Lower School News October 2015

O C T O B E R

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LS News St. Catherine’s School

Cubelets, littleBits, WeDo, STEM class, atom projects, the community garden, chemistry, mollusks…so much Science going on in the Lower School! St. Catherine’s girls LOVE Science!

Upcoming Events 11/5/2015 11/04/2013 Kindergarten Parent Coffee 8:15-9:00 am Library and LSAR

11/12/2015

11/16/2015

Grades 1 & 2 Parent Coffee 8:15-9:00 am Library and LSAR

VAIS Conference No School for Students

11/17-20/2015 ERB Testing Grades 3 & 4

THE LOREM IPSUMS Lower School News

FALL2015 2016 October

The JK children are investigating disguise, with a primary interest in hiding their identity (rather than pretending to BE something). They have been making masks and costumes in multiple media and over a few weeks now.

They plan to travel around the school on Friday, October 30th in disguise to "fool" the big girls and teachers.

October has been a busy month in Kindergarten! After a few weeks of exploring Cubelets, the girls introduced these cubedshaped robots to their fourth grade partners. So far, they have five cubes and will add more to complete challenging tasks. The girls enjoyed a beautiful day at the Goochland Fields during their fall field trip. The girls explored the woods and observed the breathtaking beauties of fall. They collected nature items to sort when they returned. Afterwards, the girls had a picnic and ran through the fields. In language arts, the girls were introduced to short vowels through the catchy “Vowel Bat� song. You might have heard it at your home! This month, kindergarten made pumpkin muffins in the classroom. You could smell them all the way up to the lobby! The Imagination Station in the hallway will be open soon for exploration. New materials include Tego blocks, Discovery Ramps, Quadrilla and Magniformers. This is a fun and exciting time in kindergarten!

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THE LOREM IPSUMS Lower School News

FALL2015 2016 October

October has been a busy and exciting month for first grade! As the classes count down the days to Halloween, they have been busy finishing the history of St. Catherine's, visiting their friends in first grade at St. Christopher's for Founders' Day and looking for signs of fall and the colors of the season in the garden. The girls have become more accustomed to their reading group routines and having homework Mondays through Thursdays in math and reading. First grade enjoyed swimming this month and last. The girls are looking forward to the first LS Innovation Day

Second grade is studying the History of Richmond and the James River. They have had two great field trips to strengthen their units of study. The first field trip was a tour of the City of Richmond that included stops at St. John's Church, Tredegar Iron Works and Hollywood Cemetery. The second field trip was to Maymont Nature Center to learn more about the James River and watersheds.

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Lower School THE LOREM IPSUMSNews

OctoberFALL 20152016

It may have been Back to the Future Day recently, but St. Catherine's third graders have been spending their time back in the past! The girls went on a fantastic field trip to Colonial Williamsburg. While there, they debated in the Capital building, were locked up in the prison, browsed the millinery, waved to passersby in carriages and saw the cabinetmaker and blacksmith at work. The trip helped bring to life the historical fiction story they have been reading in class, Meet Felicity: An American Girl.

Just this past Friday, the third grade girls got to experience colonial life first-hand at the annual Colonial Day event with their St. Christopher's peers. The St. Catherine's students started the morning off wonderfully with an energetic welcome dance.

Afterwards, three girls paired up with three boys for a morning full of colonial games, cooking, crafts and other explorations. Students danced to live harpsichord music. They enjoyed caps, marbles, hoop rolling and battledore and shuttlecock. There were stations for African masks, herbalism studies, Native American guest speakers and candle making. Everyone helped prepare Brunswick stew for lunch and gingerbread cookies for dessert. Colonial Day 2015 was a resounding success thanks to the diligent parent volunteers and our excellent hosts at St. Christopher's.

The fourthies are starting to work with assigned kindergarten classes in experimenting with Cubelets. From the Modular Robotics, site, "Cubelets are robot blocks that easily connect to form robots that inspire kids to become better thinkers."

For additional information specific to each class, please visit our class blogs via our Fourthie website at http://mcfourthies.weebly.com.

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THE LOREM IPSUMS Lower School News

FALL 2016 October 2015

The 4th/5th grade Lego Robotics Teams will be competing at the local FIRST Lego League tournaments in the next few weeks. These tournaments are free and open to the public. The best time to see teams running their robots on the obstacle tables is between 11:00am and 3:00pm.

Team 1840 Super Hero Saints will be competing at L. C. Byrd High School on Saturday, November 14, 2015.

Team Members: Olivia DeRosier, Eva Green, Eliza Hopkins, Holland Miller, Manya Suri, and Amelia Tefel Team 1841 Play It Again Saints will be competing at Godwin High School on Saturday, November 21, 2015.

Team Members: Kayton Buerlein, Lily Caldwell, Aubrey Cuevas, Liz Fergusson, Adell Hudson, Mary Schroeder, and Laura Grace Shield.

Fourth graders have been working on movement and shapes within different levels.

Come on out, cheer for your school team and enjoy a day of Lego robots!

Sun drawing for Dia de los Muertos

by Nicole.

Building the Hoop House with our mentors from BCWH. Still life drawing by Parker.

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LOWER SCHOOL NEWS

OCTOBER 2015

Last month we highlighted the theory of Jerome Bruner whose major theme was that of active learning and the use of mental models. This month we focus on Zoltan Dienes. Dienes theorized six stages to learning math. The first involves free play, which he believed was the beginning of all learning. The second is the stage where children realize there are rules in every game. Instead of experimenting, the children begin to learn to play by the rules of the game. In stage three, children begin to compare and contrast the different games, which eventually leads them to understanding common rules in math.

Stage four is the representation stage and is the point where children begin to represent their learning in picture form (e.g. diagrams, tables, maps). Stage five is the symbolization stage, which is where children realize that a certain series of operations will yield the same results as another series of operations. The final stage is formalization where children are able to formalize all their descriptions into formulae and theorems. Through the stages, the children move from learning math in a concrete way to the abstract.

November 5, 2015

Kindergarten Parent Coffee (8:15-9:00 a.m.)

Week of November 9, 2015 November 12, 2015

Report Cards ready to view online

(pushpage will go out with exact date)

Grades 1 and 2 Parent Coffee 8:15-8:35 a.m.

8:40-9:00 a.m.

Grade 1 in LSAR for reading groups Grade 2 in Library with Annie Grade 2 in LSAR for reading groups Grade 1 in Library with Annie

November 13, 2015

Admissions Event for Prospective JK/K Families (9:30-11:30 a.m.)

November 16, 2015

VAIS Conference for Faculty – No School for Students

November 17-20, 2015

ERB Testing for Grades 3 and 4

November 20, 2015

Kindergarten Harvest Festival (Hargis /Thornhill) LSAR – 10:15-11:30 a.m.

November 23, 2015

Kindergarten Harvest Festival (Alexander/Jernigan) LSAR – 10:15-11:15 a.m.

November 25 - 30, 2015

Thanksgiving Break