On a cold January day, Carly Bossung’s, Caitlin Dennehy’s and Krista LaBarbera’s first grade students participated in Miller Avenue School’s first Hibernation Day!

Classrooms were set up as “cave rooms” in which students (and teachers) crawled into from the hallway and students engaged in various animal/hibernation themed learning throughout the day. They wore their pajamas, made Hibernation Day crowns, worked on bears in a cave math and sequenced the story “Bear Snores On.” They also discovered which animals hibernate, why they hibernate and where they might hibernate, wrote their own “If I were an animal who hibernated...” imaginative writing and engaged in a science experiment that simulated how stored fat keeps animals warm all winter.

Click here to view the Hibernation Day! slideshow.

Date Added: 1/6/2025

During the month of December, students at Miller Avenue learned about the composer Tchaikovsky, focusing mainly on his Nutcracker ballet. Classes used a variety of props to activate their learning, such as noodles, plastic plates, ribbon wands, the stretchy band and a parachute. “

We used these props with songs such as The Nutcracker March and Trepak to focus on form and expression,” music teacher Cara Verity said.

Pictured are second grade students working on Rondo Form and steady beat while using plastic plates with The Nutcracker March, and first grade students working on AABA Form while using ribbon wands with Trepak.

Date Added: 12/23/2024

Date Added: 12/23/2024