Lower School Happenings

Enchanted Engineering

First grade students have been studying fairy tales in their Enchanted Engineering project-based learning unit.  Story elements, such as characters, setting, and events, were studied during the unit so that students could have a better understanding of how stories are composed.  Students were then tasked with identifying the elements of a self-selected fairy tale.  Upon completing their fairy tale project planning folder, students had the task of retelling their stories.  They created puppets for the characters in their fairy tales, and then they used the puppets to retell the beginning, middle, and end of their stories.  Students worked hard to remember the events in order, change their voices to sound like the characters, and have a great time performing.  They did an amazing job!

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America Symbols

​Kindergarten just finished a wonderful project focused on American Symbols.  Students began the project by learning about our school, city and state.  BREC’s Baton Rouge Mobile Zoo came and provided hands-on experiences with several Louisiana native species. The students interacted with turtles, owls, snakes and even an alligator! 
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As the project progressed, we learned about each of the four focus symbols through books, art, and music. We explored with Google maps. Guest experts visited to share their knowledge. Mr. McCrary helped us take virtual field trips to national landmarks and our nation’s capital using Google Expedition goggles. Our science instigator, Mrs. Minton, demonstrated what happens to the sound of a bell when it is cracked – just like the Liberty Bell.   We had a visit from a Mississippi Kite raptor, a “cousin” of the bald eagle, and learned so many things about birds of prey. Ms. Tori Taylor helped us learn the words and melody of our national anthem.
  
During our Grand Finale, kindergartners dressed as various American Symbols and shared their knowledge with their families.  To demonstrate their expertise, the children also wrote teaching books about their chosen symbol.  The Statue of Liberty, bald eagle, Liberty Bell and American Flag have never looked so good! 

The World Around You

Any interest in booking a vacation?  Ready to escape to a faraway location?  The second graders have you covered!  Second graders welcomed families and friends to the Episcopal Travel Agency and International Zoo as the culminating project to “The World Around You” project based learning unit.  With partners, students chose the country of their choice from a specific continent and then the fun began!  Students had to research their chosen country, organize their findings, collaboratively decide how to organize their information as well as share it, and create an enticing display to draw potential travelers their way!  Students presented information about their countries to prospective travelers practicing eye contact, articulation and voice projection, as well as confidently conveying their knowledge about their country.  Visitors were greeted by “The March of the Penguins” lining their walk to the travel agency, as well as being able to browse the “zoos” filled with animals from each continent.  After a morning of fun and excitement, our only question for you is, are you ready to book a trip with us today?!