Thursday Washington Latin’s star spellers competed in the Cluster Bee against neighboring schools. Eighth graders Reva Kelly and Noa Smudde competed alongside 7th grader Imanuel Brandon. Reva nabbed a spot in the top 8 spellers, moving on to the citywide bee. Imanuel just missed the spot by coming in ninth overall.
While the temperature hit peak running weather in the sunny 60’s this week, the winter track team has shown itself to be weather-proof. Back in January the team, coached by Mr. Callum, survived chilly temps to nab a 3rd place overall finish in the 4X800 relay in their first meet of the season.
Valentine’s Day is on the mind of students in the middle and upper school. Eighth graders had a Valentine’s Day themed advisory lunch this past Wednesday, featuring a scavenger hunt, karaoke, basketball, and love letter writing. Eighth graders will have a dress-up day on Monday, and a door decorating contest. In the high school, GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) is organizing a Galentine’s Day femine products drive for charity, including bras and sanitary products for charity. The Community Council will be spreading the love through the school with locker decorations, garlands, and affirmations. Meanwhile the counseling department is doing a self-love and self-care advisory presentation next week on Monday in the middle school, and Wednesday in the upper school, tailored to students’ grades.
Several eighth grade advisories have taken skating field trips to help students get to know each other, build esprit de corps and enjoy some outdoor winter fun. Ms. Barlev, Ms. Kolb, and Ms. Breitman’s advisors participated in various winter outings to Canal Park and at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden. What a great way to beat the February doldrums!
Fifth and sixth graders hosted the middle school science fair on Friday, with the help of their science teachers Ms. Dorsey and Ms. Dobler, and a number of volunteer judges from our Washington, D.C. community. Experiments assessed plant growth, range of motion, cleaning powers of different detergents, sugar content of various foods, and bacteria growth, among other exciting questions. Fifth and sixth graders spend several weeks on their science units, forming a hypothesis, completing research, forming a plan and procedure, conducting the experiment, and assessing and analyzing their data before practicing presenting the information to their classmates. The steps of the scientific process allow them a hands-on approach to understanding the dynamics of the world around them.
