Saturday, September 3, 2016

Chicken Naming Contest Info.!

                         Chicken Naming Contest!                       
Name the Chickens of Sprouts Community Garden in Honor of Female Scientists! Open to ALL members of the St. Paul's Community!
Guidelines for Entering:

·       Complete a 4inch X 6inch double-sided card.
·       One side of the card should contain a photo or drawing of the scientist labeled with her name. 
·       The flip side of the card should contain three significant facts about the scientist’s life and accomplishments.
·       Your first and last name should appear at the bottom of either side of the card.
·       Submit your completed card to Mrs. Dimitriades in the Lower School Science Lab by Wednesday, September 28th!


Chicken names will be selected from the submitted cards and announced in early October.  All entries will be on display in the Lower School Science Lab throughout the school year!

Monday, August 29, 2016

Sprouts Community Garden Established

It has been a fun and productive summer season at St. Paul's! Teachers from the Lower, Middle and Upper Schools along with support from the administrators and Parents' Association, established Sprouts Community Garden in the courtyard of the Lower School.  Partnering with Josh Rosenstein, founder of Edible Eden Foodscapes, we have designed and maintained a garden based on permaculture principles.

Sprouts consists of native and non-native plants and animals, a compost system, a pond ecosystem and chickens housed in a palatial coop designed and built by Mick Scott (STEM coordinator), Doug Finkel (Woodshop teacher), and our students. The chickens are now laying eggs which have been shared with members of the St. Paul's community.

St. Paul's Summer Camp hosted campers who weeded, watered, harvested and cared for the chickens. Bridges campers participated in weekly workshops where they explored the garden. Fresh produce and eggs have been shared with members of the St. Paul's community. In addition, we have made a number of donations of produce to the Manna House, a food kitchen in Baltimore City.

Recently, we have partnered with a mechanical engineering class at Johns Hopkins University.  The engineering students will be asked to design and build a smart rain barrel which will use sensors to determine the moisture level of soil and release water when the moisture level is deemed too low. We are looking forward to testing the projects that the Hopkins students create for our space!

Sprouts garden is growing with the students at St. Paul's! A Kindergarten through grade twelve curriculum was written this summer so all divisions of the community can utilize the space for experiential learning opportunities,  If you are interested in volunteering to help care for the garden and/or the chickens, please contact Nancy Dimitriades at ndimitriades@stpaulsschool.org







Sunday, March 13, 2016

Science Fair 2016

After wrapping up our studies of physical science in the second trimester, the Lower School kicked off the third trimester by celebrating science at the Science Fair! This year, all students in grades kindergarten through fourth were invited to complete an optional science fair project and to attend the fair which included local scientists from our community.  What an exciting and educational event! Special thanks go to our guest scientists including:

Dr. Amy Bennett, mother of St. Paul’s second grade student, Cordelia, and Towson University Professor, along with her colleague Brianna Stinebaugh, who presented a series of hands-on activities demonstrating the structure and function of the brain.
Dr. Vonnie Shields and Dr. Thomas Heinbockel, parents of St. Paul’s second grade student, Torben, and Professors of Neuroscience and Neurobiology who presented a series of hands-on activities demonstrating the brain and building models of neurons using edible items.
Dr. Jamie Guest, father of St. Paul’s second grade student, Caroline, and Johns Hopkins University Professor of Civil Engineering who presented Computer-Aided Design and 3D printing.
Dr. Susan Gearhart, mother of St. Paul’s third grade student, Grace, and surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital who provided students the opportunity to try their hands at surgery! The children will complete tasks using laparoscopic instruments in box trainers.
Dr. Jodi Johnson of Cullaborate, LLC. and parent of two St. Paul’s alumni, who presented honeybees and how to make bumble bee and mason bee houses.
Tim Burkett, husband of St. Paul’s first grade teacher Mrs. Burkett, and Chief Operating Officer at Biohabitats Inc. who demonstrated innovative ecological practices and biomimicry.
Dan Budacz, brother of Mrs. Dimitriades and beekeeper who shared his beekeeping equipment and information about honeybees.
Dr. Frank Summers, Astrophysicist at NASA, who encouraged students to explore the sky and the solar system with WorldWide Telescope software.   
Josh Rosenstein of Edible Eden Baltimore who shared plans for cultivating St. Paul’s community garden and provide students a hands on seeding opportunity for the 2016 growing season!
Dave Thomey and Gustaf Buttar of Bluegrass Quarry who conducted experiments to demonstrate cave formation.
Dr. David Chalfoun, St. Paul’s Upper School Chemistry teacher, who presented a series of experiments demonstrating food chemistry.
Mick Scott, Director of STEM Initiatives at St. Paul’s School and his son, St. Paul’s first grader Henry,and kindergarten student Ben, presented hands on rocketry activities for students to explore.
Sean Tucker, St. Paul’s Upper School Math teacher, presented a series of opportunities for students to explore Robotics.
Upper School Seniors from both St. Paul’s School for Boys and St. Paul’s School for Girls shared their science projects and provided Lower School students with the opportunity to explore the concepts of buoyancy.

A representative from The Franklin Institute presented a series of activities related to Electricity.











Friday, November 27, 2015

First Trimester in the Books! Looking Ahead....



First Trimester in the lab was an exciting one! Students in grades kindergarten through four explored topics related to Earth Science and studied elephants as a keystone species. In addition, children had opportunities to join the Crusie ‘Cast weather club and Crusie Cares gardening club. For information on joining these clubs, please see the tabs on the right side of this blog.


Projects for the Science Fair have been rolling in!  It has been amazing to see the pride our youngest Crusies have taken in their work! From one kindergartener's model of a nest inspired by Ms. G-H's interactive bulletin board to another's model of a maglev train, to a first grade student's model of her lost tooth, these projects are age appropriate and inspired by each of the scientist's interests! For more information on submitting a Science Fair Project, please visit the following pages which can be found by clicking on the links on the right side of this page: Science Fair, Cranium Club and Art of the Brick. The final date for submitting a project is March 3rd! However, please do not wait until the last minute. Begin thinking of a topic to explore now and map out a plan that is conducive to your family's schedule.

Looking forward to topics related to Physical Science we will enjoy in the second trimester....

Kindergarten and Pre-First will explore Pushes and Pulls, Speed and Direction as well as Energy from the Sun.

First Grade will explore Sound, Behavior of Light, and Communication.

Second Grade will explore Properties and States of Matter, Purposes of Properties, Building Blocks of Matter and Changes from Heat.

Third Grade will explore Objects and Motion and Electric and Magnetic Forces.

Fourth Grade will explore Energy, Chemical Processes, Waves, Light Reflection and Information Technologies.

Stay Sensational!
Mrs. Dimitriades





Sunday, September 13, 2015

Welcome to the Science Lab!

Summer in the Science Lab was very productive!  Experimenting with all of the resources and setting up the space was a very fun process.With the assistance of the School's administration and the maintenance crew, we now have:

A greenhouse for planting:



A sensory wall equipped with a Lego board, magnetic wall, and light table for exploring:



A greenscreen for weather forecasting:


A center for measuring:


A crate for a visiting pig:


And a garden for exploring:



A collection corner for observing along with a  photo to honor Jay Peeples, for whom the fourth grade Science Award is named.  Jay loved all creatures great and small.



All of these spaces are wonderful, but the lab was missing some finishing touches and they finally arrived last week!

Thank goodness the children are back.  They kicked off their year in the Science lab, checking out the new space, asking questions and being introduced to our social media accounts.  Then each grade experienced some cool science projects.

Kindergarten enjoyed some bubble science.



Pre-First began a study of dinosaurs. 



First grade conducted experiments on soap.



Second through fourth grades were introduced to Science Notebooking:



This week will be a busy one! In addition to our regular schedule, fourth grade will be taking a field trip with the Living Classrooms Foundation to learn more about our Chesapeake Bay. Fourth grade parents, please return your child's permission slip if you haven't done so already. In addition, Parents' Nights are scheduled for this week.  I'll be at Parents' Night Wednesday evening to share information about this year's Science Fair-it will be different this year and all students grades k-4 are invited to participate. Please click on the Science Fair and Cranium Club tabs on the right side of this blog post to learn more and be sure to contact me with any questions. Finally, this Friday the Crusie Care club will meet for the second time.  Last week, one of our third grade members suggested growing vegetables for the School's "Lunches for the Hungry" program.  I can't think of a better reason to make use of our garden and greenhouse.  This Friday, members of the Crusie Care club will be planting fresh vegetables in the garden and seeds in the greenhouse.  There is still time to join the club.  Please sign up through ESP.

A big thank you to all of the students who have expressed interest in joining the Crusie 'Cast weather club!  The club will begin in October, after I set up a schedule based on completed student sign-up sheets.  If you would like to join the club, please stop by the lab for a sign up sheet.

Moving forward, we will begin units of study related to Earth and Space.  Be sure to check out this week's E-Bulletin to take part in a Science challenge to acquire soil and/or sand from each of the fifty states and beyond!

Stay Sensational!
Mrs. Dimitriades


Friday, July 17, 2015

Treasures

It's been fun exploring in the Science garden this summer! We've spotted an Eastern Box turtle and a bird nest. 

We saw a little frog too, but he hopped away too quickly to get a photo. I wonder what other treasures await us in the garden....


Monday, July 13, 2015

Mid-Summer Fun!

Lots of fun learning opportunities are available this weekend! Check out bubble fun at the Maryland Science Center. If you have a little more time to travel, consider heading down to the Kid Museum at the Davis Library in Montgomery County for some tinkering opportunities!