FRIDAY  UPDATE

            EASTON AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT

2007 - 2008 School Year

Black History Month Assembly at E.A.M.S.


On Friday , February 1st the 5th and 6th grade classes were scheduled to have separate assemblies for our Black History month presentation. Due to a snow day this assembly has been rescheduled for March 6th. This year we are honored to have Sheila Arnold, story teller and character interpreter from Virginia.


Ms. Arnold will be presenting " Mary Peake" to the 6th grade classes.

Mary Peake (19th-century; African-American teacher in Hampton, VA.

Mary Peake speaks about the difficulty in providing education in the South after the Emancipation Proclamation. She also discusses her difficulty in obtaining education in the "free" North and the pressures both external and internal in her day to day life in Hampton, Virginia.".

 

The 5th grade classes will meet "Mary Johnson".

Mary Johnson (wife of Anthony Johnson, slave, indentured servant to free Negro and landowner), 17th-century.

Mary Johnson, wife of Anthony Johnson, one of the first Negroes to arrive on these shores, who went from slave to indentured servant to free man. Mary tells the stories she has often heard from her husband about coming to Jamestown, about the bloody Middle Plantation massacre and the movement from indentured servitude in the country to slavery. It also just so happens that Mary Johnson and her husband end up settling MD's Eastern Shore in the middle 1600's.



Flax to Linen: A Colonial Weaver


Johannes Zinzerdorf returns to our school on February 20 and 21 to present workshops to our fifth grade students. Using only hand tools from pre-1900, Zinzerdorf demonstrates how the simple flax plant is transformed into thread and then cloth. The students are invited to use the tools to get a feel for the effort and time required to produce this essential need for people prior to machines.


We thank the E.A.M.S. PTA for supporting our programs at E.A.M.S.

Dads Visit The Gee Force


During Dads In Education Week, our class was fortunate to host two fathers who read and taught us.  Mr. Cyphers, Mattie’s dad, took time out of his busy schedule to read Franny B. Kranny, There’s A Bird In Your Hair and The Three Little Wolves and The Big Bad Pig.   The students roared with laughter and pointed out examples of personification, similes, and metaphors as Mr. Cyphers read with beautiful expression.


Mr. Phillips, Kara’s dad, who teaches high school history, made the presidents come to life with his PowerPoint presentation and hands-on activities.  We look forward to his return to teach us about Memorial Day.  The students and I greatly appreciate the support we receive from our families.



Fourth Grade Palmer School


The end of January marked the beginning of our annual Artist in Residence project.  This year, the students in fourth grade will be creating a mural representing the ecosystems in the state of Pennsylvania.  Over the next few weeks, our resident artist, Bill Christine will help pull together all of the classes’ creations on the giant mural in the fourth grade hallway.  Already they have primed the brick wall for the scenic vistas, which already brighten up the hallway.


The entire fourth grade convened in the cafeteria to explore the similarities and differences of white and brown eggs.  Through their observations they learned that even though the two eggs “look” different on the outside, they are exactly the same on the inside.   This was a wonderful activity to demonstrate Dr. Martin Luther King’s inspirational dream.


During the months of December and January, the fourth grade students at Palmer raised a total of $1,550.37 for the American Red Cross.  A representative from the Lehigh Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross came to Palmer to accept the check.  She explained how the money would be used to help local families.  The representative was very impressed with how the students donated their own money for the cause.