Willowbrook Celebrates Veterans Day

Willowbrook Students Preview Summer Reading Adventures

On Wednesday, May 9th Willowbrook's Reading and TAG specialists along with their students had the opportunity to adventure outdoors to preview a few of 'Willowbrook's Top 10 Summer Reading Adventures'.

'Willowbrook's Top 10 Summer Reading Adventures'

10. Read to your favorite stuffed animal or your pet.
9. Read with 3D glasses - it will make the book come alive!
8. Take a beach towel or blanket to your favorite park to read.
7. Play a fun reading game. - Apples to Apples OR Bananagrams
6. Complete a Mad Libs with your friend.
5. Write words that rhyme with sidewalk chalk.
4. Partner read your favorite poetry book.
3. Journal about your summer activities.
2. Act out your favorite story with a group of friends.
And the number 1 Summer Reading Adventure is …
1. Make an alphabet book by taking pictures of your summer adventures to create a story using each letter of the alphabet.

Fifth Graders Build and Program Robots

by Harriet Peterson

Mrs. Holland's fifth grade students at Willowbrook are building robots and programming them during their Media time with Teacher Librarian, Mrs. Peterson. They work with a partner to build the robot using the Mindstorm Lego kit.

After the robot is built, Mrs. Peterson teaches students to program them using the computer and Mindstorm Lego software. The robots are walking and talking all over the computer lab! "The students love working with the robots" said Mrs. Peterson. "They have to be creative, work with other students, and problem solve."

Mrs. Holland asked her students what they thought of the Robotics project and received these responses.

Mackenzie Doyle: "It kind of makes me feel 'sciency'!"

Sydney Dhabolt: "The robots are really easy to work with."

Olivia Dowling: "They're easy to use, but hard to program."

Abbie Johnson: "I learned how to hook cords up to the battery packs. It taught me how to get all of the supplies to build it, and to make it talk and walk."

Willowbrook Students Learn About the Ever-Changing Earth

by Andrea Cressey

How can students "see" how the earth is constantly changing? Fourth grade students at Willowbrook learn this through several hands-on demonstrations.

One activity was entitled "Drifting Apart" – Supercontinent. The purpose was to make all of the continents be in a large mass as they once were. Then continents moved because the plates are moving.

The second was entitled "Push Those Plates". Using the materials of crackers and frosting we moved the crackers the way the plates move and observed what happened to the land. Plates can move past each other causing earthquakes. Plates can move toward each other causing volcanoes and mountains. Plates can move apart causing new ocean floor.

The third activity was entitled "A Quake-Proof Contest". We used dominoes to build four different corners of walls and then shook the desks to see which corner was the sturdiest.

The last activity was entitled "Measure a Quake Shake". For this activity we used a model seismograph to measure the amount of movement that was recorded when we shook the desks.

On Tues., October 25, the Willowbrook 4th graders were able to experience what it was like to build a Native American tepee as they begin to study Native American cultures.  A Naturalist from YCAMP of Greater Des Moines (Boone) explained the process of tepee set up as well as led a discussion about the values and beliefs of native people. This event was made possible through the support of Willowbrook PTA fundraising.