This week our fourth graders have been working with Artist in Residence James Cannon. They have been exploring sound energy and energy transfer through West African drumming. Students had a blast learning how to play the West African celebration song Kuku, on djembe drums. They also used their senses to find evidence of energy transfer and transformation. What an amazing experience for our Chameleons!
We had another wonderful duty free lunch today! We are so lucky to have such a supportive PTA!
On Friday we had a school wide artist in residence, Tim Lowry. Tim is an award winning storyteller who has toured all over the country. Tim told stories to individual grade levels as a way to teach their standards through story telling. We are so lucky to have Tim visit HHA!
There is still time to register for ECM’s annual fundraiser, The Charleston Half Marathon, 5K, and Youth Marathon! We are so close to winning the Peyton Moore Spirit Award! We hope to see all our Chameleons there!
We had the best time last night at Rayburn's Reading Roundup and Math Night. Mrs. Rayburn shared with families ways to support their student's reading at home. Then K-5 teachers taught and played math games and strategies that families can use at home to support all student's math learning. Thank to everyone who braved the cold to join us!
Our HHA teachers are excited to return to school tomorrow! Today, teachers participated in Math vertical planning. This collaboration aligns standards across grade levels, creates cohesion and shows the skills that build from grade to grade.
We all just settled down for a long winters nap!
We hope all our Chameleons have a fun and restful break!
See everyone on January 7th!
This week parents joined us for exploratories and we had the best time! Parents were able to join their student in their exploratory and participate along side them. It was great to have everyone in the building and we are looking forward to exploring more in the spring!
Our 4th grade and 5th grade students recently participated in our first-ever Wax Museum! Students chose a famous person to research. Then they generated thoughtful questions to ask their chosen figure and wrote a monologue based on their findings. They then memorized their monologue to present! To bring their characters to life, students dressed up in costumes and created a Wax Museum in our classrooms. Each student stood frozen until an audience member pressed a button to activate their presentation.
The Wax Museum was a fantastic showcase, featuring athletes, inventors, artists, war heroes, and musicians. It was wonderful to see the students engage with history and develop their research and presentation skills in such a creative way.
On Friday fifth graders participated in an infusion with PE teacher Ms. Pond and Ms. Bresnan, to create a coordinate system and plot points that represent real world information. Students had to decide how to label the x- and y- axis, deliberate and label an appropriate scale to match the data, and toss a bean bag underhand to plot the point appropriately on their scale. Students investigated the relationships between patterns on the x- and y- axis, and were able to instantly assess and self-adjust if their plotted points did not match the pattern.
Yesterday our wonderful PTA provided another fantastic duty free lunch AND they provided a delicious lunch from Swig and Swine complete with cakes from Publix, for all the faculty and staff at HHA. Each staff member even got to take home a poinsettia from Lowes! We are so thankful to have such a supportive PTA!
Today we celebrated our Terrific Kids for the month of December! These Terrific Kids were chosen by their peers and teachers for their amazing character trait of Generosity! Congratulations to our TERRIFIC Chameleons for December!
✨Fairytale Café✨
Last night, the AIMS Players and AIMS Dance Company brought magic to the stage! Fairytales came to life through student-created monologues, captivating dances, and delightful songs. Thank you to everyone who joined us for this unforgettable evening! 🌟
On Friday, Dec. 6, Ms. Sanders and Ms. Liebenow's 4th graders used Makey Makey, celery, and their bodies to create electrical circuits and play musical notes. Students applied their knowledge of conductive matter, grounding, and closed circuits to play the chord charts of “The Preamble,” on the celery like a piano keyboard WHILE singing the lyrics to “The Preamble.” The room was full of experimentation, trial and error, wonder, laughter, and learning.
Our Chameleon Choraleers sang at the Hanahan Christmas Tree Lighting last night! They did an incredible job! Thank you to Mrs. Leibenow for leading this great group! We had a wonderful time with all our HHA families!
This week our 5th graders got to participate in a long standing HHA tradition. Sculptor and instructor Olga Yukhno, our artist in residence, guided our 5th graders through making their very own clay portraits. These portraits will be hung around HHA alongside all our previous 5th graders. Olga is from Russia and currently resides in Columbia SC. She is a highly awarded sculptor and instructor. We are looking forward to her returning to HHA in the spring so our students can glaze and finish their master pieces. Thank you Olga and our 5th grade team for this awesome experience!
Today we had another terrific professional development by our art teacher, Mrs. Irimescu. Teachers learned strategies for incorporating art, using water colors, into their classroom instruction. Thanks Ms. I!
Our 5th grade chameleons are having a great time this week learning about hierarchies in math! Hierarchies show the relationship or connection between shapes according to the attributes that they share. The shapes at the bottom of the hierarchy share all of the same attributes as the polygons above it. Fifth grader mathematicians worked hard to classify polygons in a hierarchy based on their shared attributes. Teams worked together in small groups to decide and describe the best placement for each polygon and articulated their thinking.
As we gather with family and friends this Thanksgiving, we are grateful for our wonderful students, dedicated staff, and supportive community. May your holiday be filled with joy, laughter, and togetherness.
Wishing everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving!
Our first graders have learned all about 2-D shapes and combining the shapes to make a composite shape. After learning about the art and science of making balloons for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, as well as 2-D shapes, students created their own balloons for a parade here at HHA! Way to go first grade!
