Head of School Update: Friday, February 24, 2017

Your children are learning so much!  We only had 4-days of school this week, but here are a few highlights of classroom happenings: 

 

• On Tuesday, the Kindergarten class celebrated the 100^th day of school!  Mrs. Baki had them build a tower out of 100 cups, make a snack with 100 items, and write about what life will be like when they are 100 years old.

 

• On Tuesday, the 7^th & 8^th Graders learned about leasing cars in Dr. Wagner’s mathematics class.  They then calculated the costs of leasing cars and compared these costs to the price of paying for a car upfront and taking out a loan.   They have also been calculating the costs for typical car repairs and averaging gas mileages for different types of cars. 

 

• On Wednesday, the 4^th grade students explored matter with Miss Porter, both experimentally through creating solutions and measuring volumes, and philosophically through a discussion on how matter came to exist.

 

• On Wednesday, Mr. Walter led the 8th Grade class through Act 3 in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice.  Antonio defaults on his loan and puts his life in danger. 

 

• On Thursday, to illustrate the use of scientific notation, 7^th grade students watched a video zooming out to the furthest edge of the universe and back into the smallest part of the atom on a human hand.  Miss Paul left the students with two questions: "Does this make you feel small?" and “Does this make you feel complex?”  

 

• On Friday, in 5^th Grade history, students complied a family tree of the Tutor Dynasty, pulling from their class notes and illustrations.  Mr. Sawyer taught the class how to create a visual of historical figures to develop their timelines and understanding of English history. 

 

Please mark your calendars for our Term Presentation on Friday, March 10th. Personally, it is my favorite event of the year.  I love seeing every student in the school share a highlight from every subject in such a creative and varied manner.   I encourage you to come and bring new friends.

I know many of you are making plans for this summer and even for next year. The 2017-2018 Annual Calendar is now posted on our OwlNet Resource Board to assist with planning. While we may change the date of an event, the overall school days will not change. 

 

Finally, we launched the Reading Rally on Tuesday afternoon and there is great enthusiasm among all the students for raising money and reading.   Thank you for bringing birthday books back to the library for other students to enjoy during this time of heavy reading. 

 

Happy Reading!

 

 

Mrs. Polly J. Friess