Highland View Spotlight

Second graders have been busy learning about Anton Van Leeuwenhoek (yes, that Anton, the Father of Microbiology). They read, discussed, and answered questions about his work to improve the microscope and discover some of our smallest living organisms. The students then utilized their own scientific and note-taking skills to make their own observations about the world and record them for future generations to learn from! 

Highland View first graders went to the Milwaukee Public Museum. They saw so many amazing things!

Fifth grade students have been performing Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in CKLA! Students have been enjoying staging, rehearsing, and performing scenes in their small groups. Audience members are responsible for listening carefully and applauding when actors finish. Directors in each group are responsible for instructing actors on gestures, physical actions, and movement around the “stage.” Each lesson starts by reading a summary of the Act and Scene that will be read, in order to ensure all students are able to understand the Shakespearean language used while acting.

Before Spring Break, in their most recent CKLA unit, our Kindergarten students explored weather and the seasons. They learned that different places on Earth experience various weather patterns throughout the year. They also studied the four seasons—Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn—and how the weather changes in each one. The students had a blast creating projects to showcase their learning, with a highlight being the opportunity to serve as the class Meteorologist for the day!

Our first graders wrapped up their CKLA Knowledge domain on “The History of the Earth” in March. During this unit, students explored the layers of the Earth, the three main types of rocks, fossils and dinosaurs. They also learned about the three key words in geology that shape our planet—time, pressure, and heat. To conclude the unit, first graders created their own fossils and researched facts about their chosen dinosaur fossils.

Students at Highland View are learning and having fun in Music class! K-2 has been busy being cool Quaver kids! Kindergarteners have been learning that instruments have unique families just like them. They are becoming mini maestros with each passing day. First grade became melody masters and now know what melodies are and the various kinds of songs. The 2nd grade soared through the Baroque period and got to learn a lot about what it takes to be fancy. Third grade has been learning about the Classical period of music and has started a March Madness-style tournament. Fourth grade is learning to play the recorder, and 5th grade is learning to play the ukulele.

This year's Poetry Slam at Highland View was an amazing success. The event was a Black History Month celebration of spoken poetry. Spoken word is a type of poetry that is performed for an audience and it allows the speaker to share their poetry in a way that showcases their personality, emotions, and voice! Highland View Students in grade 3 through 5 presented original and chosen poems individually and in small groups. School families and their peers took part as an extremely attentive audience.

Our first graders have been busy learning about Astronomy this winter. Using both their Spinning Earth Science unit and Astronomy Knowledge unit they have been investigating what causes night and day, as well as learning about the phases of the moon, stars and planets. To help build their understanding of the night sky, they took a field trip to the planetarium at UW-Milwaukee where they got to "visit" a space station and learn more about constellations.

The kindergarten students have been learning about the sounds beginning blends make in words. During Ms. Bertram’s Spelling Bee Challenge her group of readers earned a body part for their bee each time they correctly spelled a beginning blend word. Living up to the challenge, each student completed their own spelling bee! Way to go!

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!

Students at Highland View took a little time to look over Ms. Trettin's pictures from her trip to visit Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. historical sites.

On Friday, January 31, from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. Highland View held its annual All The World Festival. This free evening event brought out a crowd of families that came together to celebrate the cultures that make up their school. Families that hosted a table representing their heritage or a place they have a connection to or are knowledgeable about showcased traditional dress, shared samples of foods and displayed other items and information about their place. There was even a demonstration of Hula, a Hawaiian dance. Students got their "passports" signed by stopping at the different tables, could work in an arts and crafts area and enjoyed a quiet reading area that featured books about different places around the world.

Second grade students in Mrs. Rodenkirch's class have been working on measuring using inches, feet, and yards during math in January. They worked with a partner using a yardstick to measure things in the classroom that were shorter than a yard, exactly a yard, and longer than a yard, and then things that were two and three yards long.

Ms. Jordan and Mrs. Kopplin held an assembly in mid January to promote the celebration of spoken poetry. Spoken word is a type of poetry that is performed for an audience and allows the speaker to share their poetry in a way that showcases their personality, emotions, and voice. Students from Highland View (in grades 3-5) are invited to perform at the Poetry Slam. Students learned about our January focus on Perseverance and the February focus on Honesty.

Fourth grade students at Highland View spent the day as citizens of the JA BizTown. They learned what it takes to run a business and manage their money within a community. Students learned how to write checks, make deposits, maintain a money tracker, use a debit card, and spend money - just like in the real world. The BizTown community was prospering with a healthy exchange of goods, services, resources and money!

“Run, run as fast as you can. You can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man!”: Our 4K students at Highland View finished the classic tale of ‘The Gingerbread Man’, before the Winter Break and they had lots of gingerbread fun. Along with their special guest, students were able to create and decorate their very own gingerbread house. Fun and a “little bit of sugar”, was had by all!

In the art room, 4th graders have been working hard to build an armature of an ice cream cone in December. They're using art paste and paper toweling to layer the form of the cone, and finally painting and getting their Highland View Creamery ready for display!

Fifth graders are using venn diagrams filled with text evidence to compare and contrast two characters from their CKLA unit in ELA. Keep up the great work, fifth grade! 

Students in second grade at Highland View were excited to celebrate their learning from their Greek Myths Knowledge unit. After reading the Greek myth Arachne the Weaver in late November, the students worked together to retell the story. Just like the character Arachne, the class created detailed tapestries to illustrate the story!

These Highland View Panthers took part in the 2024 National NOETIC Math Competition on Weds., Nov. 20. Their scores (along with some students from College Park) will make up a team score as they compete against other schools across the country! Good luck, Mathletes!

Highland View and our other elementaries are holding Book Character Dress Up days to celebrate the season and also inspire students to ponder their favorite books and book characters and share them with their classmates. There is great excitement around these events. Here are some of our fourth graders. 

Highland View 3rd graders have begun their "speaking tests" in Spanish this past week. They are playing “Guess Who?” in Spanish, asking and answering questions with their partners, figuring out when to use have (tiene) and is (es). Students in 1st and 2nd grade are trying to solve a problem in Spanish class. They have to figure out which house is their friend's house to visit, and they ask questions to their partner and their partner answers them using full, complete sentences until they figure it out! They are having so much fun with our purposeful play!