Potomac Stories

Thanks to AJ Barnard, park naturalist and camp supervisor from Potomac Overlook Regional Park, for swooping into the Lower School with a few feathered VIPs—the broad-shouldered hawk and the screech owl! The grade 1 students had a blast learning about these two birds, which are native to Virginia. Their questions definitely reflected their curiosity! 

Last week, kindergarteners kicked off a special unit for chicks. This multi-subject unit will focus on the life cycle of chicks and their basic needs, as well as how we can learn to be stewards of our environment and good partners within our community. Farmer Sharon spoke to students and brought a set of soon-to-hatch eggs that will fit perfectly in our classroom incubators. The students will be responsible for assisting with naming, feeding, and caring for our chicks over the next few weeks and writing about their observations and experiences with the chicks. The unit will culminate by returning the chicks to the farm.

A group of Upper School students planned a ‘solar eclipse activity’ for Potomac third graders. Activities included an animated presentation, an interactive review game, and a hands-on activity to build ‘pinhole viewing boxes.’ To make this cool, once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event more memorable, US students designed a range of thematic stickers that the third graders could use to decorate their boxes. The activity definitely shed some light on the science of solar eclipse, and a totally fun time for all involved! View the photo gallery. 

Kindergarteners are studying forces and simple machines. In this lesson on direction and motion, students investigated how pushes can change the speed and direction of falling objects. They played a game where they designed a solution that protects a model town called Tiny Town from a bouncing ball “boulder.” 

Last Friday’s Grade 3 Science Fair was a day of discovery, learning, and excitement. Over the past month, our third grade scientists worked on perfecting their experiments in preparation for their presentations to the Potomac community. Some projects explored extracting DNA from strawberries, honey crystallization, what liquids help plants grow, and beta fish behavior. Check out the photos. 

The kindergarten paleontologists continued studying dinosaurs with a fossil dig in the big sandbox. They had tremendous success finding deer antlers, cow jaws, and scapulas. They really dug it!