Kids Corner
Polk Street School
Check out this month's Kids Corner Podcast!
Special Guest: Dr. Taylor
6th Grade Trip to Adventureland
On May 1st, we took our 6th Grade Trip to Adventureland. The 6th Graders from all three schools had the whole park to ourselves. We spent the day on the roller coasters, bumper cars and other fun, thrilling rides. We ate in the food court and had a choice of Hamburgers, Chicken Fingers or Pizza. The fries were the best part! The only disappointing thing was that not all the water rides were open yet. Other than that, it was the best day of the year so far!! We made so many amazing memories with our friends in the Class of 2023!
PSS Spring Concert
Music filled the hallways of Polk Street on Monday, May 15th and Tuesday, May 16th! Students in Grades 3-6 entertained classmates, parents and teachers with beautiful Spring songs. We thank Ms. Mehserle and Mr. Mutarelli for helping us prepare for such a great show. Click on the link below to see (and hear) our band and chorus performances.
John Street News
Grade 6 - Adventureland
Sweetheart & Heroes
The Sweetheart & Heroes Assembly was a fun assembly for everyone. First, there was a presentation led by two people, named Tom and Rick. They talked about bullying and how to be a “hero”. Then the presenters came into each of the classrooms and did a circle group with the students. Overall, it was a fun experience for the students.
Thomas S.
Rath Park Planting - Grade 5
"Our planting was a fun trip because we were doing community service. We also put flowers up for Memorial Day. I liked the planting trip because the flowers we planted will grow."
Lincoln D.
"In my point of view, the planting trip was so fun!! It helped us to do good things for our community and it made the park look great for Memorial Day ceremonies. It was good to go out for an hour or two. It looked so good, like a red, white, and blue flower firework went off !"
Ryan R.
"The Planting field trip in Rath Park was very fun. The first thing we did was we grabbed our hand rakes and raked the soil. There were weeds in the soil so we had to pull them out. Then we did step two which was to grab a hand shovel. We got our own plants to plant, and the theme of the plants were red, white, and blue. We grabbed our shovels and plants and organized them. After we were done planting, we grabbed our gallon of water and poured it on the plants. After we were done, we walked all the way back to school. The planting trip was amazing and I can’t wait to go back and check on the plants!"
Rayyan K.
Career Day
Thank you P.T.A. for organizing an amazing day for our Grade 5 & 6 students!
Spring Concert
Great job to all of our John Street School Band and Chorus members on an excellent performance.
Grade 6 Bowling Trip
Riley D.
Student Spotlight
Freedom Crossing by Margaret Goff Clark
5 years later by Asiyah Khalfan
It was a sunny Saturday morning in the Eastman house. Laura, Bert, Pa, and Abby gathered at the table to enjoy Pa’s signature fluffy pancakes. “I can’t believe my wonderful daughter is getting married!” said Pa. “Me either,” said Laura. “To Joel of all people!” said Bert. Laura took a delightful bite of her pancakes. There was silence in the room as the Eastmans devoured their breakfast. Suddenly, they heard a knock on the door. “I’ll get it.” said Bert, getting up from the table. After a moment they heard familiar voices of about 2 people. Joel and his mom walked into the Eastmans kitchen. Laura and her family stood up to greet them. Soon after, everyone sat down to continue discussing wedding plans. It was comforting to Laura to be surrounded by all the familiar faces that had made her feel at home the last 5 years. “Your father would be so proud,” said Mrs. Todd said to Joel. Pa nodded. “He would.” A few minutes of calm quiet passed as they thought of Mr. Todd. He had been caught helping slaves get to Tryon’s Folly about a year back and gotten shot by a hunter in the woods. There have been sad times, and extremely good times in Laura’s life over the last 5 years. Bert getting out of jail, Joel proposing. Mr. Todd getting shot, and of course the disappointment of not hearing from Martin, the first slave Laura helped escape to Canada. She had gotten her hopes up. “Just one letter,” she thought. “Just one letter from Martin and all my worries would disappear.” While everyone else discussed happy things like family, love, and wedding plans, Laura wondered what could have happened to Martin. She couldn’t shake off the bad feeling that something happened to him.“What if he got caught? What if he was killed? What if he couldn’t find his family? What if-” “Laura! Are you listening?” Whoops. She hadn’t realized that everyone in the room was staring at her. “Yes, sorry,” she apologized. Almost 2 hours had passed and they were still all talking. Wedding plans, people we knew, the laws, things about slaves, people getting caught, and people getting killed. Laura’s thoughts wandered back to Martin but she forced herself to listen to the multiple conversations happening around her. All of a sudden, there was a sharp knock on the door. “I wonder who that could be,” thought Laura. Bert stood up again to answer the door. “We haven’t room for more guests,” she worried. It all happened in a blur. A loud gasp. Bert ran into the room and rushed to show me the torn paper in his shaky hands. My eyes scanned the page. It was from Martin. A letter. He was safe. He was alive. Laura let out a sigh of relief. Martin was safe. Martin was still alive. Martin was free.
Mental Health Awareness Month
During the month of May students had the option to participate in outdoor yoga during recess. Students learned different yoga poses, practiced mindfulness and learned about the importance of exercise and the benefits of yoga practice.
Recycling Update
Our school wide recycling challenge continues. Students have been bringing in plastic bottles and the WSS building team has helped with organizing and separating them into grades. We can’t wait to see who is the winning grade with the most bottles collected.
5th Grade- Empowerment Groups
5th grade students participated in empowerment groups to focus on self- confidence, identifying strengths and supporting one another. This collaborative effort plans to help students build up their own self-worth, while utilizing these skills outside of the classroom. Students enjoyed participating and learning new skills.
WSS Staff Hall of Fame
In collaboration with Art and SEL, Mrs. Carino and Mrs. Privitera worked with students on creating a portrait of each staff member in our school. This project builds community, highlights strengths and shines a spotlight on the talented students we have in our school. The students loved participating in this project and the staff loved the outcome.