Lower School News
It’s time to prepare for Exploremore!
Exploremore will be held on Friday, May 14 2010. Exploremore is an incredible event sponsored by the Parent Associations for the lower school children. It is KCD’s version of a field day, but it is not a traditional day of games and races. On Exploremore, children in kindergarten through fourth grade get to choose six different classes in which to participate. Junior kindergarten students choose three classes to take in the morning and get to rest in the afternoon. A picnic lunch is held on the playground, and all parents are encouraged to attend (and they usually do). Younger siblings are invited to attend the picnic lunch only. Please see the attached forms for information on t-shirt orders, parent volunteers, class selection, and more.
For details and frequently asked questions on the event, visit the Exploremore page on our website.
Fourth grade students create Spanish eBooks
In a collaborative project with Liz Gatewood (computer lab teacher) and Levin Elpers (spanish teacher), the fourth grade created books in Spanish! Ms. Elpers had her students write a book in Spanish titled "Como Es?" The fourth grade students brought their final drafts to computer class where they created their book using RealeWriter. The students learned how to create collages, create frames for each page, format the page layout for each page, insert accent marks, and format the text. (Please note: the books were blank and the fourth graders formatted everything!)
RealeWriter is a free software that you can download at home - www.realewriter.com
Read the ebooks here!
Destination imagination team prepares for state competition
The fourth grade Destination Imagination team performed a full dress rehearsal for their classmates in the middle school lobby on Tuesday. The performance had many great props and costumes with a tropical forest theme. Led by sponsor Sandi Johnson, the DI team used the opportunity to warm up for their state competition performance in Lexington this weekend along with the Middle School teams. The team received valuable feedback from their classmates on what they did well and what areas needed to improve. Destination Imagination organizes projects and competitions that involve students in hands-on, problem-solving activities. Good luck to the teams this weekend!
KCD's very own BrainPOP Jr. video
Liz Gatewood (computer lab) and Sandi Johnson's 3rd grade class wrote, designed, and created their very own BrainPopJr on Volcanoes! Ms. Johnson's class had been studying volcanoes and noticed that BrainPopJr didn't have a movie on the subject - so they decided to create their own!The video was filmed in front of KCD's green screen and students used iMovie to produce the video.
Ms. Johnson's students created everything you see in the video. They created the script (Microsoft Word), all the background images in the video (Kid Pix), hot facts (PowerPoint), word wall (PowerPoint), belly up (Kerpoof), quiz (SMART Notebook), & jokes (PowerPoint) all by themselves! Ms. Gatewood did the website and the video editing!
Ms. Gatewood submitted the Volcanoes video to the real BrainPopJr to see if they would add it to their BrainPOP Educators website and they responded immediately with a "Yes"!
"We are totally blown away by your student-made BrainPOP! What an amazing collaborative project. I would list all of my favorite parts, but there are far too many! ... I'd love to add it to our student-made videos on BrainPOP Educators. We reach over 83,000 teachers now!" Allisyn Levy, Director of BrainPOP Educators.
On the first day of having the video online, it received over 170 hits from 19 states!!!
Great job Leah (Annie), Jake (Moby), Meera & Maddie (word wall), Cameron & Oliver (hot facts), Jennifer & Alex (jokes), Coleman, Areeba, Lucy, & Lauren (graphic artists), Ashley, Margaret, & Elena (script writers), Will & Solomon (quiz writers), Jake & Pavani (belly up cartoon)!
To view free BrainPop movies - click here!
First graders impress parents at Poetry Café
First grade students had their Poetry Cafe in the Commons Room on Friday March 12. Parents enjoyed coffee and a light breakfast while being entertained by their first grade poets. Each first grade class performed a poem while dressed in character. The event was done in celebration of "Keep a Poem in Your Pocket Week”.
Incredible edible orbits
Second grade students in Ms. Giesel's science resource class used their imagination to create edible orbits. Learning about the solar system, students used sweet treats to create their own individual solar system models. The students used materials ranging from jawbreakers to skittles to butterscotch discs. Icing was used to hold the planets in place. The students were able to enjoy eating the leftover candy and icing after their projects were complete.
After school programs for term 4
Attached is the Intramural Athletics and After School Program Guide for Term 4. There is also a registration form for a spring baseball clinic for JK-4 students. See the attachments for details.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| After-School-Program-Guide-Term-4.pdf | 3.03 MB |
| Baseball-Clinic.pdf | 281.96 KB |
KCDate 2010 sets the “Stage” for the future
KCDate coordinator Elizabeth Sherrard is pleased to announce that KCDate 2010 was a tremendous success. Although the final numbers are not in yet, all signs indicate that the event is close to meeting this year’s goal.
All proceeds from the event go to the KCD Fund. Numbers are still being crunched, and totals will be announced shortly.
This was the second year for KCDate’s new format, which included a cocktail buffet and a streamlined selection of live and silent auction items. The new format and the beautiful space at the Mellwood Arts Center combined to create the perfect environment for a fun and relaxing evening on Saturday, February 20.
Special thanks are due to Elizabeth Sherrard and KCDate co-chairs Abbie Kamen, Annie Locke, and Jane Tierney, whose hard work was crucial to the success of this year’s auction. We would also like to thank Mark Samide and Matt Evans for providing a lively auction as auctioneers as well as Steven Meeron, Keith Kidd, and the entire maintenance crew for their help.
A special thanks goes to event sponsor Norton Healthcare for their continuing support of this event. This is Norton Healthcare’s fifth year supporting KCDate as our event sponsor!
In addition, we would like to thank the other sponsors listed below for their support:
Event Sponsor
- Norton Healthcare
Platinum Sponsor
- Yum! Brands
Gold Sponsors
- Brown-Forman
- The Underwriters Group
- The Miller Family Foundation
Silver Sponsor
- Parco Constructors Group, LLC
Bronze Sponsors
- Mainstream Investment Advisers
- Kentucky Mirror and Plate Glass Company
- Stock Yards Bank & Trust
- Frost Brown Todd
- Fifth Third Bank
- Flynn Brothers Contracting, Inc.
- Heaven Hill Distilleries
- Lusk Mechanical Contractors, Inc.
- Ready Electric
Finally, thanks to all the faculty and staff volunteers who donated their time to make the event run smoothly.
Saxophone instruction available
Saxophone teacher Jacob Duncan is now offering lessons to lower and middle schoolers through KCD's after school programs. More information is in the attached flyer.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| saxophone-lessons.pdf | 544.62 KB |
PA sponsors first-ever Father-Son All Star event
On Sunday, February 21, the first-ever Father-Son All Star event held at Velocity Sports Performance was an exciting father-son afternoon of sports, games, pizza and prizes. Special thanks to all of the volunteer “coaches” who worked on the committee and spent the day assisting in the event. These coaches included Karen Blue, Denise Moriarty, Julie Walkoff, Monet Jaggers, Wendy Anzalone, Andrea Bruns, Amy McLaughlin, Elizabeth Poindexter, Heather Alford, Shandra Holbrook, Laura McAdams, Kelly Wagner, Karen Sherman, Nikki Bockhorst, Lauren Shaftel, and Traci Green.
In addition, the Parent Association would like to give special recognition and appreciation to Keith Sherman and Velocity Sports Performance for offering their facility to KCD and hosting a wonderful event. There were two special raffles going on during the event. Carter James was the lucky winner of the Bats Baseball Box for fourteen and Sammy Goldentul was the winner of a Birthday Party at the Basketball Academy. Special thanks to Scott and Janie Ferguson for the donation of the Bats Box and an additional special thank you to Amy and Kevin McLaughlin who were the winners of a special live auction and took home two personalized Kentucky Wildcat Basketballs signed by Coach John Calipari.
