Comic-Con 2023

Deep in the halls of Howe-Manning, students have been showing their true superpowers. By day you know them as Howe-Manning 4th-grade students but when problems arise they turn into superheroes. Some are able to leap Howe-Manning in a single bound while others are able to stop a speeding monkey. They are all here to eliminate crime one diabolical villain at a time!

Over the last month, students have been preparing for Comic-Con. Students reviewed parts of plot and watched clips of past and present superheroes/villains to then create their very own. Check out all the published 4th grade comics here.

Dressed from head to toe students, families, and friends met to share all their SUPER work for our annual Comic-Con event. 

This year we added handheld vintage video games thanks to Artovation with Ms. Nassar and a full-size bat mobile thanks to Innovation with Mrs. Deeley. 

The Amazing Race Across the West

Written by guest blogger Leo

The Cheez Sticks. The Alaskan Huskies. The Piggy Bananas. The Corgi-bat-pandas. The Ratty Rats. The Cheez sticks got their clue. Thirty seconds ‘tIll the next team gets theirs. It’s The Amazing Race. The Amazing Race is during social studies, and everybody is so excited about it.  “This state was the first to allow women to vote,” Hmm. The next team gets their clue. Everybody is trying to find the location where the answer is. “Wyoming!” Owen yells. Oops. Everybody pins it on Google Earth. They all race to Miss Klipfel to get theirs checked first. 

Then teams are given roadblocks to complete, like writing a paragraph about how wolves are important to Yellowstone. We all use Google Earth and National Geographic resources to help. For our roadblocks in Alaska, you could also make a poster about the Idatroid race racers. We also get detours that we can pick between. In Hawaii, you could make a Hawaiian Leis necklace, or learn to dance the hula. At the end of Hawaii, we limboed. 

When you got the last roadblock/detour done, when you check in with Miss Klipfel on the mat. As a team we all jump on a blue mat. We all had a lot of fun doing it too! This is The Amazing Race.

Golden Dome

Written by guest bloggers Shawn & Joey

The State House was so fun to visit. Let me tell you ALL about it! First, we went on a bus from Howe Manning to the State House. When we arrived at the State House we saw… The GOLDEN Dome! It was so shiny and did you know that the golden dome is made out of 23k Gold. Did you know that more than a thousand people work at the State House?

When we went into the State House we had to go through security and there were big gates in front of the State House to keep it safe. There is a nice beautiful garden in front of the State House. When we got through security we had to walk up so many stairs. Then we went under the Golden Dome and under the Golden Dome is the Senate room. There are two fake fish that give you good luck. One is Under the Golden Dome on a chandelier called the Holy Mackeral (pictured below on the left) and one is in the House Chambers called the Scared Cod (pictured below on the right). 

Representative Jones got us special permission to go on the Senate balcony (see picture above). It is a spectacular view of Boston. We then headed over to the House of Representatives Chambers. The House floor is where the House of Representatives works to make laws and take votes. We got to sit in the House seat and even got to stay while the House went into session. It was pretty cool that we got to lead the pledge for the MA House of Representatives session. 

While we were on the House floor, Representatives Jones and Representative Keran surprised Miss Klipfel with a citation from the MA House of Representatives. When Miss Klipfel got a citation everyone clapped. It was so loud and everyone was so happy for her. The reason she got it is that she got selected as a National Geographic Grosvenor Teacher Fellow for all the amazing teaching she does for us and gets to go on a National Geographic Lindblad expedition to Patagonia. After that, we took a picture on the grand staircase with both representatives and Senator Tarr. We were supposed to go to the swan boats but it was raining so we went back on the bus to head to Howe Manning.