News

Students in Mrs. Mindy Osborn’s Honors Psychology class used the movie, Hidden Figures (2016), to examine concepts in social psychology. Topics such as social influences, anti-social relations, and racial discrimination are featured prominently in the film.  This film follows the lives of three African American female mathematicians who were instrumental in the early days of NASA’s race to put a man on the moon. The film helped students appreciate the organizational policies and daily indignities that separated both women and African Americans from NASA employees who enjoyed more freedoms and authority. Class members found the film both powerful and thought-provoking.  

Sophomore Caylen Copley’s artistic talents were put in the spotlight last month when she was recognized at an art competition hosted by Trinity Life Church in Maryland. Caylen’s entry, a composition in acrylic paint and black fine liners, earned her top honors and the chance to compete at a national-level event this summer in Florida. Caylen has long enjoyed sketching and other visual arts, and has shared her artistic talent through many on-campus art projects as well.

Let's Make a Watershed!  Mrs. McGregor's fourth grade class created scale models of a watershed as part of their Virginia Resources unit.  How did it go you ask?  Every model watershed was a success!  Each one had "rain water" flow from a high elevation, into a "lake", then into an "ocean".  Once done, each team recorded their data. 

Fourth grade students in Mrs. Krystal Tucker's class recently finished reading their whole class novel, Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls. Students completed a cross-curricular activity in STEAM Lab where they designed racoon traps using the 3-D printer. The fourth-graders learned from Billy, the main character in the novel, how to make a proper racoon trap and what elements successfully trap racoons. The students thoroughly enjoyed reading the novel and seeing their creations come to life via technology! 

Students in Mrs. Tucker’s 4th grade math class got a delicious hands-on lesson using Cheez Its. During the lesson, the Cheez Its were used to find both the perimeter and area of shapes, as well as compare the two math concepts. To find the area, students had to use Cheez It units to measure. To find the perimeter, students traced the lines on the edges of each cracker. In the end, the class finished the lesson by eating their math manipulatives all up!

PreK 3 and PreK 4 have been learning about the life cycles of plants and insects, particularly butterflies and ladybugs.  Live ladybug larvae and live caterpillars were ordered from a company called InsectLore.  They were delivered and both classes observed their "stages" for 14 days!  At the end of the 14-day period, the ladybugs were released into their natural habitat and the beautiful butterflies were released a few days later!  This was such an amazing, hands-on learning experience for our littlest Falcons!