Greenacres Kids Make Do Without Snow

Old Man Winter didn’t dump the load of snow that was promised Monday night.

Even so, the white stuff was the hot topic in Anne Sveen’s Greenacres Elementary classroom on Tuesday morning.

Her fourth and fifth graders weren’t spending their school time yapping about skiing and snowmen. They were doing some serious learning about the origin of those frozen flakes, and then created a few of their own.

“I thought it would be really awesome to talk about snowflakes today,” Sveen told the attentive group of 20 after a winter storm blew through town. “We didn’t get the snow. But, there’s four to six inches on the ground somewhere. Just not here.”

The kids didn’t seem to mind the discrepancy in the forecast and quickly found out that making snow is kind of like making ice cubes.

So, how do you make ice cubes?

Find a container and fill it with water, the kids were quick to tell Sveen.

What’s next?

“Put it in the freezer,” said fifth-grader Jon Hansen.

Why? The room was silent until fourth-grader Samantha Patrick shot her hand in the air.

“Because then it will freeze,” she said.

Why?

“Because it’s cold,” Samantha retorted.

How cold?

“Really cold,” she said smiling.

Actually, Sveen told the children, it’s 32 degrees Fahrenheit or colder.

Snow forms in a similar way.

It condenses, freezes in the atmosphere, a flake crystallizes into six branches, begins to fall and grows bigger.

The kids were fascinated and, after about 20 minutes of guessing the process of snow formation, formed a few flakes - out of paper - themselves.

Before they learned how to make it, snow had already found its way into the classroom in the form of Jack Prelutsky’s poem, “A Snowflake Fell.”

The ode to falling flakes served as a lesson in nouns, verbs and adjectives.

After finding and labeling those parts of the sentence, the kids went to work on changing the snow into a poem of their own creation using the structure of the original poem.

Samantha Patrick wrote about lions. There were some dogs, cars and birds too.

The day’s wintery theme was designed to mix science, reading, logic and art into practical learning.

“This is a very directed way to teach essential skills to children,” Sveen said. “They need to start seeing that lessons carry over into the real world.

“Business and society and the technological age are dictating to use that we need to prepare our children to understand how things work together.”

Christmas play opens at CV

The curtain will rise on Central Valley High School’s production of “Miracle on 34th Street” at 7 p.m. each night from Dec. 10 to 15 at the school.

Lead roles will be played by the following: Nisha Holoway as Doctor Pierce; Brandon Root as Kris Kringle; Jackie Bos as Doris Walker; Eva Jordan as Susan Walker; Jeff Seen as Sawyer; and Elham Simmons as Mara.

Tickets are $4 with 20 percent of the revenue being donated to the Children’s Miracle Network. Reserved seating is available by purchasing tickets in advance. Call 922-6798 for tickets.

Otto the Auto goes online

Second-graders at University Elementary School got a taste of fun with Otto the Auto and a Safe Place to Play, a new web site offered by the Inland AAA.

Inland AAA is University’s business partner.

The web site includes games, puzzles and the chance to send and receive e-mail. The underlying messages have to do with traffic safety, pedestrian safety, seat belts and so on. Children and parents can find Otto the Auto online at www.aaainlandauto.com.

Food drive is a success

Bus drivers from the Central Valley, East Valley and West Valley school districts raised more than $1,700 and collected 9,500 pounds of food last weekend.

Donations were collected in school buses in the parking lots outside the Liberty Lake and Valley Albertson’s grocery stores, the Rosauers at University City, the Safeway at Mission and Argonne and the Tidymans at Sprague and McDonald.

All of the donations will go to the Spokane Valley Food Bank.

Testing available for EV children

Do you know a child from age 5 or younger who may have delayed speech, coordination, social or cognitive skills?

East Valley School District offers free testing for children living within the district’s boundaries on the first Friday of each month at Skyview Elementary.

Screenings are done by appointment only.

Call 927-9511 to set one up.

SPREAD THE WORD Education Notebook is a regular feature of the Valley Voice. If you have news about classroom activities at Spokane Valley schools or about the achievements of Valley students, teachers or school staff, please let us know. Write: Marny Lombard, Valley Voice, 13208 E. Sprague, Spokane, WA 99216. Call: 927-2166. Fax: 927-2175. E-mail: marnyl@spokesman.com.