Tuesday at St.James is set aside for weekly chapel services. Students, staff, parents, and family members are in attendance. A church service, special announcements, and awards take place during this special time.
Kandice Kimmel
What is the importance of learning Latin roots?
Since about two thirds of English words are derived from Latin, studying Latin provides invaluable insights into English vocabulary, the structure and meaning of English words, especially the longer and more complicated ones.
Many times, words are not so simply figured out. By studying Latin roots that dominate the English language, it is likely a student could identify at least one part of a word to make an educated guess at its meaning.
Not only will this help our Latin students in school across the board (science and legal fields are known for their use of Latin terminology), but knowing Latin roots will also help our students on major standardized tests like the PSAT, ACT, SAT, and even the LSAT and GRE.
This past week all middle school Latin students were assigned a Latin root, and researched multiple derivatives and their definitions and created a derivative tree! The posters will be displayed in the commons and judged this week. Fifth graders took this challenge on with tenacity and I am extremely proud of their results! Winners will be announced on Friday.
Fifth grade is studying the five major types of energy (Mechanical, Electrical, Light, Thermal, and Sound).
Our pictures below show an investigation into LIGHT ENERGY. On this this day, students were given a sheet of cyanotype paper (Sun Print Paper). Students did a quick search outside for items to be “printed” on the paper. In order for this type of printing to happen, objects are placed on the cyanotype paper and left in the sun for 5-10 minutes. As luck would have it, the day we do this is CLOUDY!
Our prints did not turn out as well as we hoped for, but light energy was investigated and we will give this experiment another try on a sunny day!
“Travel light, live light, spread the light, be the light.”
