District News

Seahawks pride carries over to classroom learning

If a football field is 120 yards from end to end, imagine how long a piece of paper would have to stretch down the main hall at Waller Road Elementary School to equal that distance.

With a yard stick and a roll of adding machine tape in hand, several third and fourth graders set out Friday to find the answer. Foot-by-foot, they rolled out the tape on the floor until they had marked the entire length of the main hallway and back again. In the process, they learned not only how far it is for Seahawks star running back Shaun Alexander to rush from one end zone to the other, but also about predicting, estimating, measuring, math computation, and recording data.

"Let's see, we're at 53 yards, which means we have 67 more to go," fourth-grader Adam Wilkinson quickly figured in his head as his classmates helped stretch the tape past classroom doors and curious onlookers.

With all of the excitement surrounding Sunday's Super Bowl, Waller Road teachers seized an opportunity last week to channel the students' pride in their hometown team to lessons in math, art, writing, music, reading, and communication. The week culminated Friday with a schoolwide spirit assembly at which time students presented answers to challenging Super Bowl-related math questions given to each grade level earlier in the week. (View photos.)

A sea of blue and green attire filled the gym as more than 200 students, staff, and parents gathered to cheer on the Seattle team. After The Pledge of Allegiance, The Star-Spangled Banner, and some student-led cheers, the entire student body performed a Seahawks chant, clap, and stomp routine led by music teacher Laurie Helle. They also listened as students came to the microphone one-by-one to give answers to the math problems coordinated by first-grade teacher Mollie Mitchell.

In the case of some of the more advanced math story problems, students projected their research and answers or visual aids from a document camera onto a large screen on stage. Several classes gave extended response answers similar to how they would respond to a math problem on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL). When asked the length of a football field, for example, first- and second-graders in Gentry Geise’s class showed a diagram of the field on the screen and explained how the markings reflect a distance of 50 yards from the center to the end zone on each side.

Questions ranged from "What shape is a football field?" (directed at kindergartners) to "If the Seahawks made 361 first downs in 16 games, how many first downs did they average each game?" (posed to fifth and sixth graders).

"It's amazing seeing the excitement behind the learning," said Building Learning Specialist Jamie Burnett.

While much of the Seahawks spirit was channeled into related math questions, several classes tied the big day to daily writing lessons. Mary Gendreau's class of third and fourth graders was one of several groups that wrote and mailed letters to the team players at the Seahawks training facilities in Kirkland. Students learned about letter format, style, spelling, grammar, voice, and WASL guidelines for correct writing conventions.

Third-grader Matthew Saum told the Hawks that he and his classmates hope they win. "Congratulations!" he wrote in part. "I bet you're excited. Yours truly, Matthew Saum. P.S. Good luck, and tell Matt Hasselbeck he's my favorite."

Classmate Kyle Frisinger also wished the Seahawks luck and had this piece of helpful advice in his letter: "Do your best in the game."

Danielle McGuire's fourth-grade class spent the last part of the day on Friday writing Acrostic poetry. Acrostic poetry is a form of short verse constructed so that the initial letters of each line taken consecutively form words — in this case, SEAHAWKS.

Student Katie Uhrig wrote:
Super Bowl Bound
Exciting!
Amazing Team
Hard Workers
Athletes
Winners in their games
Kickoffs are amazing
Seahawks rock my world!

McGuire's students also cut out paper football helmets and used their own creativity to decorate the artwork on black matting with colorful designs and messages that lined the wall outside of the classroom. "They’ve been so pumped up all week," she said.

Principal Judy Piger was all smiles Friday as she watched the entire school celebrate the team's accomplishments and their own academic achievement. All classroom lessons were tied not only to the Super Bowl, but also to the state’s grade level expectations for learning.

"The kids are so excited, and this is a practical application of their learning," said Piger.

As the high energy week drew to a close and the school buses rumbled out of the Waller Road parking lot on Friday, the silence in the halls was broken by the sound of honking horns.

"That’s the buses," said Gendreau. The drivers honk each day because of the sign on the front window.

"Honk if you love the Hawks."

See the photo gallery.