The Hill-Roberts PTO Enrichment committee was formed in 2007 with a main focus on helping to facilitate away from school field trips. It is the belief of the committee that anticipated field trips per each grade is a great learning opportunity and directly enhances the children's educational experience. The committee is co-chaired by Melissa Cook and Jim Stors and generally provides and/or facilitates these special learning opportunities. The responsibilities of the committee are broken down into two categories, the away from school field trips and the in-house enrichment opportunities.
For the 2007-2008 school year the committee worked closely with Mr. Joseph and the grade teams in order to develop standard grade level field trips. We are very happy to report that every grade did attend an away from school field trip that year, and we are looking forward to helping to continue this standard in the 2008-2009 school year. The grade level field trips are as follows:
Kindergarten: Four Town Farm 1st Grade: Roger William's Zoo 2nd Grade: Cormack Planetarium & Museum 3rd Grade: Plymouth Plantation 4th Grade: Festival of Cultures
Each of the field trips directly relate to that grade's curriculum.
Over the past few years there have been a varied selection of in-school enrichment programs that the PTO has provided. Some examples of special programs are explained below:
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The Rhythm Room An exciting percussion ensemble based in Southern Massachusetts headed by performer/instructor Rick Morin. The performance incorporated music and rhythms from around the world in a fast paced and high-energy show. Prior to the assembly the 4th grade classes were able to experience a smaller, more intimate performance that included interactive
demonstarations where they had the opportunity to learn and play the various percussion instruments, and then late were invited to be part of the assembly for the entire school. This program was setup by Mrs. Gianetti, the school music teacher, and the PTO was happy to fund this unique opportunity! |
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Kaleidoscope Childrens Theatre In 2007 the 2nd grade had requested that instead of an away from school field trip that the PTO would fund an in-school enrichment program. The program selected by the 2nd grade staff was a musical adaption of the familiar fairy tale, Little Red Riding Hood. With plenty of audience involement, the story focused on the very
important lesson of never talking to strangers. |
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Although the PTO loves to be approached with new ideas and enrichment possibilities, there are some standard programs that we have been inviting to the school for many years.
Historical Perspectives for Children
This program presents strong, character role models to the students by portraying the lives of famous men and women in history whose stories tie into the social studies, science and language arts curricula. Each character's life is dramatically reenacted from childhood through adulthood, allowing the children to see the process they went through to achieve their goals. These muti-media portrayals are accented with slides, sound effects, taped voiceover anf costume changes to truly bring the character to life.
There are many different characters to choose from, but the PTO tries to keep it varied from year-to-year, while ensuring that the invited character relates to school curriculum. Below is a list of the characters that we have invited over the past couple of years:
2006: Abraham Lincoln 2007: Benjamin Franklin 2008: Helen Keller
The PTO is in the process of discussing the various possibilities and the selected character will be listed here once the program is set up for the 2008-2009 school year.
Bay Colony Educators
This program invites historical portrayers into the 4th grade classrooms to teach the students through a blend of demonstrations, artifacts, hands-on activities and question and answer time. It provided an Overview of Life in Colonial America that looks at the child's life in 1750's America through the clothing of both girls and boys, the education of the child, toys and games of colonial America, the hunter-trapper and his accouterments, among other topics. The students experience 1750's life by being able to fabricate wax candles and write with ink and quill.
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