There are many technological advances that we may take for granted in twenty-first century Washington, DC: telephone service, the Internet, electricity, clean water at our fingertips. When was the last time you stopped to think about (and appreciate) how complicated our system of plumbing is?

One of the newest Upper School clubs this year is Space Club. They have gotten off to a great start this year; they recently welcomed Dr. George Nield to speak about the future of commercial space flight, and had the opportunity to attend the International Astronautical Conference (IAC) at the Washington Convention Center.

To wrap up our current unit, How the World Works, where we explored how everyday materials have properties that can help us distinguish one from another, Grade 1 students were challenged with the task of collecting materials and using them to build a bridge! They were guided step-by-step through the design cycle to ensure they maximized learning while developing their structures. 

Grade 2 students and parent volunteers certainly warmed up the Primary School’s Design Lab recently! Students were given a STEAM Challenge to solve a mystery: “What causes weather?” With their small clue books, groups of five students rotated to five different stations (Temperature, Humidity, Air Pressure, Wind, and Humidity) to complete at least one hands-on science investigation.

Grade 3 students participated in an interactive provocation to begin their unit studying ecosystems: the Predator/Prey Survival Tag Game. Two classes of students were grouped together (3A & 3D, 3B & 3C) and each student was assigned a specific role in a food web (see sample below). They wore different colored shirts to indicate their roles.