Streets of Learning
By Joyce Rueff

Kindergarten Corner
Kindergartners made unique displays to commemorate the 100th day of school. A 100-piece paper quilt showed each student's name printed enough times to have 100 letters. Kindergartners also authored books with topics such as, "What My Mom Has Told Me 100 Times," "I Could Eat 100__" and "What I Would Spend $100 On."

Penguin Place (first grade)
Thanks to a furnace malfunction, it was cold! Tourist attractions included life-size drawings of penguins and mini-penguins complete with their rookeries. Penguin papers were examples of students' expository writing and penguinfolders included student work. Parka Pals was an art project where each student was pictured with a speech bubble showing one fact about the Antarctic.

At Penguin Place West (the computer lab), the first graders transformed handwritten rough drafts of penguin books into animated slideshows, showing individually researched penguin facts, complete with slide transitions and sounds.

Dinosaur Drive (second grade)
Our second graders had a great time preparing for Academic Avenues and studying dinosaurs. They incorporated all their centers and special classes to prepare their projects. In addition, they listened to stories, read books, used the computer and did art projects such as making papier-mâché dinosaur eggs, which they put into a nest to "hatch" the night of Academic Avenues. The students were also proud of their mural depicting Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods that covered one classroom wall.

Rainforest Road (third grade)
At this stop, guests were able to see monkeys hanging from vines and the largest flower in the world, the giant rafflesia. They also learned about the gifts of the rainforest and experienced the rainforest's four layers.

Valentine Box Boulevard (fourth grade)
Students utilized the six simple machines to create Valentine boxes. The requirements were that the box must fit on the the student's desk, be large enough to hold Valentines from everyone and incorporate at least four of the six simple machines.

Fourth Grade Food Fairway
The fourth graders learned how to plan for a large group meal. Although the chili was offered for free, diners were given the opportunity to make a donation. Students planned the menu, created signs and made a work schedule.

Wax Museum Boulevard (fifth grade)
Each class member portrayed an authentically costumed Colonial personality while posing motionless in a Living Wax Museum. Details of each colonist's life was displayed in front of the figure. Student-drawn backgrounds were outlined with lights and soft music was the only sound in this fascinating museum.

Inventors Intersection (sixth grade)
Students solved problems such as germy toilet handles (the Foot Flusher) or hamburgers that fall apart or splash grease when flipped (the Flipper & Flopper). The kids also created poster-sized newspaper front pages about inventors like Edison, Bell and more.

Countries Cove (seventh grade)
This area featured displays complete with flags, pictures, ethnic recipes, food and information. Students acted as tour guides as the travelers learned about the countries and sampled kringla from Norway and damper bread from Australia.

Write Way (seventh and eighth grades)
Guests stopped here to read some essays, poetry and interviews. One trekker commented, "I didn't know that students could write so well."

Wellness Way (eighth grade)
After studying human biology and health, class members researched a topic and utilized outside resources (local hospital, health department, American Cancer Society, etc.) to get information for their report and to create handouts for our visitors. There were also booths on various topics to emphasize wellness.

Sweet Treat Terrace (resource room)
Students handed out M&M® candies to visitors and asked them to estimate the number of M&Ms in a jar. The resource students had already surveyed the school population about their favorite color M&M – blue. They then graphed the results.