Students at Washington Elementary leaped for Leap Day Thursday, Feb. 29.
Jessica Fitzpatrick at Washington Elementary schools said the planning for the Leap Day activities began at the Positive Behaviors Intervention and Supports meetings in January of this year. Along with the coordinated photo of all grades taken by Mount Vernon alum Anna Moore, other activities were also planned for the day.
“We encouraged everyone to wear green and provided a list of various activities that teachers could do with their students throughout the day,” Fitzpatrick said. “Our principal, Mrs. Stanton started out the day with Leap Day jokes as part of our announcements. You could hear the whole school erupt with laughter when she read this one ‘Where do most people eat on Leap Day?’ … ‘iHop!’”
Fitzpatrick said that many grade levels planned their Leap Day celebrations together, and a sampling of some of those learning activities included:
Second grade teacher Erin Krapfl incorporated Leap Day into her writing lesson for the day. Her students did a directed drawing of a frog, then wrote an opinion piece on whether or not they would like to have their birthday on Leap Day.
Beth Troutman’s third grade class made origami frogs while they watched a science video about leap day.”
Kindergarten teacher Mallory Beatty had a frog themed day that included frog books, a frog craft, frog leaping lily pad math and frog yoga.
LeAnn Briesemeister taught her first grade students about the 365 days + 6 hours it takes the earth to orbit the sun. They counted by sixes until they got to 24 hours to understand why this extra day happens every four years and then wrote about what they would do if they could do anything they wanted on Leap Day.
“Although we didn’t have any current students with birthdays on February 29, one of our staff members welcomed a baby that evening,” Fitzpatrick said.