ARCHIVE: September 19, 2012

Around Campus Surprise! You have a new dining room! Can you think of a better way to start your day than with a shiny new dining room, jamming music, blue and white donuts, and 322 of your closet friends? We can’t either. So that's how we surprised the Upper School girls Friday morning before they headed off to their retreats. If you haven’t heard by now… our new, state-of-the-art, highly anticipated, acoustically sound, dining room is now open for business! We passed our final inspection this morning and the hot line and salad bar served an inaugural spaghetti and meatball lunch fit for a queen! As far as class retreats go, we hope your Upper School girl has told you all about her adventures last week. Each class bonded in different ways…balloon sculptures, bowling, ropes courses and even community service. The Class of 2013 spent the day at Shaw Community School in Northwest D.C. painting, cleaning, and repairing. It just goes to show that even in our 112th school year we are still living out Mrs. Holton’s vision of “committing to others.” Honoring our history is something we take great pride in at Holton. Last week, the third grade students were treated to a special guest teacher for their first installment of Holton-Arms history. Head of School Susanna Jones spent time telling stories about Mrs. Holton, Ms. Arms and lots of other men and women who are vital to the history of our beloved school. In true Holton girl fashion, they were filled with curiosity and asked loads of questions. But, the one question the girls couldn't stop talking about was, “What was our mascot before the panther?” Do you know? (Hint: it shares the first three letters of the last name of a Holton founder.) Did you get it? Armadillo! Yes, at one point we were the Holton-Arms Armadillos. Try spelling that out in a cheer! Give me an S! Give me a K! Give me an I! Give me a T! What’s that spell? SKIT! If you haven’t noticed, we love to have fun at Holton. And anytime there is an opportunity to convey a message in skit form, we are all over it. The Middle School faculty and staff put on several skits during assembly to teach the girls about the various ways you should NOT act and dress at school. The girls had fun playing “Name that Violation” and from the looks of it, the teachers enjoyed it, too. Hot Topic Student-centered learning, blended learning, experiential learning…there are all sorts of “learnings” out there. And if you are a little confused that is perfectly ok, because at Holton we are lucky to have some of the leading experts on innovations in teaching and learning. In fact, Lower School Design Tech Teacher Linda Caleb is currently featured in the National Association Independent Schools Stories of Excellence and she is also quoted in a recent article on the flipped classroom that appears in the September-October issue of Net Assets magazine. What in the world, you may ask, is a flipped classroom? Read the article and find out! And if you want to flip for yourself, watch Linda’s lesson on kinetic and potential energy. You will never look at Wile E. Coyote the same way again. Thanks for checking out The Scene* at Holton!