On Thursday, the Panama City Renaissance School Enrichment Program students planted flowers in the St. Andrew Episcopal Church Education Building courtyard.  The bright colored flowers added new life to the courtyard area and provided an opportunity for the students to learn about gardening and giving back to their community. The project was led by Enrichment and Academic Support Instructors Michelle Spradley and Amanda Coburn.

On Monday, Elena Rankin, founder and former principal of First Christian Gymnasium, a private school in Kaluga, Russia, and her family visited the Panama City Renaissance School. Kaluga is located about 120 miles southwest of Moscow. The school offers advanced academics and training in English and has fifty students.  When the school opened ten years ago, it was operated as a private school. To avoid the significant regulatory challenges associated with operating a private institution in Russia, the school is now operated as a home school. First Christian Gymnasium initially had a rocky relationship with the nearby public school. After the students from the First Christian offered to represent the public school in academic competitions, the relationship improved substantially. During their visit to the PCRS, Elena and her family observed in the Level 60 English/History class and taught the students a few words of Russian.

Don’t forget school starts on Wednesday, August 11 and orientation for the 2010-2011 school year will be held Monday, August 9.  Orientation is a great opportunity to meet your child’s teachers, talk with parents, have your children meet other students and to learn more about what is planned for the year.

Schedule of Orientation Events • Monday, August 9, 2010

4:00 – 4:15 Early Bird Orientation Registration. List A School Supplies Drop-Off (Room 3).

4:25 – 5:00 Alternative PE/Art/Community Service Program requirements and training. Grade 1 and higher parents.

4:45 – 5:00 Academic book and material pick-up. Kindergarten and higher parents.

5:00 – 5:30 Meet and greet.

5:30 – 6:45 Orientation.

4:00 – 6:45 Student activities (Room 8).

On a warm spring day a few weeks ago, the Panama City Renaissance School Enrichment (after school) Program students learned about gardening. The kids had a great time digging, planting, and watering. What a beautiful addition to the front of the school. Now everyone that drives down Baker Court can see the vibrant colors of pansies. Thank you Mrs. Estes and Ms. Harwood for coordinating this wonderful project.

Thanks to Lisa Tubridy and Alex Dense, the Panama City Renaissance School students were able to participate in National Lab Day at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division last Thursday. The kids learned about mines, robots, weapons design, computer-aided manufacturing and acoustics. It was a wonderful opportunity for the students to spend the afternoon with science and engineering personnel and to experience “real world” science and engineering.

Science was part of the preschool Spanish class last week. The kids mixed vinegar and water and then added baking soda very slowly. It bubbled. When the bubbles settled they added a little more baking soda. Finally they added some fruit, vegetables and bits of spaghetti. These items sank to the bottom, then rose to the top, then sank to the bottom again. It was an acid-base reaction that produced carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide attached to the objects and pushed them to the surface, releasing the carbon dioxide to the air, which allow the objects to sink again. What fun!

On Saturday, students participated in Eastern Hemisphere Day. Each student chose one country (or island group) they studied in their Eastern Hemisphere history class, created a poster board for the country/island group and dressed in clothing typical for that country. Then as a group, the kids, parents and teacher prepared food for each area. The food was wonderful and the costumes were very creative – a Sari, a Luau skirt, New Zealand tribe attire, a soccer uniform…. Thank you Ms. Estes for coordinating such a wonderful event.

What a fun day! On Friday, the preschool, kindergarten and first grade students participated in egg hunts. The kids loved collecting the brightly colored eggs and opening them to see what was inside. For the spectators, it was wonderful to watch the the array of colors as the students ran past with their colored baskets. Then it is was a treat to watch the older students race while they tried to balanced eggs on spoons.

On Monday, the Spanish classes helped the Panama City Renaissance School ring in spring with singing, dancing and an art show. The younger children had a great time looking at (and touching) the art pieces the older children had created. The masks and wreaths were some of the students’ favorites. And everyone loved the Spanish song about the mouse in the house and the special presentation the preschool children made. In addition to all the fun, it was a great opportunity for the students to practice making public presentations in Spanish.

On Wednesday, first graders from the Panama City Renaissance School visited the Panama City Junior Museum. It was a great opportunity for the students to reinforce what they had learned in class with different teaching aids.The kids explored exhibits on Florida flora and fauna, the body, water and music. And of course they had a great time spending an afternoon “off-campus”.