If you stopped by VVA on a Tuesday or Thursday afternoon, you might be surprised at the various sorts of creative art projects the high-school student are working on under the direction of Art Teacher (and Preschool Teacher) Miss Mary. Their first major project was drawing self portraits using only pencils. Ninth grader Aidan Miller explains, “we started by dividing a printed photo of ourselves into a grid. Then we drew a another grid on white paper. We completed the self portraits by shading each grid box on the white paper to match the corresponding grid box on the printed photo. I really enjoyed the slow and steady pace of this project. It was extremely fulfilling when we completed each square and finally saw the end result.” Currently, the students are working on stop-motion projects. Ninth grader Matthew Crowson explains, “First, we wrote a story. Then, we broke that story down into small scenes and then into smaller individual movements to photograph. Using drawings, legos, and digital images from a video game, we created over 2,000 individual pictures. These pictures will be loaded into a stop-motion computer program which will rapidly combine the pictures into a movie.” ~ Julie Reagan

In our Preschool 1 class we have teacher-facilitated playtime. Playing allows children to develop oral language and oral language comprehension. It also provides children with an opportunity to use symbolic thinking and problem-solving skills. During play, children use props to symbolize experiences and create their imaginary world. Play is also a time for them to learn to relate to peers and work together. Recently the children played “restaurant”. They took turns taking orders, cooking and then serving. While some cooked and served, the others sat together at a table pretending to share a meal. Although I facilitated the playtime, I chose to observe them playing rather than joining in. This gave me an opportunity to watch them cooperating and sharing as well as talking to one another. The servers also pretended to write as they took orders from those at the table. As I observed, I could see the value of play as an important tool for learning.

~ Mrs. Christine

In 6th grade history, we’ve learned about a lot of interesting people. We’ve talked about the important things they’ve done and how they’ve shaped our world’s history. However, it’s hard to really understand a person when you just look at one part of their life, so this week we’ve decided to dig a little deeper into the people that we’re studying. We just finished learning about the Great Depression that occurred in the 1930’s in the US, and this week we’re learning about the two presidents who were in office during that time, Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt. We’re researching in books and on the Internet, trying to find as much information as we can to give us full pictures of their lives. Asher says, “Learning all this new information about the presidents helps us know more about what they were like, and that helps us know why they did what they did as presidents.” We’ve combined our English and History classes together into one class this week, so that we can use what we’re learning in History class to write biographies about the presidents in English class. It’s been fun to use what we’re learning in two separate subjects for one big project!

~ Sarah Wheeler

This month in Science our big project was to do an animal report. We studied vertebrates (animals with backbones) and invertebrates (animals without backbones). The students each chose a vertebrate animal that they were interested in. It was a long project that involved many steps. First, they spent time researching different books and websites to find information. Then they wrote down notes about different aspects of the animals of the animal’s life and habitat as well as interesting facts. Next, they compiled their notes, wrote a rough draft and then wrote a final draft. The last thing they did was to draw a picture. The reports were orally presented at our school Open House and they did a great job! Here’s what they have to say about this process: Kethia said, “I liked learning about what tigers eat and how they survive. It was interesting to learn that orange tigers have yellow eyes and white tigers have blue eyes. The hardest part of the report was learning how to take notes and combine them into a report. Anna Marie was excited about this report because, “I really like birds and wanted to learn about a new bird. I chose hummingbirds because they are SO colorful. I didn’t know that they can flap their wings over 70 times a second and that they can fly backwards! The hardest part of this report for me was doing neat handwriting for the final writing.” We are so blessed to be able to learn more about God’s amazing creatures! Always learning together.

~ Mrs. Andrea

Each school day begins with a short (15 minute) Bible class.  The High School (9th – 12th Grade) and Middle School (6th – 8th Grade) meet together on the school’s back porch and read the Bible.  Stephen Crowson explains the class routine, “Each morning we read 5 verses from Proverbs and then we read a chapter of another book of the Bible.  So far, we have read the entire books of Daniel, Esther, and Joshua.  Now we are in Judges and we hope to also read through the book of Ruth before the end of school.” After reading a section of verses, the students restate those verses in their own words, and apply the verses to their everyday lives.

“I’ve enjoyed reading Proverbs.  The book emphasizes that a wise person accepts correction and discipline, and that a wise person always, always tells the truth,” said Aidan Miller.  Asher Miller added, “I really liked the book of Joshua! It tells the story of the Israelites fighting and winning battles to conquer the Promised Land as the Lord had commanded.  It’s a book about obedience and victory.”

~ Julie Reagan

Every week the 2nd graders start out the week with “Math Games Monday”. Not only does this give us a break from the regular routine of lessons, but it’s just plain fun! It’s important to make sure we are using our brains and hands to do more than just writing or doing memory activities. When we play different Math games, we can use our whole bodies to move around and manipulate objects. We usually play games that reinforce what we are already learning such as: addition or subtraction facts, quick recognition of number groups, spatial reasoning, measuring, and story problems. Some of our favorite games are Blink, War, Chinese checkers, Treasure Hunting objects of different lengths, and Connect Four. Come and play with us. We would love to include you in the fun!

Playing to Learn,

Mrs. Andrea

During the last few weeks of history class, our 6th graders have been studying immigration to America. We’ve been focusing on the first great wave of immigration, from the late 1800s to the early 1900s, where huge groups of immigrants were coming because of the promise of freedom and prosperity. To complete our study, we did an overview of all the periods of immigration and at this point we decided we needed to incorporate some math into our history class! We were looking at the huge numbers of people that have immigrated from different countries and regions at different points in history, and we wanted to figure out just how many immigrants have gone to America. We spent a lot of time on our calculators, adding the total numbers of immigrants for each region, and discovered that since 1880, we’ve received the most immigrants from Europe, almost 37 million! In total, we’ve had over 70 million immigrants come to America! That’s about the current population of the Congo! It was very helpful for the students to do the work themselves to get the numbers, because as they added, they started to see how big these numbers are! This showed our students that immigration is a trend in our world that is here to stay, especially now that travel has been made easier!

~ Sarah Wheeler

Have you noticed your little one tumbling around and doing tricks at home?  Well, a couple of weeks ago we began a unit on gymnastics as a part of our weekly physical activity.  As a former gymnast and experienced coach, I am excited to be sharing my love of this sport with my students.  The students are always excited to learn new skills and to show off ones they have been practicing.  In addition to being an outlet for energy to these young students, the sport also teaches balance, control, coordination, and self-discipline while helping to strengthen their growing bodies.  If you see your child practicing tricks at home, encourage them to practice on soft ground away from hard objects or sharp corners.  Be sure they show you their favorite skill!

~ Miss Mary