Grandparents and Special Friends occupy a special place in the Mount Vernon community. We are thankful these special people remain supportive of our students journey as the School prepares them for the world beyond the classroom.
Grandparents are invited to many events throughout the year, but Lower Campus Grandparents And Special Friends Day is a celebration dedicated solely to them. Right before the break on Friday, November 18, over 400 grandparents and special friends joined in games, activities, and presentations while they toured the School and attended a special grandparents’ breakfast.
In Preschool, Grandparents joined students in sensory activities ranging from shaving cream play, glue projects, and finger painting to various drawing challenges like turkey hand stencils, finish the face drawings, and fall/winter tree imaginations.
Each Lower School classroom created a choice board, a sheet of activities that students could choose from once their grandparents and special friends joined their class. Kindergarten classrooms hosted a grade-wide visiting day in K Commons. The crowd favorites were to read a book, take an expedition to the frontier, or become teacher for the day (including teaching yoga poses and class norms).
Across the breezeway, Grade 1 had a variety of activities to choose from such as play a math game or write a Thanksgiving poem. But by far the most popular choice was to join a phonics lesson. Students saw that the way they were learning how to read and write was very different from how their grandparents learned. It was fun to show off their knowledge.
Grade 2 grandparents started their visit by receiving a special letter written by their grandchildren. Students asked questions like, “What was Grade 2 like when you are my age?” “What was your favorite part?” and thanked them for coming. “My favorite part about having my grandparents visit me at school was that I got to hang out with them. I don’t get to see my grandparents a lot and this was the first time they came to Mount Vernon. I think their favorite part was spending time with me too.” Sadler S. shared.
Down the hall, Grade 3 grandparents presented their final findings in their Explorer Project Based Learning segment in which each student researched different types of explorers and present their findings in an out-of-the-ordinary manner. Some students chose to present via game boards, explorer gear, Instagram profiles, and fashion shows. Once grandparents and special friends toured each explorer presentation, students could choose if they wanted to participate in a classroom activity or escort their grandparents and special friends to their favorite connection classrooms.
In Grade 4, students started by showing off their iProject Mini research folders they have been adding to since August. Matthew S. says “I brought my aunt. She lives close by and wanted to come to see where I went to school. We went to my favorite connection class, Maker. It was a fun experience because my aunt is really nice and liked my friends.”
In the Activities Building, Grade 5 grandparents watched the movie trailers each student made for a book they read in class. Ada I. was excited to have her grandparents visit her at school, “My Grandma and Grandpa came to visit. They didn’t have much time to stay so when we were done watching my movie trailer, we rushed around to my connections classes. I got to weave in Visual Arts and show them some of my projects in Maker. I hope they come back next year!”
Grandparents and Special Friends Day could not have happened without all of the parent and grandparent volunteers. A special thank you to Callie Fuller as the Volunteer Liaison and to Lindy Rogers and Glenn Kincaid, the Grandparent Committee Co-Chairs.
Check out more pictures from the event. For more on the special connection MV has with our Grandparent community, check out the Made In MV podcast, The Impact of Grandparents on Our Story.
