Construction begins!

Construction has begun on the Headwaters Discovery Playground!  Due to be completed at the end of April, the playground will serve our 1st through 6th grade students.  It's not just a playground, it's an outdoor learning and discovery environment!  It will have a canopy tree walk play structure, a water play area (with pumps and sluices), a "big science" area (think physics),  a nature play area and places to sit and contemplate our beautiful outdoor setting.  Watch for more pictures as the construction continues!

The View from our Window- Second Graders' Observations of Playground Progress

Week 1

Last week on Thursday, construction vehicles arrived on the back playground.  Two of them were small digging machines.  The people driving them started to break up concrete and to remove the last few playground pieces, like the slides, sandbox walls, and old tires from the zipline.  A dump truck collected the dirt and the old playground equipment.  On Friday, we watched them cut down the trees that were just outside our window.  We were very sad about it because we had bird feeders on the trees and we loved to watch the birds eat!   We took one of the feeders and hung it from the AC unit in our room so we could still see the birds and not miss them. 

Week 2

So far, this week, they have removed the blacktop where the basketball court has been.   They also started using surveying equipment to mark places with stakes. One surveying tool looked like a camera on a stand, or as some children thought-an octopus with a teeny head!  Stay tuned to this blog for more of Playground Progress brought to you by the second grade!
                                             

Coding with First Grade

Our first graders are exploring the world of coding through Dash and Dot and Scratch Jr. We started by learning how to use Scratch Jr. on the iPads. This is a program that gives the students a chance to do basic animations with coding blocks. Developed by MIT's Lifelong Kindergarten, Scratch Jr. gives children the opportunity to create,  design and re-design with free tools. This app is available for free download.

After spending time investigating Scratch Jr., our students are beginning to play with Dash and Dot. As we learn how to use this together, our first graders are learning coding basics, how to design, test and problem solve. And we are all having a lot of fun!

Indian Classical Music Residency

Creating a Raaga 

As we continue our study of Indian Classical music, students from 1st-4th grades continued to explore creating their own raagas (songs) based on the mohanam (Pentatonic in Western music) scale we have been learning in class. Students started by improvising on Orff instruments (xylophones, metallophones and glockenspiels) which were marked with the swaras (notes) from the scale. 

Afterwards, we shared these raagas with the class and we sang them as a group. 

Swaras (notes) on Orff instruments

Fourth grader experimenting with the swaras before composing his raaga. 

Fourth grader practicing her finished raaga. 

Students are also learning a song called Murali Adharai  for our culminating assembly. We will sing two lines of the song in Hindi and then Janani and her son, first grader, Rudy, will sing the remainder of the song. Janani composed an opening intro for all of us to sing, and we will sing it as an outro as well at the end of the song. All students in Lower School will be a part of this assembly!

Third grade learning Murali Adhara

Parents are welcomed to join us for our culminating assembly if you are able. We are also going to make a video of the assembly and will share the link in the blog.

You can join us on Friday, March 18th at 10:00 in the Muller Auditorium. 

We look forward to sharing this experience with you whether in person or via video!

Kindergarten Explores Light and Letters

As part of our study of light, we had fun making letters with glow sticks. We found out that the phosphorus inside the glow sticks actually store up light, and then release the light when the little glass tube inside the stick gets broken and the liquids mixed together.  We noticed a nice bright glow after "charging" them near the lightbulb!  We brought our glowing letters downstairs and played musical letters.  The students were de-light-ed dancing around in the dark and calling out words that began with the letters. Ask your children about it!

                           

Sink and Float - Buoyancy

The 2nd grade had a lot of fun in science class preparing for a boat building lesson in art/design class. The first step in boat building is learning what makes a boat float!  The students had a tub of water and a variety of materials to test.  They made predictions as to what might sink and what might float and they tested their hypotheses.  Next, they tried to make "boats" to hold up other items.  Here are some of their observations. 

"The shape does matter!"  

"I can make something really light carry something really heavy." 

"Foil floats when it is spread out."  

It was a great afternoon of learning about displacement, density and buoyancy!

Chinese Folktales for the New Year

Some of the most well-known folktales in Chinese culture are related to the Chinese New Year.  Last week, third graders listened to and read stories about the Kitchen God, who watches over the behavior of people, and the Chinese Zodiac.  In class, we practiced sequencing the important events of each story and re-telling them in our own words.  We also created illustrations for a story map for each event.  In our reading of the Chinese Zodiac, students also read about the different characteristics of each zodiac animal and had to match up each description with the animal they thought it represented best.

Shana led the class in an art project embossing the different Zodiac animals on sheet metal.  Students loved making the zodiac animals for themselves or family members on lucky Chinese colors.  We carefully selected and traced each image and then use wood embossing tools to create each animal's imprint onto the sheet metal.  We then decorated our classroom with images of the animals and words of blessing.   Happy Chinese New Year everyone!