April MS Newsletter

April 2024 | Issue 6

LOWCOUNTRY PREPARATORY SCHOOL

Middle School

NEWSLETTER Table of Contents Teacher Spotlight Alyson Fisher, US Art Kendall Thornton, LS/MS Art Student Spotlight Reagan Cox-Floyd, 6th Miller Grace Hawley, 7th Aiden Alvarado, 8th Classroom Activities & Meaningful Connections Field Trips Announcements & Upcoming Events

Alyson Fisher MS/US Art Ms. Fisher is from Greenville, South Carolina where most of her family resides. She graduated from the University of South Carolina with a degree in Studio Art with minors in Art History and Psychology. She enjoys spending her free time with her sweet French bulldog named, Delphi, and her little black cat.

Professionally, Ms. Fisher has taught at Lowcountry for two years and teaches 7th and 8th grade Art, AP Art History, and AP Psychology.

TEACHER SPOTLIGHT When asked what her favorite thing about Lowcountry is, she says, “I truly have a second family here at LPS and it has been the biggest blessing to be surrounded with so many wonderful people. Working at a school in a beach town is something that seems like it’s out of a movie.”

Classroom at a Glance 7th Grade Art: Ceramic Dishes using plaster molds. Our plans are to use a painting technique called sgraffito to design them.

8th Grade Art: Printmaking. We started with using Styrofoam and have worked our way up to carving linoleum blocks.

Outside of school, Ms. Fishers likes, “to make art, ride bikes, and shop. My family is from Greenville, SC so I love driving to the upstate to visit them. I have one nephew and will soon have a niece as well!”

DID YOU KNOW? I love to write poetry! I had my first publication in an online literary review last year and continue to pursue that in my free time.

Kendall Thornton LS/MS Art Mrs. Thornton has been an art teacher for 15 years.

Before arriving in Pawleys Island, she previously taught in schools in Georgia and Tennessee. She spent 10 years working in middle school and five years in elementary and lower school.

This is Mrs. Thornton’s first year at Lowcountry. She is also a mom of a third grade student, Cosette Thornton.

TEACHER SPOTLIGHT When asked what her favorite thing about Lowcountry is, she responds, “the students. We have such a motivated and talented group of students. Each class that I teach is filled with enthusiastic students who are ready to try new things. The students at LCP are so creative and they are absolutely my favorite part of my job.”

Classroom at a Glance We are covering collage, painting, and three dimensional sculpture in multiple grade levels.

My background is in pottery and ceramics so I really love sharing those concepts with my students.

3rd Grade: Silhouette Painting 6th Grade: An Independent Study Project Outside of the classroom, Mrs. Thornton loves, “creating and working on my own artwork. I also enjoy running and spending time and traveling with my husband Peter and daughter Cosette. Other hobbies that are important to me are reading and antiquing and refinishing furniture.”

DID YOU KNOW? My undergraduate degree is in Journalism.

I was an intern at CNN in Atlanta and really loved the experience. I was also on the Crew Team in college, rowing on a fourwomen's light-weight team and cheerleader.

Reagan Cox-Floyd 6th Grade

Mr. Starlight comments, “I love the creative energy that Reagan brings to music class and our performance programs. She's not afraid to put herself out there and try to improvise something on the fly. She also has an admirable work ethic, which enables her to take those creative ideas and then refine them into a wonderful performance.“ Mrs. McCallister states, “Reagan is a powerhouse of energy and intelligence in a compact package! She loves to contribute her thoughts to class discussions. Not only is she an excellent student, but Reagan is an outstanding competitive dancer.“

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT Miller Grace Hawley 7th Grade Mrs. McCallister remarks, “Miller Grace is a conscientious and hard-working student who adds a lot to her Language Exploration class with her wonderful participation and enthusiasm. She has also brought in some delicious foods when we have sampled cuisines from around the world for our culture portion of class.”

Mrs. Blomdahl observes that “Miller Grace is an excellent student who always gives her best effort and takes her time. She is dedicated to her classes and is respectful to her teachers and her classmates. She is confident in her responses and always has great insight.”

Aiden Alvarado 8th Grade

Ms. Schroeder states, “ he is kind, hardworking, and fun.”

Mrs. Blomdahl comments that “Aiden has been a great addition to the 8th grade. He is a respectful young man who is outgoing and funny. He always gives his best effort and works well with his classmates.”

Outside of the classroom, Aiden enjoys representing the Marlins on the basketball team!

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT Middle School Honor Roll A Honor Roll Shannon Hungerford Brenna Ballard Sarah Livingston Reagan Cox-Floyd Stella Short Nathan Robinson Mary Grace Swift Walker Weathers Keely Green Evelyn Lewis Michael Simmons Dargan Hughes Annabella Peacher-Holderied Londyn Roderick Miller Grace Hawley Daniel Lutz Ada O’Halloran Audrey Ludyjan Harrison Errico Luisa Lee Shuler McKay

QUARTER 3

A/B Honor Roll Sophia Greene Mary Boyd McCarley Henry Strong Ellison Barr Ben Skvarka Bennett Burroughs Wren Balco Thomas Yamashita Eva Jolly Middleton Bell Eric Solheim Sophie Whitman Elle Moody Grant Putman Owen Bryan Reece Bayernic Chloe Burlow Aiden Alvarado Lillian Marple

Chew on This Board Games Project 6th Grade-ELA

To culminate our nonfiction unit, students collaborated in groups to create an original board game that highlighted the concepts and facts we learned about the fast food industry. Students could mirror already existing games or create authentic versions.

Each group had to create a way for players to move, a colorful board game, and comprehension questions for players to answer related to the information learned.

We had a variety of interesting games like: B & S Burgers, Twister, McOpoly, Get Money, Decisions, Decisions, and McDonalds Life in a Dreamhouse.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

Antarctica Theme Park Project 7th Grade-ELA

At the end of our nonfiction unit, students worked in groups to create an original theme park that represented the variety of Antarctic explorers studied.

Each group was tasked with creating a theme park map that displayed the seven different “lands” associated with each famous explorer.

Each land had to display a creative game, ride, and show that described the expedition of the explorers. Then, they had to create a gift shop, a food court, and a first aid station.

A written component was required to explain each land and how it related to the explorer.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES Ancient Rome and Julius Caesar 8th Grade-Ancient History “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!"

The 8th grade Ancient History class recited Mark Antony's funeral speech for Julius Caesar. Students memorized the speech from William Shakespeare's classic tragedy, Julius Caesar, and performed in Roman togas. Was this ambition?! Yes, eighth grade proved to be much more noble than Brutus wrapping up their study of Ancient Rome in honorably stoic fashion and success!

6th Grade Visit to 5th Grade Middle School Transition Program On Tuesday, April 9th, our sixth grade students visited the fifth grade classroom to answer questions about their transition from 5th-6th grade. Students shared experiences and advice they had for the rising 6th graders about how to best prepare for their next chapter.

Our transition program began with 5th grade parent and student surveys followed by visits from the 6th grade teachers to the 5th grade classroom to share insight about the classes they teach.

At the end of April, 5th graders will come to shadow 6th grade’s ELA and Math classes to get a first hand look at the exciting happenings in the Upper School building!

MEANINGFUL CONNECTIONS Chapel Assembly 8th Grade-Avery Sinclair Friday, March 22

Avery has trained in vocal lessons since she was seven. In our monthly chapel assembly, Avery performed an awe-inspiring rendition of the Beatles‘ “Let it Be” alongside Mr. Tony Starlight and fellow guitarist, Robert. We are so proud of you, Avery!

Wonderworks Myrtle Beach 8th-Physical Science

On Friday, the 8th grade Physical Science class took a field trip to WonderWorks! We fueled up with a big breakfast at Eggs Up, then spent the day enjoying the rides, bubbles, bed of nails and more interactive exhibits. We also had fun doing the ropes course and laser tag at WonderWorks in Myrtle Beach. It provided some great bonding time for the class and it was a great chance to have science-related fun!

FIELD TRIPS

STATE SCIENCE FAIR

On Thursday, April 11th, LS and MS students traveled to the State Science Fair to compete against other winners from SCISA schools.

MS Participants: Reece Bayernic (placed 2nd in the Junior Physical Science division) Lillian Marple Nathan Robinson LS Participants: Toby Hayes Robert Marona (won 1st place in the Elementary Biological Science division) Gavin Holladay (placed 3rd in the Elementary General Science division) Turner Mesimer

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Please join us next Wednesday, April 17 at 5:30 pm to overview our fast-approaching field trip to Colonial Williamsburg on April 22 - 24! We will discuss the schedule, room arrangements, carpool arrangements, code of conduct, etc. Also, driving chaperones can complete the LPS field trip driver form and make copies of your driver's license and car registration. Meeting will be held in Ms. Sandor’s room (Room 405)

Planning Ahead: Q4 Interims-April 17 Spring Program-April 19 Williamsburg Trip (7th8th) -April 22-24 Field Day-April 26 Awards Day-May 24

UPCOMING EVENTS

Please note the MS Final Exam Schedule on the next page.

MS FINAL EXAM SCHEDULE Period 1 Classes 8:00-10:00

6A

6B

7 Grade

8 Grade

SC History Sandor, Rm. 403

Advanced Math Smith, Rm. 404

Earth Science Ford, Rm. 406

Physical Science Schroeder, Rm. 408

Life Science Wehunt, Rm. 406

Life Science Wehunt, Rm. 406

Language Exploration McCallister, Rm. 106

Ancient Civilization, Sandor, Rm. 403

Advanced Math Smith, Rm. 404

Advanced English Blomdahl, Rm. 410

No Exam

No Exam

No Exam

No Exam

Advanced English Blomdahl, Rm. 410

Algebra I Smith, Rm. 404

Advanced English Blomdahl, Rm. 410

Writing and Grammar McCallister, Rm. 106

Geography Sandor, Rm. 403

Spanish I or French I Elliott, Rm. 402 Parnell, Rm. 401

Writing and Grammar, McCallister, Rm. 106

SC History Sandor, Rm. 405

Pre-Algebra Smith, Rm. 404

English I Blomdahl, Rm. 410

May 21 Tuesday Period 2 Classes 10:30-12:30 May 21 Tuesday Period 3 Classes 8:00-10:00 May 22 Wednesday Period 4 Classes 10:30-12:30 May 22 Wednesday Period 5 Classes 8:00-10:00 May 23 Thursday Period 6 Classes 10:30-12:30 May 23 Thursday