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.
The middle school girls’ basketball team left school early on Thursday, so they could travel to the PCSAA playoff game against Basis DC at the Rosedale Rec Center. Coach Mozie coaches the team. The girls beat Basis 20-18, and proceed to the championship game on Saturday at Washington Latin at 11am in the gym. The varsity boys’ team beat Capital City Public Charter School 45-39 in regular season play. Mr. Eleby-El coaches the varsity boys. The varsity girls lost a nail biter against SEED Public Charter School. Their coach is Coach Vaughn.
Students in the Red Hearts club created valentine’s day cards with the Beautification Club to give to seniors at Stoddard Baptist Nursing Home. The Red Hearts club, advised by Ms. Foster, provides community service by upper school students to improve life at the school and the broader community.
Eighth graders in Ms. Haywood and Ms. Breitman’s classes began their poetry and research unit on Langston Hughes on Tuesday, not knowing that it was actually the poet’s birthday! Students will read several of the Harlem Renaissance poet’s works and complete a lengthy library research essay on how Hughes depicted his own experiences through his writing, and what experiences he chose to omit or fictionalize. Connecting history to literature through research is a key component of the work done by Latin’s literary librarian Ms. Hamm, who helped cultivate and organize the research assignment and will assist students in their research and citation skills this month.
