Lighthouse Research - 4th Grade

Students in Ms. Harrower's class spent time researching lighthouses during the second quarter. Students took the information that they learned and wrote postcards "home". These postcards had to sound as if the student was vacationing at the lighthouse while sharing interesting facts about the lighthouse.

Kindness Counts

Mrs. Blackmon's 5th grade class has been busy "trailblazing" ways to demonstrate our BANKS (Believe in yourself, Ask and listen, Never give up, Kindness counts, and Show respect) expectations. They've focused especially on Kindness counts in regards to their classmates, their peers at BRES, and even people they know or don't know in the community.

Back in September, Mrs. Blackmon's class alone collected over 23 bags of clothing to give to Fuquay Varina United Methodist Church's clothes closet. Students came to FVUMC to help set up and assist shoppers at the clothes closet to get hands-on experience in showing kindness to others.

These past 2 weeks, most of Mrs. Blackmon's 5th graders went "Trick or Eating " through their neighborhood to gather non-perishable food items for the Fuquay-Varina Food Pantry. With just 26 students in the class, 687 food items were collected! Wow! Before Mrs. Ellison from the Fuquay Varina Food Pantry arrived this past Monday to collect the items in her "trunk of love", BRES's school counselor, Ms. Hibberd, was able to gather items from the collection to assist with making holiday food baskets to give to families in need at BRES. Mrs. Blackmon's 5th graders think Kindness counts, and it shows!

3rd Grade PowerPoint Presentations

After you research and learn about a person, what do you do next? The 3rd graders at Banks Road Elementary make presentations. Below is an example of one of the PowerPoint presentations from Mrs. Stover's Class.

Kindergarten at Noah's Landing

The Kindergarten class took a field trip to Noah's Landing. This hands on trip allowed them to study up close many animals from this area and other parts of the world.

Firetrucks for Kindergarten and First Grade

To honor those that served on and after September 11, 2001, our Kindergarten and First Grade students created firetrucks on the computer. Using shape tools, freehand crayons, and pencils, pieces were drawn and put together creating a nice digital art project. We also viewed an online book to help us learn more about fire stations and firetrucks. Click here to see our creative work.

Brochures in 4th Grade

Brochures are everywhere and very informative. But 4th grade students cannot make them... or can they? The 4th graders at Banks Road Elementary can!

The topic is North Carolina resources. The goal is to produce an introductory brochure giving information about the water, landforms, and natural resources pertaining to the state of North Carolina. Check out the following two brochures and see what you think.

Geometry in the Class

Is there real life math going on in a 4th grade classroom? In Ms. Harrower's class there is. As students were working on understanding geometry terms, they were asked to take a digital camera and find specific examples of those terms in the room. After they took their pictures, they added a technology twist by labeling their photographs with a picture editing software program. Can you think of more real life geometry examples?

Technology at BRES - Big 6

Technology will be an integral part of the instructional program at Banks Road Elementary. Students in all grade levels will access technology through purposeful learning activities. Laptops, LCD projectors, Smartboards, automated response systems, digital cameras, document cameras, and digital microscopes will be available for use in all classrooms, the media center, and computer lab. I invite you to read the Big 6 article posted in the learning links section to get a better idea of how teachers will implement technology through collaborative instructional planning.
Frank Creech
Principal