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Welcome to
George Washington Elementary School
515 Clifton Road
Bethel Park, PA 15102
Phone: (412) 854-8546
Fax: (412) 854-8435
District Voice Mail: (412) 833-5005
Latest News |
The
2008-2009 school year is over! Please
scroll down to see some of the exciting things
that took place in our school this past school
year!
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First Graders Correspond with and Finally
Meet Their Lincoln Pen Pals

Washington First Graders enjoyed
corresponding with their First Grade Pen
Pals from Lincoln Elementary this past
school year, and on June 2, they traveled to
Lincoln to meet their Pen Pals face to face!
It was a fantastic morning! Activities
included playing together, enjoying
popsicles and exchanging home addresses to
keep the correspondence going over the
summer! It's great to make new
friends!
Please click
here to
see more photos from our fun morning! |
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Students Read to Tail Waggin' Tutors
Ms Orner's Reading Students had the
pleasure of practicing
their reading skills on some very special
listeners--therapy dogs from Therapy Dogs
International's Tail Waggin' Tutors program.
The students sat with the dogs on the floor
and read a favorite story to them. It
was a great time for the readers as well as
the listeners, who enjoyed some hugs and
belly rubs when the stories were over.
Please click
here to
see more pictures from the afternoon. |
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Fourth Graders Visit Ft. Pitt
Fourth
graders in Mrs. Callahan's room paid
a visit to the Ft. Pitt Blockhouse and had a
great time. They learned a great deal
about the importance of Ft. Pitt on the city
and were inspired to write letters to
Congressman Tim Murphy to ask for his help
to save Ft. Pitt! |
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Kindergarten Student Earns Third Place in
Writing Contest
Congratulations to AM Kindergarten student
Sarah Plotz, who wrote a story
titled, "The Boy and the Balloons" for the
WQED 15th Annual Young Writers and
Illustrators Contest for 2009. Her
story was selected as the Third Place Winner
in the Kindergarten category! She will
be presented with an award at the Summer
Reading Extravaganza that will be held at
the Carnegie Library in Oakland on June 7. |
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Washington Students Celebrate Love of
Reading

Washington students participated in a
special assembly that celebrated their love
of reading. During a nine-week period
this school year, Washington students read a
total of 4,062 books and passed 3,717
Accelerated Reader tests! An assembly
was held to commemorate the accomplishment,
with top readers announced for each grade
level and class and raffle prizes drawn for
everyone who passed one of the AR tests.
Please click
here to
see who the top readers are and to see some
pictures from the assembly. |
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Gifted Students Participate in
Enrichment Expo

Five Washington gifted students joined 29
other elementary enrichment students from
all five Bethel Park elementary schools and
St. Louise de Marillac for this year's
Enrichment Expo, which was held at Memorial
Elementary School. Teacher Jennifer
Sabol encouraged the students at the
beginning of the year to begin thinking
about a special project they wanted to work
on that would showcase their interest.
The projects were creative and dealt with a
diverse range of subjects, including space
travel, games, writing books, creating their
own companies and fundraising for charities.
All of the students had their own exhibit
and visitors to the Expo had a change to
interact with the students to find out about
their projects. It was a great evening
of great ideas!
Please click
here to
see more photos from the Expo! |
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Students Play Deal or No Deal to Raise Money
for Ronald McDonald House
For her Enrichment Project, Washington
Fourth Grader Megan
McClary decided she wanted to make a
difference in the world and she coordinated
a fundraising project for the Ronald
McDonald House that involved the game, Deal
or No Deal. Megan sent out letters to
local businesses, asking them if they would
donate $150 to sponsor one of the 14
briefcases that would be used in the game.
On February 27, Washington students had
their opportunity to not only play the game,
but also serve as the models holding the
briefcases. The community was invited
to attend and free will donations were
accepted, with the proceeds benefitting the
charity. The event was successful,
with five Washington students winning a
combined total of $182.50 and over $1,800
raised for the Ronald McDonald House.
Thanks to everyone who supported this fun
event!
Please click
here to
see pictures from the event and a list of
supporting sponsors. |
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Washington Students Skate with BPHS Hockey
Team
Mrs.
Graney's Adaptive Physical Education
students at Washington and Neil Armstrong
had a real treat when they went to
Bladerunners to skate with members of the
Bethel Park High School Varsity Hockey Team.
The students prepared for their session on
the ice by practice-skating at school in
their socks on plastic and using carpet
skates to get the feel of skating. The
students enjoyed the aerobic aspect of their
preparation. At Bladerunners, the
students also enjoyed lunch with the hockey
team. This is the seventh year for
this fun program. Thank you, Hockey
Team, for a great day!
Please click
here to
see more photos of the fun day! |
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Washington Celebrates Washington Day

When your school is named after the Father
of Our Country, it's only fitting that you
celebrate his birthday! Washington
School made our first President proud with
an afternoon celebration that not only
honored Washington, but also paid tribute
our other Presidents, democracy, patriotism
and the United States. Every grade
level had their own presentation, which
featured songs, poems, interesting facts and
a play about how Abraham Lincoln got his
beard! It was a great afternoon of
celebrating patriotism and being thankful
for the freedoms we enjoy in this country
and what that means.
Please click
here to
see more photos from our fabulous afternoon. |
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Third Graders Receive Dictionaries from
Rotary Club
Thanks to the Bethel Park Rotary Club, every
Bethel Park Third
Grade Student has their own dictionary to
use. Members of the Rotary Club
recently visited Washington to deliver the
dictionaries. Thank you, Bethel Park Rotary! |
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Second Graders Celebrate Chinese New Year!
Second
Graders in Mrs. Vescovi's room
celebrated Chinese New Year in fine fashion,
with several activities, including eating
rice with chopsticks and enjoying fortune
cookies and clementine oranges. The
students made dragon masks for a school
parade, made hong bao for their Kindergarten
Book Buddies, gave "fact reports" on
non-fiction books about China and decorated
for the celebration by making red paper
lanterns. Our celebration was enhanced
by the talents of eighth grader Rachel
Dailey, sister of second grader
MaryRose, who led the parade and
performed an amazing drumming demonstration.
Happy New Year!
Please click
here
to see more photos from our celebration. |
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Kindergarten Students Cheer on the Hawks!

Mrs. Varley's Kindergarten Classes
were very excited that the Bethel Park High
School Football Team was going to Hershey to
play in the State Championship Game.
The students made signs showing their
support for the Hawks and are holding
Hershey candy bars for the photos.
While the team came up a bit short, the 2008
WPIAL Champions had a fantastic season, and
earned the support of the entire Bethel Park
community. Who knows? Maybe one
of these students will be on the BPHS
Football Team that wins the 2018 WPIAL and
State Championship! Thanks for your
support!
 |
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Fourth Grade Service Project Benefits
U.S. Soldiers
Washington
Fourth Graders dedicated their Service
Project this year to collecting items to
send to the U.S. Soldiers in the Army's
Striker Tank One, stationed in Iraq.
To kick off the drive, Staff Sgt. Will
Foy from the South Hills Recruiting
Office paid a visit to talk to the students
about what life is like for an American
soldier stationed in Iraq. For a
10-day period, the students collected items
for the soldiers, including toiletries,
candy, nuts, socks, toothpaste, beef jerky
and even a Terrible Towel!
Additionally, the students also sent over
some school supplies that the soldiers
delivered to an Iraqi school that had little
or no supplies. They also made cards
and artwork to thank the soldiers for doing
a great job. When the drive was
concluded, three boxes weighing a total of
135 pounds were mailed. Special thanks
go to the following businesses who paid for
the shipping: Spartan Pharmacy, $1.00
Stuff, Village Pizza, Tang Soo Do Karate and
Dave Bonazza.
Please click
here to
see photos from Sgt. Foy's visit. |
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Fourth Graders Participate in Family
Celebration Day
Mrs.
Callahan's Fourth Grade Students spent
some time talking about their families and
discovering how important their families are
to them. They were given various
assignments to get to know their families a
little better, including interviewing their
mom to find out what it was like when she
was in fourth grade, and interviewing their
dad to find out about the things he likes to
do. Students were encouraged to turn
off the TV and spend an evening with their
families, including playing board games.
The students also wrote "I Am" poems and
created their own acrostic poem using the
letters in "FAMILY." At Family
Celebration Day, the students gathered with
their families on blankets in the classroom,
read their FAMILY poems, enjoyed delicious
food--even turkey!--and had time to really
share with their families.
Please click
here to
see photos of the students reading their
FAMILY poem. |
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Mr. Pearson Wears His PJs to School!

What in the world is Mr. Pearson
doing wearing his pajamas to school?
He promised the students who participated in
the Usborne Books Reach for the Stars
Read-A-Thon that if they read 45,000 minutes
over a two-week period, he would wear his
PJs to school. The students
overwhelmingly responded and read 80,098
minutes! The program was also a
fundraiser, with students collecting pledges
for each minute they read, and $8,808.08 was
raised to purchase student and teacher
books, as well as raise money for the PTO to
fund future programs. Way to go, Washington
students! |
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Fourth Graders Read "Justin and the Best
Biscuits in the World"
Washington fourth graders read the story,
"Justin and the
Best Biscuits in the World" and participated
in a livestock show featuring stuffed
animals. Ribbons were awarded to the
best animals in the show. And, of
course, the students also enjoyed some of
the best biscuits baked by their teachers,
Mrs. Callahan, Mrs. Dressler and
Mr. Dressler. The activity ended
with enjoying some trail mix while watching
a western movie depicting life on a ranch.
Click
here to
see more photos |
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Second Graders Build Their Own Community
Washington
Second Graders participated in a social
studies unit called "Our Community," and the
students decided to try and build their own
community within their classroom. Each
student created a store, public service or
house for their community. They used
their own community, Bethel Park, as their
inspiration, visiting Bethel Park landmarks
such as Miller's Hardware, Bethel Bakery,
Giant Eagle and the Fire Station. Once
the students decided on their project, the
class discussed how to develop the
community--should the apartments be located
next to the fire station? Why or why
not? What should be next to the
school? Where would a farm be located?
Where will the high traffic areas be, and do
we need a traffic light? There are
some budding future city planners in second
grade!
Please click
here to see more pictures from all
three Second Grade classes. |
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Third Graders Host A Copycat Day

All Washington third graders read the story,
"Ruby the Copycat," and paired up with a
friend or two to have their own Copycat Day.
Besides dressing up alike, the students even
ate the same lunches and snacks, and copied
each other's behavior. Their teachers
even got in on the act! While being a
copycat is not generally a good idea (it's
better to just be yourself!), Copycat Day
was a lot of fun!
Please click
here to see more pictures of the
Washington Third Grade Copycats! |
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