LS News December 2015

N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R

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LS NEWS ST. CATHERINE’S SCHOOL

In the few weeks we have had so far this December, we have already had such fun in Lower School!

The second graders performed their rendition of The Nutcracker, while the first graders went to St. Christopher’s and joined the first grade boys to make candy houses.

The Kindergarteners are doing a Holiday Workshop this year.

They have filled out employment contracts and are creating the products that they will later sell.

Thank you to all the parents and grandparents who have been volunteers!

UPCOMING EVENTS Reminder to please check lost and found on occasion when you are on campus.

We have a lot of coats and cold weather is approaching (even though it feels like Florida right now).

January 4, 2016

January 18, 2016

Classes Resume

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day No School

THE LOREM IPSUMS Lower School News

WINTER 2016 November/December 2015

JUNIOR KINDERGARTEN JK is engaging with the nativity story in multiple languages, representing it dramatically, in song, in story, in drawing, in paint, in paper construction and even in clay.

KINDERGARTEN November was a busy month for Kindergarten. The girls learned about the First Thanksgiving and prepared for the Thanksgiving Celebration with St. Christopher’s. With our St. Christopher’s partners, the children ate a snack and played Native American games. In December, Kindergarteners participated in Holiday Workshop. This unit introduces basic economic skills and reminds the girls about the importance of giving.

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THE LOREM IPSUMS Lower School News

WINTER 2016 November/December 2015

FIRST GRADE First grade has been busy this holiday season! In November, the girls read, compared and mapped a variety of Native American legends as they prepared for Thanksgiving. Following the Thanksgiving break, the classes began a Christmas Around the World unit. The girls are learning about holiday traditions, cultures and customs of different countries with the help of their classroom elves. The girls have been very excited and are enjoying different projects related to each of the countries they learn. They also had fun going to St. Christopher's to decorate candy houses with the first grade boys - a wonderful joint holiday tradition!

SECOND GRADE

The Second Grade just performed their annual show: The Nutcracker Suite.

The show is always a hit with the lower school audience and helps to put our school in the holiday spirit.

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THE LOREM IPSUMS Lower School News

WINTER 2016 November/December 2015

THIRD GRADE Happy Holidays from the third grade team! There is a lot of excitement this month as our choir and strings girls prepare for next week’s Gift Service. Students have also been very generous with the gifts they’ve brought in for SCAN, and we thank you for that. Our classes enjoyed the second-grade performance of the Nutcracker and fondly reminisced about their roles last year. Ms. Adkins’ egg drop project was a success! Everyone had a chance to explain to the class their project design and any tests and improvements they had made. Then students had a blast watching their science teacher stand on a table and drop their creations. Holiday story sharing has been going well, with lots of classic and new favorite stories told to friends. Third grade is gearing up to get into multiplication soon, so get ready to start practicing those multiplication facts with your daughters. For language arts, we’ve been learning about all types of nouns: proper, possessive, plural, and more! Stop by and check out our classroom door decorations if you happen to be in the building!

FOURTH GRADE

Fourth Grade students from St. Christopher's and St. Catherine's School collaborated for a morning to celebrate all things mathematical! The Fourth Grade Math Expo was a fabulous opportunity for students to get to know each other and work together during math games and activities.

For more detailed information, please see individual teacher blogs on the fourth grade website: http://mcfourthies.weebly.com/

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THE LOREM IPSUMS

WINTER 2016

Our robotics teams, Play It Again Saints and Super Hero Saints, spent the weekend of December 4-6 in Harrisonburg, VA at the FIRST Lego League Champions Tournament at JMU. There were 109 teams present, the largest FLL Robotics tournament in the world! Play It Again Saints received the second place Champions Award, which means they were second place overall for the entire STATE tournament. Wow! Super Hero Saints also had a strong showing at the tournament. Although they did not receive an award, they scored their highest competitive score for the season on the obstacle table and did an excellent job in all other areas of the competition, as well. We are SO PROUD of these young women. CONGRATULATIONS to the girls and their coaches: Ms. Adkins, Mrs. Warren, Ms. Hapala and Mrs. Hamilton-Dixon.

We had a guest artist visit the LS Art program.

Susanne Arnold taught students and faculty about the exciting art of wax painting, also called encaustic painting!

Science happenings in the Lower School: We have been creating and building scenes using solids that have different properties, Egg Drop projects, visiting Upper School chemistry classes to collaborate on a global experiment with hydrogels for the Royal Society of Chemistry, making and sharing e-books about extreme weather events, and a visit from some animal friends from the Richmond Wildlife Center. WOW! We love Science!

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THE LOREM IPSUMS Lower School News

WINTER 2016 November/December 2015

Please remember to keep your daughter home if she is sick. The Lower School Handbook outlines school health policies, which includes keeping a student home for 24 hours after vomiting or diarrhea. Students should also remain home until they are fever free for 24 hours without the use of medication for fever reduction. Encouraging hand washing and keeping students home if sick are two of the best ways to prevent the spread of illness to other students and teachers. Thank you for your help in keeping our community healthy!

Part of my role as counselor in the Lower School is to conduct guidance lessons. Most of these lessons are done during the two weeks each class has their swimming unit. The two weeks that each class swims they do not meet during their regularly scheduled PE classes. I use this time to conduct many of my guidance lessons.

Currently, I am working in kindergarten. I am talking to the girls about what it means and looks like to be a good friend, a good listener, and to learn to share. I also talk to the girls about being a reporter and not a tattletale. I love to read the girls stories that help illustrate these important character education traits. I am currently in Ms. Hargis’s class and look forward to working with Mrs. Thornhill’s and Mrs. Alexander’s classes in January.

I have included a link to a parenting article you might be interested in.

http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/10/14/give-lateblooming-children-the-time-they-need/?_r=0

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Lower School News

November/December 2015

Mr. Kevin Mahoney, Singapore Math consultant and Math Coordinator at Ten Acre Country Day in Wellesley, MA presented to the LS parents on December 2. A video of his presentation is available on the school website and the LS blog. You may also see the video by going to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzi1z932QJQ

Have a blessed and joyous holiday and a very Happy New Year!

Upcoming Dates…

January 14th Parent Information Coffee on Health and Wellness w ith Nurse Blanton 8:15-9:00 AM January 15th – End of second quarter January 18th – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - NO SCHOOL Week of January 25 th – Report cards posted on-line January 23rd – Snow ball Dance Grades 2-4, 6:00 p.m. in the LSAR