation. Parents were also invited in to see the presentations. |
| Jenny Heath* |
Chicago Trip
Mrs. Heath's 6th grade class was one of 7 that went to Chicago and explored the Shedd, Field, and Science and Industry Museums. While there they took digital pictures and gathered facts. When they returned, they created a brochure using Microsoft Publisher to share the facts and download pictures to illustrate what they saw. |
October 2008
Traci
Peters * |
RESPECT
Mrs. Peters' sixth grade class went on a hike to McNaughton park to celebrate the Washington School RESPECT code. To practice the "T" for teamwork, this class and the rest of the Pioneer Village and Adventurer village went on a two hour hike throughout the park. As they hiked, cameras were used to capture different Kindgoms. |
| Monica Jacobs |
Bats
Students in Mrs. Jacobs' third grade class at Willow School are bat experts. They researached these interesting creatures using Enchanted Learning and National Geographic websites, After collecting facts, they turned the information into an interview format. Students made bats and hung them upside down with the interviews. |
| Traci Guenther ** |
Scientific Method
Students in Mrs. Guenther's science class got to walk out the steps of the Scientific Method as they tried to solve the mystery of why bolgna bubbles when fried. Successful test slices were honored with a spot on the classroom Bologna Wall of Fame. |
| Mary Jo Sarff |
Word Games
Student's in Mrs. Sarff's 4th grade class have been learning and discovering new words using the classroom computers. They have played interactive word games and particapted in word discovering reading activities. |
| Becky Rulis |
Apples
Mrs. Rulis and her class have had fun with apples! We wrote apple stories and made a class book in Word. The children drew their own apple illustrations for the book. The applesauce we made with Miss Belcher's class was yummy. Our favorite apple book is "The Giving Tree." We love apples! |
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September 2008
| Michael
Ritchason** |
Animal Facts & Fables
The students in Mr. Ritchason's & Miss Philipchuck's
class recently read the story Animal Fact/Animal
Fable. To tie into the book, students researched
facts about animals on the National Geographic website
and also used the site to write up their own fables
about animals.
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| Christina
Gardner** |
What's Great About 2nd Grade
Ms. Gardner's 2nd grade students are busy making
a powerpoint. They want to tell parents at Open
House "What Is Great In 2nd Grade!" Each
student is inserting their own picture and adding
a caption. |
May 2008
| Katie DuBois* |
Book FLIX
The boys and girls in Mrs. DuBois' class have had fun listening to books being read to them using a new website by Scholastic. Book FLIX features a variety of fiction and nonfiction books. Students were pleased to find "Owen" by author/illustrator Kevin Henkes because he has been the focus of our recent author study. |
| Robyn Peffer |
Solar System
First graders in Mrs. Peffer's class at Willow have been learning about the solar system. One site that they have particularly enjoyed reads the information about each planet to them. |
Christy Gardner |
Save Our Earth!
While students in Ms. Gardner's room were learning about the importance of saving our Earth, they wanted to do a little research. Students went on the internet to identify animals that are unique to each continent. |
Traci Guenther** |
Bouts of Bacteria
Armed with Q-tips and petri plates, Team EnFuego 8th graders swabbed various locations of EJHS. Swabbed areas included a toilet flush handle, drinking fountain, the locker room shower floor and the nacho cheese dispenser in the cafeteria. Students will observe their plates over the next few weeks for bacterial growth. |
Katie DuBois |
Beautiful Butterflies
The boys and girls in Mrs. DuBois and Miss Pancoast's classroom have been learning about the lifecycle of a butterfly. The students created an extensive KWL chart and then began researching for facts about caterpillars and butterflies. We have used books, magazines, websites and videos from United Streaming. |
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April
2008
| Traci
Guenther* |
Project
Runway!
Team EnFuego Edison students hosted their own "Project
Runway." Each group of students was provided
with identical kits of materials and in a limited
amount of time had to design an outfit. One team
member had to then strut their stuff down the red
carpet to our team theme song: Disco Inferno! |
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| Traci
Guenther |
Barbie
Bungee!
Students in Mrs. Guenther's 8th grade science class
had to apply their knowledge of Newton's Laws of
Motion to design a bungee cord for their Barbie
that would allow her to fall from the roof of Edison
Jr. High and come as close as possible to the blacktop
without actually making contact. Mr. Heisel assisted
with the dropping. |
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| Ruth
Whaley** |
Women’s
History Research
Mrs. Whaley's class has studied Helen Keller, Anne
Frank, and Amelia Earhart for Women's History Month.
After our whole class study, our differentiated
writing groups have chosen one of the women we studied
to research on the internet (using NetTrekker).
Students will complete writing pieces on the women
they chose. |
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| Morgan
Belcher |
Easter
Delivery
The first graders in Miss Belcher's room
used the Smartboard to help the Easter Bunny deliver
eggs. Using a Smart game from scholastic.com,
we practiced addition and subtraction facts on
the eggs and delivered them to the basket with
the matching answer. |
March
2008
| Mary
Jo Sarff** |
Spin
It!
Mrs. Sarff's and Mrs. Edwards’s math class
have been busy learning about probability. As
one of the lessons students where asked to play
an online game which allows you to Spin a spinner
a predetermined amount of times 10, 20, 50, 100
and record the data. This game was great fun and
students enjoyed seeing the outcomes of the spins. |
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| Michael
Ritchason |
The
White House
The students in Mr. Ritchason's and Ms. Davis' room
recently learned about the White House. The students
researched the history of the home and then went
on a video tour led by President Bush. |
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November
2007
| Dierdre
Wicker** |
Treasure
Chest of Books
Broadmoor students love to read! Mrs. Wicker's students
read a variety of genres, wrote reviews, and created
bookmarks to share their "must reads."
Mrs. Wicker's class encourages you too to find a
great book at your local library or learning center! |
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| Christina
Gardner* |
Solar
System Reports
Students in Ms. Gardner's 2nd grade class are writing
reports on our solar system. They each chose a planet
to research in books and also on the internet using
various informative websites. The students will
then work on writing and illustrating their report
in class. |
October
2007
| Kristy
Estes* |
Let's
Remember Our Veterans
Mrs. Estes' class took a trip to Amy's Country Manor
to bridge the generation gap. They went armed with
interview questions and a yearning to learn more
about the past. Their understanding about war and
its effect on the lives of Americans became personal
as they spoke with seniors who lived through WW2,
Korea, and Vietnam. |
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| Morgan
Belcher** |
Big
Money!
The students in Miss Belcher's first grade class
LOVE thier new Smartboard! As a math warm-up activity,
the students practiced counting coins and found
the value of pennies and nickels while using the
brand new Smartboard. |
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| Dierdre
Wicker |
Teacher
for the Day
Mrs. Wicker's student groups jigsawed grammar chapters,
prepared and taught lessons with visuals for the
SmartBoard,and quizzed the students on the material.
Much learning was done by all!
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| Carrie
Anderson |
Interactive
Powerpoint
Mrs. Anderson used an interactive powerpoint to
do a lesson on graphing. The students in the second
grade class at Starke School were able to fill in
the graph and then answer questions about the graph
they constructed. |
September
2007
| Becky
Rulis |
Apples!
Mrs. Rulis and her class have been exploring the
exciting world of apples.Through stories and writing
they have learned a lot of neat stuff about apples.
The exploration included a field trip to Apple Blossom
Farm. After the trip they viewed a slide show of
the day and then wrote about their favorite part. |
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| Vicky
Timko |
Science
Museum
8th grade students at Broadmoor JH brought in
objects and created displays to
make their own Science Museum for a day. The objects
covered many areas of
science, such as zoology, botany and technology.
Students then browsed through the museum sharing
information with each other. |
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| Lori
McCoy** |
Extra,
Extra Read All About It
Mrs. McCoy's class published their first class newspaper.
The paper was
completely student written using Publisher. The
photos were taken and downloaded
by the classroom photographer. The class newspaper
will continue throughout the
school year. |
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| May
2007 |
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| Becky
Rulis* |
Mrs.
Rulis and her kindergaren literacy group have just
finished writing their
very own book! The students chose the topic and
each student wrote their own page. Then they typed
their creation in Word and drew a picture to match.
They are so excited to share their creation with
other students! |
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| Tanya
Swearingen |
Students
in Mrs. Swearingen's class read a nonfiction story
about snakes in their storyworks magazine. After
they finished, the students began researching various
snakes and created snake informational
posters. The students had to use the internet as
well as books to find
information. Then, the students printed pictures
and used the scanner to help create their posters.
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| Christy
Gardner |
Second
grade students in Ms. Gardner's room have been studying
state symbols
of Illinois. The students went to the internet to
find state symbols as common as
the fish, flower, tree and animal, but also found
the state dance, snack food, and
insect. They then learn how to make a proper poster
to display their information. |
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| Robyn
Peffer** |
Mrs.
Peffer's first graders at Willow have been learning
about the planets.
They enjoyed looking at pictures from space on a
NASA web site called the Astronomy Picture of the
Day. The pictures ranged anywhere from the Milky
Way to the Seven Dusty Sisters. |
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*indicates monthly winner
**indicates monthly PEC2 Winner |
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