Canterbury Spotlight

Students in all elementary school grade levels are learning the important elements of music. Second grade students expanded their knowledge about notes and rests and how they are put together to create rhythms, playing new rhythms together on different instruments. Fourth graders just finished the recorder unit. They learned how to read notes on the musical staff and play those notes on their instruments. They also had a chance to learn songs and earn karate belts to show their progress!

Our 2nd Graders took a field trip to Schlitz Audubon Nature Center in April! We learned about all the different treasures that wash up on the beach shores of Lake Michigan. During a sensory hike, we searched the shoreline for different things brought in by the waves. Students learned about the natural items we find, such as rocks, fossils, feathers, and even bones! They also learned about human-made objects found ashore like bricks, concrete, and even beach glass. We also discussed how landforms are created and affected by the moving tides, wind, and weather! It was a great learning connection to our science unit studying landforms! We had a great time extending our learning in a new and fun environment!

Classrooms across Canterbury are working towards individual classroom goals as part of our work on PBIS expectations. Each classroom selects a goal tailored to their needs and works together to track progress towards meeting this goal. Some classrooms are working on being responsible by having quick and quiet transitions in the classroom or keeping their desks and classrooms tidy. Other classrooms are focusing on being respectful by moving through the hallways at a zero volume. By working together to achieve these goals, Canterbury students are helping to make our school the best it can be!

Canterbury's third grade team held a special family event before Spring Break. The students have been learning about Astronomy in ELA, so they invited their families in for a "trip through space". During this event they shared some of their work from this unit and completed fun activities with their guests.

Cooperation! Working together to achieve a common goal! For the month of March, Feeding America had a challenge of collecting donations and jars of peanut butter and jelly to spread the love for kids facing hunger. Canterbury fourth and first grade teachers thought it would be a great buddy project for the students to use cooperation outside of the school building to help others in need. So they teamed up. Students made PB and J posters, videos for parents and staff, and collected donations for the month of March. They set a goal of 88 jars and ended up collecting 369 jars! Nice work, Panthers!

First graders have been exploring the history of the Earth in their CKLA Knowledge unit. They’ve been hard at work learning about the layers of the Earth and expanding their vocabulary with words like magma, preserve, extinct, and more. The students also learned about how scientists discovered dinosaurs through fossils. For their culminating activity, they dressed up as geologists and paleontologists, created their own fossils, broke apart geodes, made volcanoes, wrote stories about a pet dinosaur, and searched for gems. The students had a fantastic time showcasing all they've learned! 

We kicked off our Read-A-Thon fundraiser with our third annual Pop Open a Good Book virtual reading event. The PTO teamed up with Canterbury staff and generously provided popcorn for all families to enjoy at home while Sra. Delemont, Ms. Murphy, Ms. Barczak, Ms. Jordan, Ms. Braatz, and Ms. Butler shared some of their favorite stories with families. Students and staff wore their pajamas to school in anticipation of the evening festivities. Thank you to all staff, students, families, and our PTO for making this another successful Canterbury event!

Canterbury kindergarten students start every morning by doing morning work and exploring with the all done choice activities. The students love to explore these activities while working on their fine motor skills, reviewing ELA and math skills all while having fun.

Canterbury students had a chance to visit the Black History Month Book Café, set up by the Elementary Librarian. During each class’s time in the “café”, students had the opportunity to enjoy a taste of some great books by some great black authors.

During the chilly month of February, Canterbury's 1st and 2nd grade Spanish students are warming up sharing their "Semana Perfecta". Students are reading the books they wrote about where they will go and what they will do each day of their "Perfect Week". Kindergarten Spanish students are sharing their drawings of family and home describing what their family members are like. Third, fourth and fifth graders are working away on presentations and pen pal letters and everyone is excited to start another session of Spanish Dance!

The library at Canterbury is preparing for their March Madness Book Tournament, celebrating Black History Month with some of their favorite books, and focusing on Honesty, the school's Character Strong trait of the month.

Greendale Schools' Kindergarteners participated in a Royal Celebration to culminate their Kings and Queens Knowledge Units in CKLA. At each elementary school, students enjoyed a variety of activities with their peers, teachers and families. Our Queens, Kings, Princes, and Princesses came to school dressed in their Royal best for an event that showcased knowledge. The young 'royals' were treated to read alouds, snacks, dancing and special guest visits!

The third grade classes at Canterbury celebrated the end of their ELA unit on The Viking Age by participating in a Viking quest! Students participated in different learning activities to review and apply various skills taught throughout the unit. They even completed physical challenges to gather "resources" to help as they worked to create their Viking settlement. These resources came in handy when they were visited by a well-traveled trader, Mrs. Clark-West, who negotiated with students to trade some of their materials for precious metal, which they used to create Viking rune name necklaces. It was an exciting way to celebrate all of the hard work and learning!

Students in Ms. Bohn’s fourth grade class started a new Science unit at the end of January. Students had to work together to build a functioning system that either rings a bell or spins a fan. They quickly learned they needed to charge the battery using solar power, and are anticipating their systems to be functioning very soon!

All students at Canterbury have been working in January to review our school-wide expectations of how we are safe, respectful and responsible in different locations around the building and the playground. Classes have been reviewing and practicing the expectations for arrival and dismissal, recess, bathrooms, the lunchroom, hallways. Demonstrating these school-wide expectations is just one of the many ways that students are learning how they can individually contribute to creating a positive learning environment for everyone here at Canterbury!

The morning routine for Mr. Nelson's fifth grade class involves the students writing in their “Gratitude Journals”. Students take time every morning to express what they are grateful for in their own personal notebooks. It is a healthy lifelong habit and a positive way to begin the day! #LearnGrowEngageGreendale #CultivatingExcellence

Our third graders finished their ELA unit on The Ancient Roman Civilization in late December. During this unit they worked on things like writing opinion pieces with text evidence, identifying the main idea of text, determining the author’s point of view, and more. They also learned about what life was like during this time, including reading about Roman Markets. As a culminating activity, third graders worked in groups to make winter crafts to sell at their own market to raise money for a school improvement project. Students from other grades enjoyed coming to browse at the market. #LearnGrowEngageGreendale #CultivatingExcellence #LearnWithJoy

In mid December, we held our Winter Concert for grades K-5. The students did an amazing job singing songs about the Winter season and showcasing what they learned in Music class. We are so proud of all of them! #LearnGrowEngageGreendale #CultivatingExcellence

Canterbury Kindergarteners have been learning about characters, setting and plot this fall. Students dressed as a book character for the Canterbury Book Character Spirit Day. They also had a Favorite Book Character Election in their classroom. The candidates were Pigeon and Pete the Cat.