Keeping up with the Lower School

By Violet Bouwes-van Nood ‘24

As the first semester of the year wraps up it’s easy for one to be caught in their own world. Students surrounded by tests and final projects one can easily forget that Catlin Gabel School (CGS) is not just a high school, but includes students as young as five years old.

Upper Schoolers take a backseat! Let's hear about what the Lower Schoolers (grades 1-5) are up to.

First Grade

In first grade, students are building the foundations for the rest of their school careers. In math, they are learning addition and counting with tens. They are building literacy skills such as reading, handwriting, and even writing their own stories.

Currently, they are learning about fables in social studies. This is a favorite for first grader Samantha.

“I learned that the youngest can also do many big things,” she said about a fable she read about a family of mice.

Throughout the year in social studies, they have covered other topics as well. For example, picking a mascot.

“We ended up being the otters,” stated first grader Calvin.

Samantha continued, “They [otters] are very kind and like to help each other.”

They also studied different animals in class; Samantha studied bobcats and Calvin studied mountain lions.

“I learned that there are many, many, many…names for Mountain lions,” he said, going on to list “cougar, puma, mountain cat, rock cat.”

Though a large portion of time is spent in their homeroom classroom, they are also doing lots of learning in their many specialist classes. In woodshops they are making sculptures, in art they are experimenting with clay, in science they are learning about space and sound.

In addition, they have opportunities to go to the library, and to learn how to use technology, like Samlabs.
A favorite activity for both first graders was playing “banana tag” in their wellness class, which is a class similar to physical education.

Second Grade

Courtesy of Violet Bouwes-van Nood ‘24
Drawing and Story by Vivian Newhouse ‘34

The general theme for the second-grade year is the forest, which they have dove into in a plethora of subjects, and even took a field trip to the Hoyt Arboretum.

The second graders have gone around campus to see the different trees and think about why they are important.

In their art class, they have been working on painting and drawing trees as well. In Spanish “we are working on forest animals,” said Vivian.

They are currently reading fiction stories, where they have been going on “reading adventures.” They have been working on writing non-fiction stories.

“We are writing about trees.” Said second grader Vivian, who wrote a story about a willow tree with a partner (see image above).

“We had Salmon, but they all died,” Vivian said about her science class. She then went on to say that they have been using their iPads a lot and studying solids, liquids, and gas. She chose to focus on studying solids and made a collage to demonstrate her learning.

Overall though Vivian’s favorite thing throughout the year has been spending time with her friends.

Third Grade

In third grade, there is an overall theme of water throughout the year. They have gone on many field trips to Bonneville Dam, Bull Run, Bonneville Fish Hatchery, and Eagle Creek.

“We are working on salmon and dams right now,” said third grader James after being asked what they are currently doing in class. They are making projects relating to these topics.

“You can make books, you can make a thin sculpture of it [dams], you can make a life cycle showing all the parts of a salmon,” explained third grader Nova.

In the past third graders worked on other projects relating to water. One half of the class studied fire hydrants and the other half figured out how much water is in a pizza.

Third grade marks a year where in handwriting they are learning cursive. In their math class, they have been learning algorithms, units and measuring, and multiplication which is a particular favorite of third grader Chase, who “just loves multiplication.”

There is lots of work going on in their special classes as well. In Woodshop, they are learning how to chisel. In art, they are making clay caterpillars. In Tinkering with Technology they are making bridges with 3D pens.

“In science, we are making paper bridges and learning about forces,” says third grader Addie.

The class recently had an exciting change. In October there was a mystery unit in reading.

“There was an October mystery and we had to figure out clues,” said third grader Miriam, going on to explain how each day they had to figure out clues, and on the last day they had a giant scavenger hunt. “They led us to a place where they had a big cage with a bunny in it, and they said the bunny was our bunny.”

There are more exciting things in the future. “I’m looking forward to the egg drop,” said Chase, referencing a long-standing tradition for the third-grade class where they design ways to protect an egg from a high drop.

Third-grader Shreyovi describes her year so far as “really exciting, and fun, and challenging.”

Fourth Grade

The fourth-grade year has been focused on the theme of Cascadia (the region containing the Cascade mountain range). They are studying many aspects of it, from cartography to the Oregon trail to “natural wonders”.

“We chose a particular sub-topic in it [Cascadia] that we are going to write a research paper on,” said fourth grader Rishi.

“We are working a lot on seeing all the perspectives, like even when working on Cascadia we are integrating what it would look like from all perspectives,” said fourth grader Rene. “I did the Oregon Trail. I looked not just for the settlers but for the Native Americans or the people from the east.”

In the woodshop, they have been staying on theme by using the scroll saw to cut out animals native to the area, and gluing them onto a map of Oregon. Though Rene described this project as “very fun” both she and Rishi agreed their favorite activity from the year was in the library.

Rene explained, “Our librarian Katie, adapted this Icelandic tradition of buying books for each other, and spending the night drinking hot cocoa and eating chocolate.”

In their art class, similar to other grades, they have been using clay. The theme for the fourth graders is “where we want to be.” For example, Rene chose Rome and made a helmet and medicinal bag. Rishi chose “his future hopes for Europa” and he made hydrothermal vents and small life.

In science, they have been studying motion and energy. The main way they have been looking is from Rube Goldberg chain reactions. But before that, they were studying the natural world by looking at natural disasters. They also studied engineering with shapes, in which they eventually found triangles are the strongest.

Fifth Grade

The fifth grade being the oldest grade in the Lower School, they have been together the longest out of the other grades. They do many all-class activities that curate a sense of comradery.

“I really like doing games with the whole entire class, and doing birthday earthquakes,” Said fifth grader Ava.

Birthday earthquakes are when one side of the class bangs on the ground and wishes a person happy birthday, and then the other side does it back.

Being older they are also covering more nuanced topics, such as “stories of human rights”. Currently, they are reading the novel Esperanza Rising by Pam Muños Ryan. The story follows the protagonist Esperanza, a formerly wealthy Mexican girl who is forced to move to a work camp in California, during the time of the Great Depression.

Depending on what language they are taking they are taking different projects.

“In Spanish, we have just been working on a family tree project, where we made our family trees in Spanish,” said fifth-grader Rosie.

Students who are taking Chinese have been making a shop, where students learn how to buy and sell items from each other.

In woodshops, they are using their skills to build benches and boxes to place around the school. This is a project the graduating seniors (class of 2024) did in their fifth-grade year as well.

In their science class, they have been learning about a range of topics.

“We got to do a lot of fun stuff in chemistry,” said fifth-grader Amanda. “We got to see elephant toothpaste.”

They also did mystery powders in chemistry, and tying into the theme they studied the periodic table in their library class. They studied space where they got to make “pocket solar systems.”

“We either built rovers or designed a habitat on Minecraft education,” said fifth-grader Smriti

Amanda advised younger students. “Fifth grade seems really hard, but then once you get into fifth grade it’s basically like fourth grade they are just teaching you different stuff.”

Smriti added, “Just try your best.”

All and all, it seems like the Lower Schoolers have had a busy year.