Oak Lawn makes a prehistoric discovery

Cranston Herald
July 29, 2010
All text by Jen Cowart

Although everyone knows that dinosaurs have been extinct for some time now, the students in Dianne Stebbins’s first grade class got some hands-on archeological experience with dinosaurs at the end of the school year.


Stebbins, with the help of her science teacher husband, “Mr. Hank,” created an archeological dig in the park adjacent to the school for her class, allowing them to hone some of their scientific skills learned this year.

According to Principal Linda Stanelun, Stebbins was the primary representative from Oak Lawn School for a larger group of Cranston teachers studying the Cranston Public Schools’ science curriculum as part of district training through the University of Texas’ Dana Center.

The archeological dig was the culminating activity following an extensive science unit about dinosaurs.

“The students learned about dinosaurs first. There was a technology component as well, where they had to research a dinosaur on kidsdinos.com and find out if it was a meat-eater or a plant-eater and write three facts about the dinosaur,” said Stebbins. “We use technology in here a lot. Even though we’re only a first grade, we use it often.”

Stebbins’ husband, “Mr. Hank,” went over different types of dinosaurs with the students as well, and then he created the archeological site for the students by hiding models of dinosaurs in the sand.

Marking each dig site with a popsicle stick allowed the students, who went out to dig in pairs, to easily spot their site and get right to work.

Once they found their dinosaurs the students had to then write about what they found using “Mr. Hank’s Ancient Reptiles,” which was a checklist and picture chart of many different varieties of dinosaurs.

The final photo on the chart looked conspicuous, with Hank Stebbins head Photoshopped on it and the name “Hankosaurus” underneath it. According to the guide, it is “a bipedal creature often found wandering around the Oak Lawn School in the vicinity of Mrs. Stebbins’ room.”

“We had to go out and find dinosaurs, and then when we came in, we had to write about it,” said Abby Shellard, a student in Stebbins’ class. “They asked us what the name of our dinosaur was, what color it was, and the number of legs it had.”

Shellard said she enjoyed the archeological dig very much.

“It was fun because we were outside and we got to have fresh air and we learned about dinosaurs,” she said. “I really like to learn about dinosaurs.”

An 'Island' farewell for Oak Lawn

Cranston Herald
July 22, 2010
All text and photos by Jen Cowart

ISLAND SPIRIT: Anthony Heng, Sam Franco, Arianna Boscia, Matt Lonardo and Ryan Marsella played Jamaican music for the other students who visited the Island Bazaar.

The students in Patricia Ruggieri and Rosemary Reardon’s sixth grade classes bid farewell to the school year and hello to summer by hosting an Island Bazaar during the last week of school.


The idea came about when the staff and students realized that there were many unused products from their school store that were never opened during this school year. As they tried to decide what to do with all of the merchandise, the idea for the Island Bazaar began to take shape.

“We had difficulty starting up with the school store, and then we had no place to open, and no good time to have it. We decided to do this instead,” said Reardon.

The students realized that although they had a great deal of merchandise to sell, more was still needed in order to market their bazaar to the entire school. They decided to make things to sell.

Bookmarks, hair accessories, origami flowers and pins made the list and the students began outlining a plan for when they would make their creations.

“We set up a schedule where they would work very hard and focus in the morning and then make their crafts and get ready for their production in the afternoon,” said Reardon. “They were even making origami flowers during their lunch.”

Every grade visited the bazaar to a set schedule. Each visiting class was treated to Jamaican music, games, relays, and even got the chance to learn the musical instruments.

Retiring music teacher Jean Green had been teaching the sixth graders some Jamaican music to go along with the play “The Cat and a Rat,” as part of an end of the year unit of study. They were also learning how to perform using several musical instruments, such as the bass xylophone, in conjunction with the songs for the play.

“We made enough money to give our volunteers all a gift, give a sixth grade gift to our school, and pay off our school store bill,” said Reardon.

What began as a solution to one problem became a huge success in the eyes of the sixth graders and their teachers.

“This has been great. They loved it,” Reardon said.

Oak Lawn goes around the world in just one day

Cranston Herald
May 27, 2010
All text and photos by: Jennifer Cowart

WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN: Arianna Boscia, Emma Paolella, Allison Bonniol, Ally Merrill, Cianna Lynch, Olivia Gesualdi and Amanda Ferri lead guests on a tour of Ancient Egypt.

The students in Patricia Ruggieri and Rosemary Reardon’s sixth grade classes took a trip around the world this month, visiting ancient civilizations in Greece, Rome, India, Egypt and China.


To begin their educational exploration, the students and their guests received a “passport” with a page for each civilization that would be stamped with customized logos.

Once divided into tour groups, the real fun began. Each group had to work together to create a museum-like tour of their country. The tour had to feature life-sized props, timelines, costumes, maps of the country, as well as information about food, clothing, jewelry, entertainment, religion and other cultural elements from that time period.

As a result of some intensive technology-focused professional development that Ruggieri and Reardon participated in over the summer, both of their classrooms are set up with state of the art technology. Therefore, each group had to also integrate a Power Point presentation and an iMovie into their tour.

“They worked very hard on this,” Ruggieri said. “It was an independent project; guided but not instructed.”

According to Ruggieri and Reardon, the groups were given a structured format to follow but worked independently, checking in with the teachers during weekly meeting times.

Once the research, sets and props were ready, the students created a live museum for their friends and families to visit throughout the day. Each visitor also received a passport of their own and could tour the museum at their leisure, listening to the students’ presentations.

“Please enjoy your stay,” could be heard throughout the afternoon as people moved from one ancient civilization to the next, getting their passports stamped at each location.

Guests visited with mummies and even met Greek commoners and warriors.

As Ruggieri and Reardon toured the civilizations themselves, they said they were pleased with the final products created by their students.

"We want them to be able to do this kind of work in middle school,” said Ruggieri. “It’s a nice way for them to retain the facts they’ve learned.”