in LEARNING, FAITH & CHARACTER

MARCH 2016

Smart or Heart: IQ Versus Emotional Intelligence

One fi fth-grader administered tests to a sampling of men and women to

fi nd out which gender had the higher emotional intelligence score and

which performed better on IQ tests. The answer: Both groups performed

about equally on both tests.

Music & Memory in Preschoolers

In their study of the effect of listen-ing to different types of music on memory retention, two seventh-

graders were surprised to fi nd that children performed best on memory

tests while listening to rap music.

Who likes sand from a beach towel ending up on a car seat

or in the bottom of a backpack? Not these two

seventh-graders, who fash-ioned a mylar-backed proto-

type that leaves sand where it belongs -- on the beach.

Mobile Homeless Shelter

Bizarre Ballistics

How does a projectile’s trajectory affect how far it launches? To fi nd the answer, this sixth-grader per-formed trials using a launcher that he designed and built.

How Moisturizing Is Your Moisturizer?

Want dewy skin? Make sure your moisturizer has occlusive agents or emollients, instead of humectants, according to this fi fth-grader’s test results.

Students Explore Their Worlds Through Science

Concerned with the safety of people living on the streets,

one eighth-grader developed a small-scale prototype of a

moveable residence that pro-vides protection and privacy for

the homeless.

Sandless Beach Envelope

Name an area of science and it was likely represented in the diverse assortment of experiments conducted by First Lutheran students for the 2016 Science Fair on February 22. Fifth- through eighth-grade scientists presented the processes and fi ndings of experiments in engineering, food science, psychology, biology, cosmetology and other scientifi c fi elds to volunteer judges. This year, there was a new opportunity for middle school students, who could choose to conduct a science experiment or to create an invention to solve a problem in their worlds. Students who chose to participate in the Invention Convention were required to design, build, test and revise prototypes of their inventions and demonstrate them in front of a panel of judges. Shown here are the fi rst-place winners in the Science Fair and the Invention Convention. See page 4 for more winners.

ConnectInvention Convention Blue Ribbon Winners

Coming This Month

Ten members of First Lutheran’s after-school math club participated in the 2016 South Bay/Santa Monica MATHCOUNTS competition on February 26.

The annual competition brought together 387 mathletes from 47 schools over two days at Northrup Grumman in Redondo Beach. The students were selected to participate based on their responses to two sets of questions provided by MATHCOUNTS. The MATHCOUNTS club at First Lutheran counts as its members students in sixth through eighth grades, with some fi fth-graders participating by invitation.The club meets weekly after school throughout the school year to learn advanced math concepts and to hone analytical and computing skills through team and indi-vidual practice.

Mathletes Test Their Mettle Against Peers

Not only the Irish will be counting their luck on this St. Patrick’s Day. At the Oratorical Affair speech meet at FLS on March 17, students from First Lutheran and fi ve other local private schools will be talking about some of life’s greatest blessings. In particular, students’ presentations will focus on love, friendship and loyalty,

CLADDAGH PROVIDES THEME for ST. PADDY’S DAY MEET

You know how rock stars always seem to give it all they’ve got when on stage? This year’s read-a-thon theme will be encouraging students to read the same way, with the abandon of a rock star. Starting March 21, students of all ages will be challenged to log as much reading as they can for three weeks, until April 10. Students can win prizes based on the amount of reading they log, including a Kindle tablet for the top reader in the school. Parents and other family members are encouraged to make pledges to support their student’s reading. The annual read-a-thon is sponsored by the FLS Parent-Teacher Fellowship, which uses money raised through the read-a-thon to fund purchases of equipment and programs that support student learning at the school.

READ-A-THON AMPS STUDENT READING

Holiday breaks can be a welcome respite from homework and other school day demands, but they often provide a challenge for parents who do not have the time off from their jobs. The holiday FLASH program at FLS can help by providing supervised activities and care to keep the kids entertained and safe while school is out and parents are at work. FLASH will be available during the entire Easter break, from March 28 to April 1, from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day. Students must pre-register by March 21 to attend any day of the session. Parents can register their students online on SchoolSpeak, or in person in the School Offi ce and at the FLASH sign-in/sign-out area.

HOLIDAY FLASH: AN EASTER BLESSING for WORKING PARENTS

the qualities represented in the Irish tradition of the Claddagh ring. Children in fi rst through eighth grades participate in the annual meet, presenting to volunteer judges memorized poems or verses or, in fi fth grade and up, original works.

MARCH

07 PTF meeting, 6p

08 Gr. 1 trip to Centennial Farm

10 DK & K trip to Santa Ana Zoo Gr. 8 trip to California Science Center Spring sports team try-outs11 Intermediate School Dance & Game Night

13 Daylight Saving Time begins Pastor and Friends Concert & Chili-Cook-Off, 4p

14 Gr. 5 parent meeting, 7p

15 Spring sports teams try-outs16 PAC meeting, 3:15p

17 MINIMUM DAY, 12p Oratorical Affair speech meet, 12:30p

20 Palm Sunday

21 Read-a-thon begins Eat It or Wear It assembly

24 Third quarter ends

25 CAMPUS CLOSED Good Friday

27 Easter

28 NO CLASSES Easter Break (through 4/1) Holiday FLASH open (through 4/1)

On Friday, February 5, the sixth-grade students at First Lutheran School celebrated finishing reading [the novel] Esperanza Rising by having a fiesta. Kids brought different types of homemade Mexican foods and drinks featured in the story, which were enjoyed [at lunch] in Faith Hall. Esperanza Rising is about a girl who was once very rich [in her native Mexico], but -- due to a terrible tragedy -- was forced to move to the U.S. and work as a field worker. Instead of eating the incredibly fancy foods prepared by her servants, she and her family had to learn how to cook for themselves. [The fiesta] included all-homemade enchiladas, tamales, flour tortillas, quesadillas, almond flan, horchata, and hibiscus flower punch. Accompanying the food were colorful decorations that made you feel as if you were actually in Mexico. Faith Hall was decorated with streamers, a pinata, and mints with fiesta wrappers. There was even soft Spanish music! Parents helped serve the food. Even though some pupils didn’t cook, they still got to celebrate their fellow students’ cooking abilities. According to the class teacher, Maggie Steuwer, “The kids put a lot of effort into sourcing authentic Mexican recipes and painstakingly preparing everything, from flour tortillas to frijoles to horchata “the hard way” -- completely from scratch! All of these junior chefs should be proud of themselves and the delicious meal they worked together to prepare for their classmates and guests.”

The following article compiles excerpts from reports written by sixth-grade students.

It shouldn’t be surprising that students in the eighth-grade STEM Challenge class learned something about science, technology, en-gineering and math, since those subjects were the focus of the class curriculum. What is surprising is that in essays reflecting on their semester in the class, students reported that in addition to learning academic concepts, by working in teams to solve a variety of prob-lems such as cleaning up an oil spill, building a functioning robotic arm and keeping a cup of hot chocolate warm they also gained some important life lessons and skills along the way.

“Somewhat shockingly, this class taught me a lot more than how to build a really bad lighthouse out of masking tape and wood blocks,” wrote one STEM Challenge student. “One of the first things I learned about is working on a budget. A budget of tape, that is,” she said, recounting how her team had to be creative and resourceful when they had to build a moveable miniature lighthouse after using most of the allotted tape supply on a first failed attempt. Another student agreed that the class helped her become more resourceful because teams had to find ways to solve problems using only specific supplies in limited quantities. And a fellow student said that working on projects for the class taught her the importance of planning ahead. The students reported also learning the value of working in a group. “I can be fairly impatient, and at first I felt like always listening meant less work being done,” one wrote. “But, in the end, I learned that people who you might not usually suspect have really brilliant ideas.” “I am not the kind of person who can share my ideas freely with group members who are not my friends,” wrote another STEM stu-dent, but “I learned that I shouldn’t be afraid to speak up and talk about my ideas with my group.” Overall, the students said the class was as much about learn-ing new ways of thinking about and doing things as it was about master-ing the academic material. Wrote one student, “I learned team work. I learned how to solve problems. I learned how to build things. And, I even learned how to rebuild things when the thing you built gets taken apart.” “STEM enhanced my learn-ing experience by challenging me to open my mind up to new ideas,” said another of the eighth-graders, “and it made me think about the dif-ferent ways you can solve a prob-lem.”

A Delicious Blend of Literature and Life

A Funny Thing Happened in STEM Class

5th Grade

Brianna Lockwood “Best Water for Plants to

Grow In”Matthew Lockwood

“Rafts and Surface Tension”Sharon Park

“Water Filters”Becca Schima

“Sound Waves in Space: The Silent Frontier”

Brooke Bjerknes “The Chilling Facts”

Tyler Hetrick “The Best Tire Pressure”

6th Grade

Karina Hamilton “Making Maple Syrup:

How Does Temperature Affect It?”

Dylan Harmon-Hernandez “What Is the Fastest Way to

Cool a Soda?”

Paolina Aguila “Can Torrance Survive Drought and El Nino?”

Derek Murphy “A Gauss Rifl e”John Zambriski

“How Much Height to the Loop?”

7th Grade

Jesse Lee “Vitamin C Content in

Different OJs”Michael Brabec

“Salt Vs. Water”

Invention ConventionHanna Blair

“Keeping Kids Safe in Cars Jackson Fujimori and

Kei Nakatsubo “Solar Panel Strip”

Sayuri Waybright “Getting Down to the Kernel

of Truth”Chandler Blackwell “Does a Cell Phone Radiate?”

Invention ConventionYuuki Sugiura “The Wonder Closet”

8th Grade

Invention ConventionSriya Kasumarthi “Grade Goals App”Grant Miller and Jacob Smith “Street Sled”

Invention Convention Joonha Ko and Kenny Lee “Two-Way Flashlight”

We know them as parents, friends, former employees and church members, but they also are or have been professionals in medicine, education, music and other fi elds related to science and business, expertise they shared as volunteer judges at this year’s Science Fair and Invention Convention.

More Winning WorkFrom fi nding the most calcium-rich OJ to designing a closet where you can easily see all your clothes, these experi-ments and ideas were winners in the 2016 Science Fair and Invention Convention. (First-place winners are on page 1.)

Juan AguilaLisa Bailly

Andrea BrabecEugenia ChiangDamien Chock

Chris DengPete Doucette

Erin DwyerJustin Gamble

Diana GiordanoMichelle HackettDrew HancockSteve Lavey

Carey MiyashiroClaudia Mueller

Marianne NelsonVerne PalmerStacy PerkinsDon SchimaBryce Smyth

Carolyn SorgePaul Tanaka

Michelle WillsonDebbie Zagorin

2ndPlace 3rd

Place

First Lutheran’s boys basketball team was victorious in the championship game

on March 25, capping off an impressive 7-0

undefeated season.

It’s Nothing But Net for Falcons

2:08 p.m.The game started and there is a lot of action right away. Staff members are bringing it on, and it is getting really intense ...

A little bit later ...Now it is 2 to nothing, with the students winning. Miss Miller says, “Both sides are doing very well, but I’m voting for the teachers.” A group of

2:28 p.m. The score is now 2 to 6 for the students.The game is getting more intense, and people are sweating. Also, everyone looks tired. But the crowd is loud and supportive to the students or teachers, or both.

2:30 p.m.The score is 4 to 6! That was a lot of action in two minutes. The teachers are trying very hard now to win because it’s almost the end. They are also showing the eighth-grade students that they aren’t giving up and are very persistent.2:35 p.m.It is tied now, 7 to 7! Wow, the teachers are serious! Can they actually win this against the students? Yui from sixth grade said, “The kids will win!”

FROM the SIDELINES ...

2:45-ish p.m.Looks like Yui was right and Mr. Z was wrong. The fi nal score is 7 to 9; the students won!

Connect is published each month during the school year for

families, students and staff of First Lutheran School2900 Carson Street Torrance, CA 90503

Editor: Roxanne MorrowE-mail morrowr@fl church.org

(310) 320-9920, ext. 147Co-Principals:

Sandy Ammentorp, Kris Olson

School Board: Verne Palmer, Chair;

Sandy Ammentorp, Shirley Becker, Bill Hurst, Lynn Kimmel-

Johnson, Jason Kimura, Kris Olson, Kelli Rea,

Linda Schwarzkopf, Karen Skaff, Andrew Sokolowski,

Anne Umamoto, Lisa Wood

Our Expected Schoolwide Learner Results (ESLRs) are that

each student will become:God-centered

Respectful of othersAcademically PreparedClear CommunicatorsEquipped for success

First Lutheran School is accredited by the Western Association

of Schools and Colleges and is a

South Bay Favorite Private School

in the2015 Reader’s Choice Awards.

Polyester suits and neon dancewear were among the bygone fashion trends making a comeback for Decades Dress Day on February 19.

A report on the student-staff Ultimate Frisbee match on February 26 from two students in G1.

eighth-grade girls just said how the teachers have upped their game a lot this year. Mr. Z says, “Eighth grade is going down!”

8 BRING-A-FRIEND-TO-FIRST

DAY Students invite their non-FLS pals

to spend the morning at school with them.

11-15

PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES

A time set aside for parents to meet in person with their child’s teacher to catch up on their student’s progress.

12 & 13

SPRING MUSICALA stage musical performed by

students in second through fourth grades for their peers and families.

April 18 - May 6 MAP TESTING

Computer-based standardized testing for students in second

through seventh grades.

The long-running after-school Kids’ Clubs program sponsored by First Lutheran Church is changing. When the program begins its new session on April 6, here are a few of the changes to expect ...

NEW NAME: • What has been three groups divided by age levels -- God Squad, Kids for Christ and Kingdom Crew -- will become one group called Joyful Noise for students in developmental kindergarten through grade 5.

More than 230 special visitors came to the First Lutheran campus on February 17 for the annual event celebrating students’ grandpar-ents and other special guests. The schedule of events was changed from that of previous years with the guests enjoying an early morning breakfast with their students instead of staying for lunch, as well as having a portrait photo taken with their FLS student. The guests spent the entire morning with their young

FLS hosts, attending chapel and participating in class activities. The event’s success was the result of the coordinated efforts of many people, including a corps of PTF parents who worked the

breakfast and LEAD members who deliv-

ered Valentine grams and helped at the

photo stations.

NEW TIME:• 3:30 to 3:50 p.m. on WednesdaysNEW FORMAT: • According to Vicar Erin Armstrong, Joyful Noise will be a time of song, stories, prayer and praise for children in DK to fi fth grade. Youth in sixth through eighth grades are invited to be part of the leadership team responsible for leading songs,

performing skits and telling stories. FLS students will participate the program after signing in to FLASH once classes are dismissed. At 3:50 p.m., parents can choose to pick up their child at that time or pay for their child to remain in FLASH. Vicar Armstrong says the changes are being made to integrate more worship and learning for children into the FLASH program, to reduce redun-dancy in the two programs’ activities and to make more effi cient use of staffi ng. Questions? Contact Vicar Armstrong at (310) 320-9920, ext. 156, or armstronge@fl church.org.

‘God Squad’, ‘Kids for Christ’, ‘Kingdom Crew’ to Become ‘Joyful Noise’

Changes Coming for Kids’ ClubsA First Look at

APRIL

A Grand, Action-Packed Day