News

On Thursday, October 8th, the freshman theater class performed The Spot, by Patrick Gabridge, for a few faculty and staff members.  The short play was about a man who found a comfortable spot to stand. But town members tried everything, including bribery, to make him move.  From rehearsals to the performance, the young actors and actresses were able to learn important skills such as recitation and collaboration. Freshman, Heith Taylor, who played the part of a funny businessman, said of the performance, "Our first performance was fun and my part fit my personality perfectly."

The 4th and 5th grade students happily welcomed a new piece of equipment to their new playground area- a climbing dome. The dome, generously donated by 4th grader, Teagan McKinney and family, provides our older lower school students the opportunity to both climb and swing on the attached swing. And, the rock climbing hand grips help the students develop strong muscles and coordination. This climbing dome will allow our students yet another opportunity within this new outdoor space to use their imaginations in devising new games and scenarios during recess.  
 

Our PK classes have been busy this year learning about the letters of the alphabet. During the beginning of October, students explored the letter “D”.  They focused on the sound “D” makes, traced the upper and lower case versions of the letter, and brainstormed words and classmates’ names that begin with the letter. To help end their letter “D” study, Mrs. Call brought in her dog, Harley, to visit. And, Mrs. Davis’s class made homemade donuts to celebrate “D”. 

Like all other institutions in the year 2020, Battle of the Brains has had to change its format in response to COVID-19. Typically, Fuqua's team of four heads to Richmond to Channel 6 news station, where they meet the opposing team and are taped as they compete. The game consists of several toss-up rounds, in which questions are asked by the host and then answered by whomever buzzes in first; and a category round, in which each team chooses a category, discusses the question as a group, and then the team captain answers the host.

This year, the matches occur via ZOOM, meaning the four team members can compete from their own homes if necessary. Toss-up rounds are completely revamped, with the host asking each individual team member a specific question as a way of accounting for the time lags that sometimes occur with zoom. The category round is the only element that remains unchanged, though when the team captain answers, he has to tell the host that his response is the "final answer," to distinguish between the true answer and the possible answers the team has audibly debated. The results of these zoom matches will be broadcast as usual on Saturday mornings.

Check out the Fuqua School team of  Zach Eason, Captain, Tyler Harris, George Magnotti, and Catherine Rutherford this Saturday, October 17 at 10 AM on CBS Channel 6.  

The upper school's Honors Physics class is building a trebuchet to launch decorative pumpkins on Friday, October 30th for the lower school's Pumpkin Chunkin event . During this building process, the class has had the opportunity to explore a multitude of physics concepts such as position, velocity, acceleration, projectile motion, friction, forces, and potential and kinetic energy. The students have enjoyed the hands-on learning. However, building the trebuchet has not been an easy process.  Through many trials and errors, they are almost complete with our pumpkin smasher! 

On Friday, October 2, the 7/8 Performing Arts class of the STEAM Wheel presented their epic rap battles. This project included research of a topic, writing a logical defense for a debate, making that defense rhyme, costume planning, and the physical act of performing. The students came up with topics such as books vs. movies, hunting vs. fishing, and sneakers vs. high heels among others. It was a fun day in class!