Students in Ms. Engel’s math class recently performed a math play for their Christmas project.  The play consisted of five scenes.  A family decides to take a trip to the mall for some Christmas shopping.  The family rides a bus to the mall.  The riders must pay with play money, while the bus driver makes change.  While at the mall, the family buys gifts with their money and purchases food at the food court.  There are cashiers, waitresses and cooks involved.  Students practiced the skills of making change, budgeting and responsibility.  “The play was really fun, and it felt like real life.”  says Sarah Berardini, math student.

The elves are busy at Paynter Elementary! Kindergarteners are making gifts for family members, music classes are caroling through the halls, and there is live entertainment in the lobby as children arrive off of the buses in the morning. On the final day before the holiday break, the entire school will be treated to a play, Christmas of the Snow Queen, performed by many teachers who have been rehearsing for weeks.

Students from the International Club at Seton LaSalle High School once again visited the ELL children at Paynter Elementary. After reading an Early American Christmas story, the high school and elementary school students joined together to decorate cookies, followed by the ELL students receiving a gift of school supplies from their older friends.

After meeting letter person, Mr. O, Mrs. Vu’s Kindergarten made egg omelettes. Students helped mix the eggs and butter the toast to eat with their omelettes. What a tasty way to help remember Mr. O’s sound!

As a culminating activity to the 4th grade ASSET science unit Electric Circuits, students in Mrs. Buglar’s and Mr. Kobistek’s classes made houses with two working lights, using what they learned to create a circuit with a battery, wire and light bulb. Students began by planning the house on paper. They were graded on how well they followed the guidelines and if their circuits were concealed and actually worked. Last, came the fun part of decorating the houses.

Mr. Jeff Smith, also known as Geode Jeff, was recently at Paynter for his yearly visit with third grade classes. Following a video showing how Mr. Smith travels to mines in Mexico to bring back many crates of small and large geodes for students to purchase, he cracks them open so the students can see what beautiful crystals are inside. This interesting presentation coincides with the Rocks and Minerals science unit.

Mrs. Leslie’s 4th grade and Ms. Larkin’s 2nd grade met for the first time at a Books & Buddies activity. Students got to know each other through an interview process. They wrote paragraphs about what they learned about each other. Next, they will create a writing display entitled Good Friends Are Gifts. These two classes will meet throughout the school year for more fun Language Arts projects.

Mrs. Leslie’s 4th grade created their own personal set of array cards to use at home and at school. Each student cut out different array cards, wrote the multiplication problem on the front and the answer on the back. They will be using these cards to play multiplication games during the Investigations of Arrays and Shares math unit.