The Newton School

Congratulations to our 8th grade graduates! You worked so hard and are now ready for all that High School brings. You are ready! We will miss all of you and wish you future success at these wonderful high schools in the area: Virginia Academy, Loudoun County High School, Commonwealth Academy, McLean School, St. John's College High School, The New School, Paul VI Catholic Highschool, and Flint Hill School.

Congratulations to our Kindergarteners and now it's on to First Grade! From reading, writing, and math, to art, movement, and field trips, you have worked so hard and learned so much. Your teachers - and all of us here at The Newton School - are all so proud of you and can't wait to see your successes next year!

All students at The Newton School participated in the first "Invention Convention" yesterday, a new and improved version of the "Science Fair". Students designed "inventions" to solve problems, using real world applications. In the Lower School, students worked on how to move a ping pong ball several feet without touching it - and were very successful! Our middle school students worked individually and in small groups to solve issues personal to them including a device to clean up toys, a machine to make a bed, a suitcase that doubled as a chair in case you got stuck in an airport and an expanding shoe that grew with a student so parents don't have to buy new shoes every year. The group did an excellent job coming up with problems and building their own unique solutions. This will now be an annual event!

The Newton School Carnival was a smashing success!! Our students in grades 5-8 worked hard on their creativity, collaboration, planning and organizational skills to develop and execute a wide range of activities for our annual carnival including a watermelon eating contest, fortune telling, face painting, a moonbounce, a photo booth and more! Students from the Lower School attended while the Middle School students alternated attending and working. Many thanks to Mrs. Parks for her leadership of this initiative in Social class and to all our students and families for making it happen!

The eighth graders celebrated their achievements during their time at The Newton School with a full day of fun! In the morning, the group traveled to Ultrazone in Sterling for several rounds of intense Laser Tag followed by arcade games. From there, the group went on to Bowlero in Leesburg - and we had the entire space reserved for them! They enjoyed a catered lunch along with unlimited bowling and games. Our eighth graders had a blast celebrating their final days at The Newton School! On to graduation next week!

Our 7th and 8th grade students visited Wegmeyer Farms in Leesburg for a beautiful afternoon field trip of strawberry picking. The students learned about the lifecycle of the plants, growing conditions and the picking processes. They each picked a pint of delicious strawberries to take home and share with their families. It was a lovely spring trip!

Our students in Kindergarten to 4th grade visited the Kennedy Center to see the high energy show "Fyutch! We sang, danced, clapped and stomped our feet for a full hour as he and his band entertained us. He had many important messages about equality, diversity and culture, but to be honest, I think the group missed most of those as we were too busy rocking to the beat. One of our 4th graders, Pierson, even got to go up on stage for a dance contest! Afterwards, we were able to meet Fyutch. It was a great adventure!

https://www.fyutch.com/

Over the past few weeks, all students participated in a social/writing project - and had a wonderful learning experience! First, in Social class, Mrs. Parks provided lessons in eating out including everything from how to choose a restaurant as a group to ordering politely to tipping. In writing class, the students had decide on a restaurant from a provided list and conduct some research on the location and menu.
The students and their teachers then went out for lunch at local establishments - everywhere from IHOP and Chilis to Sense of Thai and Okada Japanese. Upon their return, students wrote a review of the event, giving their opinions on atmosphere, food, service and more. The students and their teachers had a lot of fun with this project and, hopefully, parents will see some benefits too!

Many thanks to all for making this year's Book Fair and Art Show such a success! We sold almost $3,000 in books with an amazing 97% participation rate among our students. That's a lot of books!! We are thrilled that so many students can experience the love of reading! The Art Show brought in over $2,600 in orders, helping all of you enjoy your child's art for years to come. Many thanks to Mrs. Lopez and Mrs. Billingslea for their vision and talent to help our students shine in this class. It was a wonderful event!

The students in grades 5-8 celebrated Pi Day - 3/14 - today with lots of Pi-related activities and delicious circular treats ranging, from donuts to jello to cucumbers to macaroons to amazing Crumbl cookies! It was a fun way to learn and recognize this special number. Many thanks to our math teachers - Ms. Gebauer, Mrs. Powley, Mr. Lopez and Mrs. Lopez for their creative and thoughtful work on this!

Our students in 7th and 8th grade had the wonderful experience of visiting the White House this week. After being cancelled at the last minute the day before, we regrouped and took our charter bus into DC on a beautiful day. After waiting in line (for a long time!), four levels of security and many Secret Service encounters, we finally made it into the beautiful building. We explored many rooms and learned a lot about the different functions of each. Afterwards, we walked by the Treasury building to the Visitors Center where we learned more about the history and presidents. Many thanks to one of our parents for our White House souvenirs! It is so great to go to school in DC and be able to experience the city first hand!

Our students in 3rd and 4th grade enhanced their science knowledge of their current Exploring Space unit with a trip to the DC Air & Space Museum. The students were able to see two shows in the Planetarium - Worlds Beyond Earth and Dark Universe - which were an exhilarating adventure! It was such an immersive experience and engaging way to learn about the world beyond earth. The group also had time to explore many part of the museum and loved the interactivity. We have created some budding astronomers! It was a wonderful educational field trip and I would encourage everyone to see the museum and planetarium when in DC.

Our 8th graders practiced their mentoring skills with the younger students by taking a field trip to Barnes & Nobles at Tysons to purchase a book for their mentee, based on their interests. First, they interviewed their mentees about the kinds of books they liked and reading levels, and then they located a book that matched those at the bookstore. These ranged from Sharks to Trains to Unicorns and more! Once purchased, the older students wrapped them with ribbons, presented them to the younger students and read them together. All in all, it was a great way to work on these skills and a fun exchange for everyone!

The students in K-6 celebrated Valentine's Day with a wonderful exchange of cards, toys, pencils, flowers and more! Check out the cute pics of our students enjoying the holiday!

We had the pleasure of hosting Bill Stamper – otherwise known as MY REPTILE GUY – at The Newton School. He brought a wide variety of animals – from toads to lizards to large snakes! Bill was very impressed with the students' wealth of knowledge – making their science teachers proud!

It's the 100th day of school today and our students in Kindergarten, First and Second grades had a wonderful celebration - by dressing up like they were 100 years old! Check out the creativity here! Only 80 more days of school left this year!

All students at The Newton School had the opportunity to support a local organization, Cornerstones, a non-profit organization in Reston, VA that works to strengthen our community and help families living in crisis rebuild their self-sufficiency, resiliency and hope. Our students worked hard to prepare more than 180 lunches (that's 360 sandwiches - 720 pieces of bread!) with healthy snacks to support this wonderful local initiative. This is a great way for all of us to learn to give back in a meaningful way.

The Middle School students enriched their ninja skills through an intensive and exciting field trip to Nova Ninja in Ashburn! Following a comprehensive demonstration of the ninja stations and activities by our instructors, students worked their strength, speed, and agility with rope swings, monkey bars, balance beams, and high vaults. Students trained a variety of balance building, strength training, and coordination enhancing obstacles in their quest to become Ninja Warriors! The final station for our students was the "Warp Wall", where students must perfect their timing, agility, and speed to run up a curved wall and climb over it! Peers nicely chanted "BEAT THAT WALL" as each participant braved the wall and reached new heights! Many thanks to the awesome coaches at Nova Ninja and a massive "Well done" to all of our awesome Ninja Warriors in training!

The Newton School was delighted to host Firefighter Seaver Miller from the Loudoun County Fire and Safety program to share with us the Fired Up for Safety program! He did an excellent job of explaining to our students in grades K-4 about "Community Helpers", "Emergencies!", "911", and "Tools vs Toys". We reviewed all the ways we can practice fire safety at school including telling a trusted adult about something not safe, evacuating the building, and walking quietly to our meeting place. Our students did an excellent job with this! He was quite entertaining and had everyone fully engaged for almost an hour with his safety tips. Firefighter Miller wants to remind everyone to 1) Check your smoke alarms - check the battery and press the TEST button to make sure it is working, and 2) Make a home safety evacuation plan including two escape routes and a designated meeting place away from the house. Many thanks to the Loudoun County Fire Marshal and Life SAfety group for making the time to help educate us on this important topic.

"No Excuses, No Limits!" Our 7th and 8th grade students had the honor of seeing the Kennedy Center debut of the hip hop/breakdancing crew, Ill Abilities! After an impressive display of flips, tumbles, and intricate dance moves, members of Ill Abilities each explained to the audience their inspiring stories of perseverance and determination. Ill Abilities are an international group of professional dancers who have toured around the world since their formation in 2007. All of the members of Ill Abilities have a different issue that some may consider a disability, but the international members consider these "abilities" as superpowers - from losing a leg to cancer, to being born without an arm, to being injured and paralyzed. All of the crew members relayed stories of their bravery in proving medical science wrong and the strength they found through hip-hop, dance, and each other! Our students were both dazzled and motivated by the incredible performance and the power of positive thinking the crew displayed! "No Excuses, No Limits!"

Check out Ill Abilities! https://www.illabilities.com/

Our 7th and 8th graders had the awesome opportunity to witness their local government in action by visiting the Loudoun County Courthouse in downtown Leesburg. After students passed through the security checkpoint, they were escorted to a courtroom where they were introduced to Loudoun County judges and various players in a functioning courtroom. After an informative interview with two knowledgeable and friendly sheriffs, the students got to experience live court proceedings, witnessing the preliminary hearing and bench trial (cases without juries) process for a variety of felony and misdemeanor cases in traffic and circuit court. After the excitement of this (and it was pretty amazing!), students were directed to the "upper court" where they met with Judge Snow and his staff to explore a jury courtroom. We even got a brief walk-through of the holding cells! It was an impactful learning experience for our students and an excellent chance for them to show off some of their Civics knowledge. Many thanks to all those at the Loudoun County Courthouse who helped make this such an exceptional experience.

It was a great day to be a teacher at The Newton School! First, teachers were treated to a delicious holiday breakfast of bagels, eggs, crispy bacon and baked goods, catered by the Bagel Cafe and Abraham & Company. This was followed by a cookie exchange where teachers tested their baking skills - which were wonderful! Finally, at the end of our all school BINGO party, teachers won an assortment of raffle prizes ranging from cooking lessons at Sur La Table to gift baskets at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods. Congrats to Mrs. Sessions, Mr. Black, Ms. Strei, Ms. B and Ms. Sklar!! We value our teacher’s hard work every day and appreciate their dedication. Happy holidays to all!

Our students in grades K-4th grade traveled to Nova Ninja in Ashburn this week for an afternoon of becoming a Ninja Warrior! They were treated to swinging through the air, performing on obstacle courses and practicing running to the top of the "hill". Our instructors were wonderful and encouraging - as some of the equipment was pretty high up. Our students did a wonderful job testing their boundaries and accomplishing greater feats than they thought they could! Way to go students and thank you Nova Ninja. We will be back!

Our 5th and 6th grade students had the wonderful opportunity to visit the US Capitol this week - and it did not disappoint! We took a special charter bus into DC and were dropped in front of the beautiful building on a clear day with a view of the Washington Monument. There was literally no line and no crowds as we entered and met our tour guide. She was very knowledgeable and patient, answering our many questions! Since hardly anyone was there, she extended our tour and we were able to see more than expected and learn more about the history of our country. We ended the trip with some photo ops in front of the rotunda and the decorated Christmas tree on the front lawn but not before we had to go around the large group of protesters who had just arrived to influence Congress. It was a lovely and educational experience. Everyone should go visit!

In Social class last week, students practiced their holiday manners, eating real food including turkey, salad, rolls, applesauce and delicious pumpkin pie. Mrs. Parks did a fabulous job ensuring that students knew how to set the table, make good conversation, and how to not take the last roll! Many thanks to our surprise guest - Granny Gebauer - who helped facilitate the lessons. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoy the break!

Our students got to see an upbeat and fun musical show with some excellent social lessons last week, right in the Middle School common area! The Virginia Repertory Theater on Tour arrived at The Newton School and set up a full set and sound system, ready to perform Have You Filled My Bucket Today? A Musical. The show was spectacular with a positive message about being kind, one of our values, We ended the event with some Qs & As with the cast. Many thanks to the Virginia Repertory Theater for creating such a special treat for our students!

Today, all our students participated in voting for Virginia's 10th Congressional District and two Newton School referendums. Ms. Swarns, one of our wonderful middle school teachers, set up our registration, volunteers, voting booths, education and awareness materials, and the tabulation process (done by a Civics class). Everyone participated! The results were:

Virginia - 10th Congressional District

Wexton (D) - 65%
Cao (R) - 35%

Referendum 1 - Free dress day on the last Friday of the month:

Yes - 95%
No - 5%

Referendum - Extend the school year to June 30, 2023

Yes - 23% (really??)
No - 77%

We will start our free dress day on Friday, November 18th and end the school year on June 9th.

Congrats to all our students for taking part in this important process and many thanks to Ms. Swarns for helping us all participate!

Happy Halloween from The Newton School!

It has been a spectacular day here so far today! The students and teachers in costumes is such a great way to start a Monday.

Congratulations to our costume winners, as voted on by their peers:

Lower School (K-4)
Best Overall - Noah
Most Creative - Vivi
Scariest - Matthew

Grades 5 & 6
Best Overall - Raven
Most Creative - Leena
Scariest - Sthuthi

Grades 7 & 8
Best Overall - Spencer
Most Creative - Nora
Scariest - Adrian

The students were also treated to an amazing show by our science teachers Ms. Sklar and Ms. Briggs.

Our K-2 students transformed into researchers, scientists, and engineers last week on our field trip to the Children’s Science Center in Fair Oaks. Students tinkered with hovercrafts engineered using minimal tools and materials then experimented with chemical reactions giving life to magnetic slime. In addition to their creations and experiments, students actively researched various forms of energy from potential and kinetic to the sustainable sources we use to power the country everyday! Students had an exceptional and educational trip to the Science Center and hope to return soon!

A local author Rebecca Greene who recently published the children's book "Creating Kindness" visited our students in grades K-4. The students learned about how to become an author and what she does to create a new book. The highlight was her reading her book which demonstrated that small acts of kindness can have a big impact! Mrs. Greene also brought copies of her new book for each student and personally signed each one. It was a wonderful way to extend our school kindness program into our everyday lives! Many thanks to Rebecca Greene for her kindness to The Newton School!

This year, our fourth grade students have adopted mealworms! "Mealworm Monday" is an engaging time for our students to be budding scientists. Before receiving their "pets," the students read background information about mealworms and had to sign a contract agreeing to the expectations for responsibly handling the mealworms. Then, each student received three mealworms which they named, built a habitat for, weighed and measured. They have also had time to observe and take notes about their appearance, behavior etc. Moving forward, the mealworms will be involved in some exciting experiments such as, "Which is the fastest?" and "Which food do they like best?" Throughout all of these activities, their life cycle will be discussed and observed first hand. It's wonderful to see how quickly the students have taken to their "pets" and the activities. They're demonstrating that learning can definitely be fun!

Our students in 3rd and 4th grade had a wonderful learning experience at the Children's Science Center, located in the Fair Oaks Mall. We started at the Experiment Bar, using our senses and various chemicals to learn about the PH of different materials. We then moved to the Tinker Shop to make some robots, using our knowledge of circuits to generate power. From there, we had some free time with many simple machines - from windmills to 3D printers, and we ended our day building tower structures that could last through earthquakes. Our students were such curious learners and the Science Center staff was friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful. We can't wait to return in the future!

The 5th and 6th grade students completed an amazing service project for She Believes in Me, a Herndon based non-profit supporting our most vulnerable children in the local area. First, we made posters for a collection drive for hygiene items and created kindness cards for the children who benefit from the program. We then made beautiful THANK YOU posters in Art class for the organization to use to say thank you to its donors. Finally, we decorated bags for our items and went on a shopping trip to Target to purchase more hygiene products. Each student had $10 to spend and a calculator to figure it out. Shopping with 24 students at a time was quite an experience but they did a nice job finding everything they needed. It gave us all a wonderful feeling of giving back to our community!

The students in Kindergarten, First and Second grades had a wonderful time at Great Country Farms! We learned about composting and the apple life cycle from our wonderful tour guide and then traveled by wagon to the orchard. We picked Gala and Golden Delicious apples from the trees to fill our bags to take home. We then spent some time on the famous jumping pillow, the slides and tire mountain and much more! It was a beautiful day to be outside with all of our friends!

The students in 7th and 8th grade had a fantastic and educational visit to the African American History Museum yesterday! We started out in our charter bus into DC (no traffic!) and were able to spend most of our day exploring. We began in the underground section in 1400 during slavery and worked our way up to the present day on the fifth floor, practicing dancing, watching TV shows, seeing sports heros and listening to music. We sat outside near a fountain for lunch in beautiful weather. It is such a treat to have Washington DC and all that it offers so close!

Our 8th grade students had their first mentoring session with their younger students in grades K-2 yesterday (the younger students call this "Buddies"). Each 8th grader is paired with a younger student every Thursday afternoon to work on a project and have fun. Yesterday, the group colored/wrote an "All About Me" poster for their lockers. Upcoming sessions will include playing hide and seek, reading books, working with playdough and making cards for service events. Sometimes, it is hard to tell which group is enjoying the activities more! Many thanks to Ms. Swarns for leading and supervising this effort every week. It is a great way to build community and to help our students learn!

Our first day of school is off to a great start! The students are excited to see their friends and teachers, and we are ready to be back learning in the classrooms!

The Newton School Summer Program is in full swing! Students have spent time keeping their brains sharp practicing reading, writing, and math with plenty of time for movement, current events, art, yoga, cooking, swimming and weekly field trips. Some of our favorite activities include a trip to the Herndon Farmers Market, swimming at the Volcano Island Water Park, making fresh salsa, and decorating our puppies in art class. We can't wait to see what fun the next few weeks bring!

Congratulations to our 8th grade graduates! You worked so hard and are now ready for all that High School brings. You are ready! We will miss all of you and wish you future success at these wonderful high schools in the area: Bishop O'Connell High School, Commonwealth Academy, Fairfax Christian School, GW Community School, Loudoun School for Advanced Studies, The New School of Northern Virginia,
St. Paul VI Catholic High School, Madison High School (FCPS), Meridian High School (FCCPS), and Arlington Tech High School (APS).