The Middle School Cross Country team showcased speed, agility, and persistence at Monday’s rescheduled meet. They raced around a hilly, immense campus at the Landon School, without giving up. Eighth graders Abby Hawkinson and Lola Orlove-Rodriguez won 3rd and 4th place, respectively, and eighth graders Cassie Downes and Lily Edwards came in 12th and 15th place, respectively. The team is coached by middle school teachers Mr. Green and Mr. O’Brien.
The varsity girls team split its first game in a 1 to 1 tie against St. Andrew’s. The goal was made by junior Layla Axam. This year the upper school also has a JV soccer girls team. The varsity team is coached by Mr. Richardson.
The Varsity girls’ volleyball team won its first game against E.L. Haynes this week. The team is coached by college counseling director Ms. Latham and Washington Latin alumni Mikal Harrison. Senior Casey Rice is the manager who keeps the books for the team.
Eighth grade scientists created physical representations of the earth’s rotation around the sun using paper, toothpicks, styrofoam balls and other materials. Ms. Barlev also used Flipgrid to quiz kids on how the earth’s rotation creates day and night skies. Students created videos to showcase their understanding, using pieces of fruit, construction paper, and other materials to put the earth in the palm of their hands!
Eighth grade poets finished free verse journey poems on Friday, their first writing assignment of the year. The poems adapted the story of one of the three main characters from the summer reading text Refugee by Alan Gratz. The book depicts fictionalized journeys of refugees from Germany in 1938, Cuba in 1994, and Syria in 2015. Students learned about using sensory detail to create a vivid scene rich with smells, sounds, feelings, visual images and colors. Students also developed their skills at simile, metaphor, and symbolism to show how the characters change in their journeys. Next up, 8th graders will tackle narrative writing in the form of original mystery stories due in October.
Students in Ms. Dobler’s STEM club worked to understand the classic chemical reaction by creating elephant toothpaste, which uses soap, hydrogen peroxide, yeast, and water. The hydrogen peroxide breaks down into water over time, and the yeast is added as a catalyst to speed up the reaction. After following the “directions” the first time, students were able to ask their own questions, so they experimented with things like using more or less of the materials to see what would happen.The club meets 12:15-12:45 every Monday and Friday. Mondays are choice days, with 4 or 5 different activities to choose from, ranging from programming, design, and engineering. Friday there is one bigger activity that is led. This Friday’s big activity will be an introduction to the 3D printer!
