Wescosville Second Graders

Name: Wescosville Second Graders

School : Wescosville Elementary

Accomplishments: The second grade class at Wescosville explored the topic of sound for several weeks while completing their STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) initiative. Their journey started with group discovery time to make as many different sounds that they could from a box of materials including glass jars, plastic boxes, metal and plastic utensils, rubber bands, string, tuning forks and water.  Observations and questions were written down and put on an interactive bulletin board for further investigation.

Key to Awesomeness: Instructor Paula Fehlinger led the exploration with the help of second grade teammates Sherry Rose, Kim Henry, Krista Colville and Mary Wylie. The second graders were surprised that what began in science class actually carried over into other subject areas like Language Arts, Writing, Art and Music.  Throughout their journey, students discovered the meanings of sound concepts like pitch and volume and put those ideas into action while making ear gongs, bonkos and their own instruments out of collected recyclable materials.  Instrumental and string instructors, Jennifer Davenport and Ryan Williams, gave a great demonstration for the students to see the application of what they were discovering.

Vicky Free, the art teacher, guided students in planning their instruments by making sketches, gathering materials and constructing and decorating their creations. Sue Smith, the music teacher, helped students learn and rehearse rhythms to play on their instruments. Beth Fair, the technology Integration coach, instructed students how to use the Flip cameras and guided students to take their writing about sound and video footage to create an iMovie to demonstrate how to make ear gongs and bonkos. After learning to write couplets and poetry, Paula Fehlinger’s class wrote an original song about sound that they taught to the entire second grade and sang at a culminating performance during a recent Wescosville assembly for parents and the school.

Also,

Congratulations to the EHS National Merit Finalists:

Wai-Tim Chew, Sharon Y. Chien, Megan E. Fine, Elena M. Haag, Katherine A. Hsu, James Dean Jerry, Oscar Siyuan Li, Ryan E. Maake, Brandon P. Mulcahy, Erin L. Trautmann, Danielle Verghese and Christine L. Xue.

NOTE: Information provided by Nicole Bloise, community liaison for the East Penn School District.

Nominate a Whiz Kid: send your suggestions to jerry.brahm@patch.com.