Lower School

February 20, 2014

French language students at MPA are engrossed in a multi-week unit focused on the 2014 Olympic Games. With French being one of the three official languages of the games, teacher Liz DesLauriers is acting on this perfect opportunity to bring learning to life for her kindergarten through fourth-grade students. “It is really important that my classes are fun and exciting, with units and activities that are relevant to my youngest language learners.”

At grade-appropriate levels, students are describing the sports, reading the French Olympic website, sharing their opinions about what sports they like, studying the French, American, Russian and Olympic flags, learning about the geography of Russia, tallying the medal count for French-speaking countries, and even collaborating with the Spanish classes for some “Olympic” events.

Earlier this month, students held a celebration in celebration of the Opening Ceremonies. They decorated cupcakes with the Olympic flag and practiced using proper table conversation including, “Please pass me …” and “I would like …”  They used vocabulary specific to decorating and eating cupcakes and followed directions in French. DesLauriers added, “But equally as important, they had tremendous fun practicing their French in a real world situation that was significant and relevant to them.”

View photos from this event here.

February 1, 2014

January 23, 2014

Looking for gently used uniforms? Stop by the Use Uniform Sale until Monday, January 27th at 12:00 pm.

Friday, January 24 7:30 am-12:00 pm
Monday, January 7:30 am–12:00 pm

January 23, 2014

Each year students in Lower School participate in various community service projects.  One project that has been long standing at MPA is the Birthday Box program. This program provides a box of birthday essentials for children in less fortunate situations who are celebrating birthdays. These gift boxes are each packed with a cake mix, frosting, candles, book, small toy and a handmade birthday card by one of our students.

This year it is the second grade that directed this activity as part of the CHAMP program (Character Happens At Mounds Park).  During the week of January 13^th – 17^th all students in the Lower School were asked to bring in spare change to contribute to the purchase of items for the boxes.  Each day that week, students collected money in their homerooms and second graders counted this change.  Throughout the week, students are asked to bring pennies on Monday, nickels on Tuesday, dimes on Wednesday, quarters on Thursday and dollars on Friday.

To help make this even more meaningful we asked that the students work to earn their contribution by doing extra chores and helping at home.  Through these efforts we hoped to help students realize that even one person can make a big difference. Our goal was to raise enough funds to fill 30 boxes, each box costing about $10.00.  Every day second graders gave a lunchtime report on our progress.  We were touched and amazed as our amounts grew each day giving us an ending total of $685!  We more than doubled our goal!

On Wednesday, January 22 the Lower School came together in our CHAMP assembly to work on boxes.  Students worked in mixed-grade level groups to decorate the boxes and make cards.  Boxes will be packed with purchased items and sent to various food shelves in the area.

The character focus throughout every step of the Birthday Box project was cooperation. From collecting and counting money to cleaning up after the assembly, each step involved the need to cooperate among the students. It also provided the setting for faculty to point out how successfully, and how fun, it could be to work together towards a common goal. Each child made a difference on their own and yet the whole group accomplished so much more by working together.

Thank you to all of the students and families that helped make our Birthday Box project such a huge success!

Anne Scalia and Scott Wilson

Second Grade Teachers