Potomac Stories

Last Friday, fifth graders in beautifully decorated chitons read their personal odes and performed a traditional Greek dance at the annual Greek Assembly. Then they marched over to the Turf Field to show their athletic abilities – leaping over poles, hoisting the shot put into the air, running like the wind, and cheering on their friends. All that fun was followed by a wonderful Greek lunch catered by Meriwether Godsey. It was a glorious day! We hope your students came home with many exciting stories to share. View the photo gallery.

To celebrate Poetry Month in April, fourth graders wrote poetry books using a variety of poetry styles and formats. To supplement this, they had a creative (and delicious) lesson that included a six-course tasting of figurative language. Students were given a variety of snacks, ranging from pretzels that went CRUNCH (onomatopoeia) to sweet, sour, and stinging sour patch kids (alliteration), and marshmallows as soft as the clouds (simile). They had to use figurative language to describe all the courses on their plates. This approach helped our young poets develop a real taste for figurative language. Savor the photos. 

Students in grade 4 have been learning about the challenges of food insecurity in our community as part of their Service Learning experience.  Following their scheduled Sandwich Day on April 2, students in JA4 and JH4 loaded the buses and personally delivered sandwiches to our partners at Cornerstones in Reston. While there, students had the chance to tour the emergency services center, including the food pantry, ask questions to learn more about the needs in our community, and play with the preschoolers at the Laurel Learning Center. It was a wonderful day of full-circle service for our fourth graders. DWM4 and KW4 will make the same trip following their Sandwich Day on Wednesday, May 7.  

Fourth-grade students worked dilligently to complete their ceramic animals prior to Spring Break. They learned valuable clay handbuilding skills to model animals from clay. Students either selected an animal reflective of their own personality or a favorite animal to model from clay. 

Over the last two weeks, all fifth grade students visited Potomac community partner Higher Horizons, a Head Start program in Bailey's Crossroads. During November's Book Fair, each fifth grader selected a book to donate to a preschooler to build their home library. After spending time learning about the importance of early literacy, our students shared their love of reading with the preschool students by reading picture books in the classroom and community spaces. They also had time to dance, build, and play with their new friends during their time there, bringing plenty of smiles and joy. 

With a dry and sunny start, our temperatures climbed steadily upwards of 55 degrees as meteorologist Bob Ryan delighted grades 1-6 at a special assembly yesterday morning. Mr. Ryan, a local legend and Potomac grandfather, shared wonderful memories and notable occurrences from over 30 years of reporting on weather in our nation's capital.