Mark Day School

2nd graders were in the Creativity Lab today exploring the next level of coding complexity. There was a lot of excitement at learning to move their balls using coding on the iPads!

At Mark Day, students begin taking World Languageboth Spanish and Mandarin--in Kindergarten. Recently, kindergartners taking Spanish read La Oruga Muy Hambrienta (The Very Hungry Caterpillar) by Eric Carle as an entry point to learning food-related vocabulary. Students have also been singing songs about both appetizing and unappetizing food combinations. They have enjoyed sharing their personal preferences verbally and also completing cutting and pasting activities to show them on paper.

This winter, a small group of 6th graders approached garden teacher David St. Martin to create a new garden on an empty space on campus. They wrote a letter to Head of School Joe Harvey and Head of Grades 5-8 Dave Hickman to pitch their idea. It was a welcomed idea! With some help, the students built planter boxes, ran plumbing, and installed a drip system. This week, they began planting cucumbers, zucchinis, and tomatoes.

1st graders are learning about redworms and are taking ownership of the worm bin in the Mark Day garden!

In P.E., 8th graders incorporated parachutes into their daily running program to build strength. Middle and long-distance runners benefit from the quickness, agility, and speed developed by incorporating parachute running and other resistance work into a broader strength training program.

This week, 5th graders participated in off-campus adventures in a modified outdoor ed programkayaking on Richardson Bay in Sausalito and hiking in China Camp State Park.

In science this week, 7th graders dissected owl pellets! During a unit about evolution and natural selection, students are learning about modern animals to help them understand ancient animals. Students can learn so much about the natural history of an owl just from their pellets!

8th grade math students conducted a vertical motion model (VMM) experiment using a drone. They dropped an item from various heights and timed how long it took that item to fall to the ground to see whether or not the VMM really works!

Students across grades K-8 were so excited to welcome their grandparents and special friends virtually into their classrooms to show what they've been learning this year - and what school is like during the COVID-19 pandemic. Though the cherished event looked a little different this year, the excitement, joy, and wonderful moments were very much the same!

As part of the lits block tinkering series, 7th graders are exploring balance and leverage. They started with building balancing bird toys and solidifying concepts like mass vs weight, center of mass, and equilibrium. Students then took those concepts to the garden for some time outside playfully balancing things they found. Next, they will be making hanging mobiles.