• Monday (May 14): Sleep Wear Day – students may wear sleep wear consisting of two pieces – pants must be below the knees.
• Tuesday (May 15): Post/Rail Picnic Day – Post students will picnic together and Rail students will picnic together. Don’t forget it is already Free Dress Day for Box Tops.
• Wednesday (May 16): Jersey/Team Shirt Day – free dress is permitted along as students wear a team t-shirt or jersey.
• Thursday (May 17): Blue/White Day – Rails are to wear white and Posts are to wear blue.
• Pep Rally – Thursday, May 17th, 12:30 – 12:50 p.m.
• During Spirit Week, the Lower School and Upper School Student Councils will be collecting gently used clothes with Posts and Rails competing for points to add to their yearly score. Items can be dropped off each morning in front of the Administration Building

Click below to learn more about the various summer camp opportunities for families in the region!

http://www.powhatanschool.org/2012-summer-camps

Much of their work is conducted in rivers across the Southeast. Throughout the presentation, the team of scientists not only discussed unearthing exciting new fossils, but through supplemental video the students were able to see actual underwater excavation being performed at two different river sites in Virginia and North Carolina.

Their presentation also highlighted their research on the Popes Creek Sands Member, a layer of marine sediments deposited during the Miocene Epoch. During the presentation the Paleo Quest team showed video of a fossil site they are currently sampling and explained the unique characteristics of the area.  Sediment from this site has been shipped to various schools, including Powhatan School, through a special research program they designed.

Osborne and Alford developed citizen science modules that allow students to participate in answering important questions. More importantly, these modules will allow non-scientists to experience every phase of a scientific endeavor beginning with the development of a research question and ending with the publication of findings.

The initial module is called “SharkFinder”, and true to its name, it is aimed at finding fossil elasmobranch (shark, skates and ray) remains in the Atlantic Coastal Plain of Virginia and Maryland. To date, elasmobranches have been poorly characterized despite the fact that shark fossils from this region have been a favorite of collectors and paleontologist for more than a century. SharkFinder, a distributive process, will allow classrooms the opportunity to search through highly concentrated fossil-bearing media to find and report shark fossils. These fossils will then be sent to Dr. Bretton Kent at the University of Maryland. He and his team will then publish on the fossils. All participating classrooms in the pilot run will be acknowledged in the resulting professional publication and students that find certain unique fossils will be acknowledged by name in the publication.

The JASON Project introduced Paleo Quest to Kathleen Hobbs to try the SharkFinder module as a pilot test at Powhatan.

“We started using the module two weeks ago in the classroom. This specific unit of study fits in perfectly with our 7^th Grade Earth Science curriculum”, says Upper School science teacher Mrs. Kathleen Hobbs. “We are studying the earth’s geologic history, so to be able to examine real fossils in the classroom has allowed students the opportunity to experience authentic hands-on research.”

“As an educator, I can hardly express how very excited we are to have the scientists who created the curriculum and spearheaded the research experience on campus to talk to the students.”

Both scientists are Host Researchers with The JASON Project and their visit was made possible through the exceptional partnership with the organization. Powhatan School would like to especially thank Don and Mary Shockey for the recent generous donation to the school to fund the addition of The JASON Project curriculum to the Upper School science curriculum, enhancing Powhatan’s focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) education.

Learn more about Paleo Quest here: www.paleoquest.org

Learn more about The JASON Project here: http://www.jason.org

The Paleo Quest researchers will be presenting to all grades at Powhatan at 8:30 a.m. They will focus specifically on the research from their work at the Popes Creek Sands bed in Maryland.

Osborne and Alford developed citizen science modules that allow students to participate in answering important questions. More importantly, these modules will allow non-scientists to experience every phase of a scientific endeavor beginning with the development of a research question and ending with the publication of findings.

The initial module is called “SharkFinder”, and true to its name, it is aimed at finding fossil elasmobranch (shark, skates and ray) remains in the Atlantic Coastal Plain of Virginia and Maryland. To date, elasmobranches have been poorly characterized despite the fact that shark fossils from this region have been a favorite of collectors and paleontologist for more than a century. SharkFinder, a distributive process, will allow classrooms the opportunity to search through highly concentrated fossil-bearing media to find and report shark fossils. These fossils will then be sent to Dr. Bretton Kent at the University of Maryland. He and his team will then publish on the fossils. All participating classrooms in the pilot run will be acknowledged in the resulting professional publication and students that find certain unique fossils will be acknowledged by name in the publication.

The JASON Project introduced Paleo Quest to Kathleen Hobbs to try the SharkFinder module as a pilot test at Powhatan.

“This specific unit of study fits in perfectly with our 7^th Grade Earth Science curriculum”, says Upper School science teacher Mrs. Kathleen Hobbs. “We are studying the earth’s geologic history, so to be able to examine real fossils in the classroom has allowed students the opportunity to experience authentic hands-on research.”

“As a teacher, I can hardly express how very excited we are to have the scientists who created the curriculum and spearheaded the research experience on campus to talk to the students.”

Both scientists are Host Researchers with The JASON Project and their visit was made possible through the exceptional partnership with the organization. Powhatan School would like to especially thank Don and Mary Shockey for the recent generous donation to the school to fund the addition of The JASON Project curriculum to the Upper School science curriculum, enhancing Powhatan’s focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) education.

Healthy You – Healthy Earth

Monday, April 16:

8:30-9:30 AM – JASON Project presentation in the auditorium

“Paleontology” — K-8 in place of Gathering

Tuesday, April 17/April 19 Rain Date

“Free Dress for Food” Day – Jeans/free dress may be worn by students & staff bringing in two food items to be donated to local food banks – Items will be collected & disturbed from homerooms by Lower School Student Council members.

Noon-12:25 PM – “Buddy Lunch” picnics with US boys & buddies with US advisors and US & buddies with LS teachers

12:30-12:40 PM – Whole School Walk down on Athletic Field across the stream

Throughout the week:

• Classes with designated gardens are to arrange for cleaning up and planting as is appropriate and convenient during the week.
• All homeroom classes are encouraged to participate in a minimum of 30 minutes per day of physical activity during the school day.  Sports period does qualify for all grade levels.
• All students to have the opportunity for walk on new Nature Trail into Crocker Property.
• All staff members are encouraged to participate in a minimum of 30 minutes per day of physical activity each day of Earth Week – April 15^th – 21^st.  Time and type of activity to be recorded by each staff member on a displayed chart in the Library.
• NEAL activities of a variety of  cross curricular options such as non-fiction reading, writing poems about the earth, scientific experiments with nutrition and an active life-style, etc. as well as use of volunteers to assist with gardening or on nature walks are encouraged.