First-graders in Michelle Mardiney’s bilingual class at Deasy School recently practiced their graphing skills and used their senses during a cross-curricula lesson in the school’s outside classroom.

Each student began the lesson with a small pumpkin that had the stem precut so they could remove it with ease. Ms. Mardiney then asked the class what color the pumpkin was, how it felt on the outside and the inside, what it smelled like and if it made any sound. Students reacted with delight and in some cases with a bit of dismay, as they felt the stickiness of the seeds and the pulp of the pumpkin.      

The lesson transitioned to mathematics, with students practicing counting in English and Spanish using the pumpkin seeds. Ms. Mardiney supplied the students with a picture of a pumpkin that had spots marked for their seeds so they could count how many were inside their pumpkin. Students placed the rest of the seeds on a paper plate and continued to count. Once they were finished, each student glued their seeds to a graph created by their teacher. 

According to Mardiney, the lesson used Dr. Peter Garrity’s math strategies for counting and graphing, which teachers learned during a recent professional development workshop. Students will continue to use the math concepts in a variety of “Fun Friday” activities planned by their teacher. 

Glen Cove elementary students are building upon their knowledge of long vowels, vowel teams and more thanks to the district’s recent expansion of Wilson’s early literacy phonics program Fundations to include students in grade 1.

The Fundations program was first implemented for kindergartners last year. It employs a research-based approach and extensive program materials to assist teachers in presenting a carefully structured literacy curriculum using multisensory techniques. 

Students in Jennifer Cleary and Susan Seltzer’s integrated coteaching first-grade class at Deasy School are enjoying the new program, which equips them with wipe boards to practice letter structure. They also review letter sounds with help from owl puppets “Mommy Echo” and “Baby Echo” and other manipulatives that reinforce lessons. Mrs. Cleary said the program is effective because of the consistent and repetitive nature of the curriculum.

“It has been extremely helpful to students as they transfer to writing, and decoding words during reading,” Mrs. Cleary said.