Categories
College Readiness

Studying The List

By Heather Dondis
Director of College Counseling, Lakehill Preparatory School

The college list is posted!

Each year the bulletin board outside of the Main Office is filled with the names of all of the colleges to which the members of Lakehill’s Senior Class have been accepted.  We don’t attach the names of students just yet as students have until the May 1 national reply date to make their final decisions.

I have seen so many parents looking at the board, wondering where their own children may go one day. I’ve seen faculty and staff looking at it, wondering which students were accepted into which schools. I’ve seen middle school students looking at, commenting on the schools they have heard of (and secretly learning about the schools they haven’t, as I make sure to post where each school is located).  But most importantly, I see the seniors looking at it, proud of their accomplishments and hopeful of all of the possibilities they will have in the next stage of their lives.

Categories
Lower School Traditions

Butterfly Memories

By Patti Brooks
Lower School Coordinator, Lakehill Preparatory School 

Springtime means so many different things to so many people! In my case, for almost 30 years, it has involved the metamorphosis of the Painted Lady Butterfly.

In my second grade classroom, we always highly anticipated the arrival of the tiny, squirmy larvae from Carolina Biological Supply.  When they arrived, everyone usually shouted happily, anxious for their own larvae to “raise”. (Many even named their larvae).

We distributed the larvae in clear cups, giving two to each child. Each day, as we arrived at school, we were amazed at their growth! After a couple of weeks, the nice fat larvae would slowly make their way to the top of the cup. The magnifying glasses we used were a big help as we tried to see the little suction feet, called prolegs, help the larvae climb. Eventually the spinnerets wove the chrysalis and the “waiting game” began.

It is not easy for children to wait….patience with the process of nature is hard! Eventually each chrysalis starts its swinging rhythm and the time has come for the miraculous emergence! (If you have never witnessed this stage of metamorphosis, I hope you get to see it sometime in your life. It is truly amazing to watch the adult butterfly push out of its case and spread its moist wings for the first time!) We then had a fun “Release Party”, enjoying snacks and releasing our butterflies to the world of nature.

A respected colleague of mine told me that this process reminds her of the metamorphosis that a child goes through from Kindergarten to his or her senior year! This analogy is a great one…taking much patience, care, and help along the way from loving parents and teachers alike. Luckily, we have lots of great teachers and parents at Lakehill and the process is a success over and over again!

Categories
Learning and Leading

A Creative Spirit

By Victoria John
Latin Teacher, Lakehill Preparatory School 

HOPE
All hope is gone
Not as long as we have Latin,
Latin is a dead language, my friend,
Not for Hogwarts, it isn’t!

A student recently showed me these lines written on a wadded-up piece of notebook paper. In the center was the outline of a large red heart encircling the word, “HOPE.” Under that was written, “All hope is gone.” By the time I reached the fourth line I realized that five different students contributed to the above graffiti. It made me laugh.

While Latin has been a constant at Lakehill for 40 years, it was J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter that revved up the spirit of the language for a new generation of students. The creative stories combined the enchanting world of wizardry with myth. Given my love for the classics, the students’ excitement upon learning that the spells and other ancient references were written in Latin, recharged my own creative spirit.

I love teaching Latin at Lakehill. Since I teach all 7th and 8th grade students for two years, in 2002, I decided to jazz it up a bit toward the end of the 8th grade experience. I wanted to challenge students to study the lessons in new ways and to give them more ownership of the material. From this sprang the Latin Teaching Projects, whereby small groups of students would each teach one of the remaining five chapters to the class. When I announced this, they responded with shock.

Following several weeks of preparation and paperwork, the students began teaching by the end of February. I was amazed. Each student’s individual presentation plus the group work went beyond what I envisioned. They met the original requirement of approaching the material in a different way. As one student wrote in her evaluation, “When you learn something for yourself, it is one thing. But when you teach it, you have to learn it differently. You are not just doing it for yourself, you have to be able to explain and demonstrate it to others.”

Their presentations showed incredible enthusiasm and respectful treatment of their classmates. Words of praise for their peers like, “good job,” and “thank you for your great comments,” rang throughout the room. Their lessons were organized, taught with clarity and motivated the students. Everybody won. I witnessed qualities I had not previously observed. Some emerged as group leaders. Some showed creativity and variety in their lessons.  Some wowed the class with their own Latin web sites, power point lessons and review games. Others went above and beyond requirements by developing translation and grammar handouts as well as detailed study guides. They worked together, encouraged one another, and learned the Latin.

I learned from them. I know we are all teachers and learners, but this project really brought that to my attention.

Since that first experiment, the assignment has grown in its scope and in technological sophistication and has taken on a life of its own. Each year I tweak the requirements based on my evaluations and feedback from students.

It is April and nearing the end of my 12th class of 8th grade Latin students at Lakehill. With two more chapters, they remain engaged and excited. What started as a way to spice up the end of the year has morphed into an incredible teaching and learning experience.

Hope – all is not gone! Not as long as there are Lakehill students with a creative spirit.

Categories
Seasons

Springing Into Spring

By Katie Becker
Social Studies Chair, Lakehill Preparatory School 

Spring is here! You can feel the energy in the building. This time of year the school is buzzing with track, baseball, and tennis. And if you are not involved in sports you are busy with musicals, debates, and community service projects. It seems everywhere you look someone is doing something and it’s a race to the finish line.

It’s just six weeks until the end of school. That means only six more weeks until my 8th graders will move on to high school, just six weeks until the senior’s journey ends at Lakehill and their college experience begins, just six weeks until summer, and just six weeks until  I start planning for the next school year.

It always amazes me how quickly the school year passes and how much we seem to accomplish. I can’t wait to do it all again in the fall!