King’s annual Grandparents and Special Friends Day celebration returned to campus this year with joy, smiles, and hugs as guests joined their children in the bustling classrooms of the Lower School for a day of engaging activities and learning. Head of School Carol Maoz opened the celebration with gratitude for the support that grandparents and special friends add to the community. 

“Today, we celebrate the connections between the generations. All of us at King have a tremendous appreciation for our community and the partnership we form with our families as we all work together to help our students learn and grow. That includes you – grandparents and special friends,” said Maoz as she kicked off the event. 

A crowd of lower school students looked up in awe as a bottle rocket launched to near ceiling height at the Lower School Science Fair. Using a pressure pump, Ella Mendez ’29 and Ella McKee ’29 hypothesized that the more air pressure they added into a soda bottle, the higher the bottle will rocket upwards. The students learned that there were other variables that impact the height of the bottle such as its angle at launch and the force of gravity. The fair, which took place on April 28, presented new innovative ideas from the fifth grade class.

Our little Vikings ventured off to SoundWaters earlier this week to explore the treasures of the Long Island Sound. First grade students participated in two hands-on learning experiences that introduced them to local animals and the negative impact of oil spills on the Long Island Sound and beyond.

The class was divided into two groups for simultaneous lessons on each subject, followed by interactive STEM experiments. The first group got up close with live animals, touching and holding the creatures to observe clues about their ways of life in the Long Island Sound.

Lower school families at King School kicked off their Math Morning celebration with a presentation in the PAC led by math coordinator Jenny Bruno. Bruno emphasized how a King education adds visualization, investigation, and play to the learning process to increase critical thinking, communication skills, and global citizenship. “At King, we develop strong mathematical thinkers who find problem-solving both challenging and fun,” said Bruno. “It is important for children to have skills to solve problems confidently, make sense of problems, and persevere in solving them. Our math program empowers students to use appropriate tools strategically, attend to precision, look for and make use of patterns, and express mathematical thinking.”

Journey back to ancient Egypt with an exhibit curated by fifth grade students at King. The exhibition features Egyptian hieroglyphics, King Tut’s tomb, an informational display of the Nile River, pyramids, mummies, and more. Over the past few weeks, the class has explored the ancient culture and developed projects that best demonstrate their interest.

“I wanted to study sports because that’s something that I’m interested in,” said Paxton Freeman ’29. “I wondered about what types of activities the Egyptians used to do for fun and started researching sports that were around back then. That led me to archery.” Inspired, Paxton made a target, an arrow, and a crossbow out of cardboard box and wood for his project.

At King School, fifth grade students are taking a deep dive into literacy learning by reading the book, “All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team,” by author Christina Soontornvat. The book is based on the true story of a boys soccer team that became trapped during a cave excursion when monsoon rain suddenly flooded the exits and entryways. King parent Lindsey Oudsema P’29, ’32, who has extensive experience cave diving, visited the class to share her story. Her knowledge offered insight into the kinds of challenges the rescue team faced in saving the soccer team.

Fifth grade thespians at King School transported the audience into the bright and colorful world of video games for their musical, “Press Start!” The performance featured popular heroes, sidekicks, and villains working together to earn the gold rings needed to play. The students spent weeks preparing for the musical before hitting the stage on Monday, February 7