'Tis the Season at the Lower School!
By Steve Bartholomew - FF/S
The holiday season is here and there are several events you do not want to miss!
All of our families are invited to the Morris Chapel on Sunday, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. for the Festival of Lessons & Carols and the lighting of the Christmas tree. This program showcases 100 of our very talented Middle and Upper School students. For those who are new to Darlington this year, this program is an annual tradition and we hope that you will attend with your family.
Our school-wide Christmas musical featuring students in grades pre-K through 4 will take place on Wednesday, Dec. 14 at 2 p.m. Please note this is a change from last year. Having one performance during the day helps accommodate our families and the ages of the children we serve here in Rome and the surrounding communities.
This week, we completed the canned food drive for The Salvation Army and the Toys for Tots program. As always, we thank our students and families for their generous support. Beginning Dec. 5 and continuing through Dec. 9, we will have a second canned food drive, this time to benefit the Community Kitchen in North Rome.
The Angel Tree Project, supporting area families who are in need during the Christmas season, is also under way. Each family who wants to participate can select an angel which displays a wish list on the back. The sign-up sheet is located next to the tree. All gifts must be wrapped with the identifying number attached. The gifts should be dropped off at the Thornwood Building by Friday, Dec. 9.
As a reminder, there is no Late Start for the months of December and January. The in-service days will be used for the all-school faculty meetings.
Our third- and fourth-grade students, along with classroom teachers and enrichment instructors, helped with a wonderful presentation for the school. The third-graders dedicated the Witness tree, donated by the Hicks family, and took an active role in reciting the Gettysburg Address. This deciduous tree became famous because this species of tree became the background to Lincoln’s famous address.
The fourth-graders, using their iPads, created an informational slideshow on North American Indians. Under the direction of Ashley Henry, students sang Indian songs, accompanied by the third-grade boys on the drums and tom-toms. Jennifer Moore had students make Indian masks that reflected the Native Americans that they were studying. This was a great example of project-based learning and integrating the enrichment subjects into the curriculum. For the 50+ parents who attended, we thank you for your support. We are very proud of our fourth-grade students for the work that they are doing to utilize the iPad as a smart tool for integrating learning and information.
