Where can you feed an African Pygmy Hedgehog, build your own race car, and touch the tooth of a prehistoric Megladon?  The answers lay in an amazing resource of Southside Christian School’s Early Education Department … Explore Lab!  Created to provide hands-on learning activities and experiments for K5 and first-grade students, Explore Lab allows children to use all five senses in discovering the miraculous world that God created.  Throughout the school year, 26 labs are offered on a wide array of topics, ranging from plants and insects to simple machines and electricity.  During each lab, an introduction of the lab content and a Biblical application begin the experience.   Students then rotate among four lab stations, performing at least one hands-on experiment at every center.  The adventure is led by Mrs. Ellen Kahue, whose love of nature and the scientific method is equally matched by her passion for learning and expanding young minds.  The excitement in the room is contagious!  Students can’t wait to attend Explore Lab, where they may find themselves counting the ribs and seeds of a pumpkin, measuring a cricket, building their own floating compass, or studying the intricate parts of a flower under the microscope.  Each lab experience is an extension of the unit being studied in the classroom that week, providing a unique opportunity for students to make observations and draw conclusions in an environment that can only be described as engaging and fun.  If only for a brief 45 minutes, students delight in sharing the classroom with Sammy the guinea pig, Spike the bearded dragon, and a whole host of aquarium inhabitants including the barred tiger salamander, hermit crabs, and red-eared slider turtles.

In addition to the phenomenal educational experience provided to students, Explore Lab has proven to be a rewarding cooperative effort between parents, children, and the school.  An integral part of the success of the program is parental involvement.  During each lab, parent volunteers staff the lab stations, interacting with the students on a level unique to the lab encounter.  Bringing their own special talents and work experience to each topic, parents share in the discovery process and add a new dimension of knowledge and enthusiasm to every experiment.  Parents and students have also jumped on board by contributing their own backyard creatures to the lab environment.  Donations have included bird nests, ostrich eggs, lizards, tree frogs, and worms.  Each new addition is welcomed by Mrs. Kahue with open arms and a lesson on the animal’s role within God’s creation, providing a learning experience unlike any other.  As Explore Lab continues to stimulate critical and imaginative thinking, students are finding that discovering the world around them is exciting and fun!

Whether you call them Grandmother, Papa, Nana, or Grand, the Early Education students at Southside Christian School know them to mean one word … love.  Grandparents play a vital role in their grandchild’s growth and development over the years, and those who have grandchildren at Southside are no different.   From volunteer activities to special invitations for class celebrations, grandparents have been showing up in record numbers to sing, eat, and worship with some of their most precious family members.

Southside is thankful for the wonderful influence grandparents have in their grandchild’s life, and seeks to honor this important relationship and undeniable bond.  This year, the two-year old classes invited their grandparents for a special Valentine’s Day Celebration.  Each grandparent received a special drawing made by their grandchild, and enjoyed joining the children during center time, reading, and special snack.  A Thanksgiving Celebration was the setting for including grandparents of three-year olds, where families joined together for a special song and activity.  Children in K4 classrooms invited their grandparents to be a part of several activities throughout the course of the year.  These special occasions included homemade cards for Grandparent’s Day, Thanksgiving, and Valentine’s Day, as well as joining in class activities to celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and Chapel worship.  Grandparents of K5 and first grade students had numerous ways to be involved as well, attending field trips, reading in the classroom, and helping with Explore Lab.

The love demonstrated between child and grandparent also extends beyond family ties at SCS.  Partnering with Greenville Glen Assisted Living has been a special blessing for Early Education students.  Many classrooms have a photo of a resident from the assisted living home posted as a visual reminder of the “class grandparent.”  This person is a designated prayer recipient, and reminds students that it is important to pray for the needs of others and demonstrate honor to their elders.  This year, students also participated in an age-appropriate mission project, decorating tissue boxes for the grandmothers and grandfathers at Greenville Glen. 

The benefits of classroom and nursing home interactions are numerous.  By visiting the classroom and joining in volunteer opportunities, grandparents are able to view firsthand the spiritual, cognitive, and social development of their grandchild.  Grandchildren benefit tremendously by putting into practice two of the Biblical principles they are taught from the earliest of ages - honor and respect.   These values are further enhanced when the children are given the opportunity to express their love and gratitude to both their own grandparents and those “adopted” from Greenville Glen. The outcome for all is a strong sense of family and a measure of love that visibly overflows with pride.

You probably drive past them every day as you drop your child off to school without ever realizing the outdoor gems located just a few feet away.  The lush plants, gorgeous flowers, and abundance of butterflies twirling nearby may have caught your eye, but did you know that they are all part of a cultivated and intentional resource that engages students and teachers alike known as a Wildlife Habitat?  The National Wildlife Federation has certified more than 150 Schoolyard Habitat Sites in South Carolina – the second highest number in the nation – and Southside Christian School is proud to be counted in this amazing group of educators who are creating wildlife habitats on their own school grounds!  Southside Christian School’s habitat program began with a committee of parents and staff who constructed a Carolina Fence Garden Habitat and a butterfly garden.  The first habitat, named God’s Garden by first-graders in the fall of 2004, incorporates several state symbols such as the state bird and flower, along with native plant species.  The second habitat, the Butterfly Garden, includes host plants, nectar plants, and cover to support the four life stages of the butterfly.  Since their inception, Southside’s wildlife habitats have continued to grow under the leadership of Mrs. Ellen Kahue, who can often be found with a few students in tow exploring these incredible outdoor classrooms. 

Habitat sites provide students with a place to experience hands-on learning and connect to the natural world while providing local wildlife with necessary food, water, cover, and places to raise their young.  Within the Early Education Department, children of all ages join in the fun!  K4 students learn about the seasons by planting bulbs in the fall and watching them grow, while K5 students add their touch of color with pansies.  After school lab participants can be found using the habitat for growing vegetables, which will later be used to feed the many animals living in the Explore Lab classroom. Even the youngest of students play a role through the Adopt-A- Caterpillar Program, where classrooms EE2 through first grade are provided with everything they need to watch a caterpillar turn into a chrysalis, and then emerge as a butterfly for release in the Butterfly Garden.  Southside’s wildlife habitats are also part of the University of Georgia’s Monarch Butterfly Parasite Study, which requires swabbed samples from the bellies of these insects to be sent to their lab for aid in the butterfly’s preservation.  Future plans include securing school-wide viewing for observation of nesting birds, and utilization of a composter and worm bin.

Regardless of whether they are preparing the soil, planting seedlings, or observing animals in their natural environment, the early education students at Southside are thrilled with the many opportunities for outdoor adventure and learning that the wildlife habitats create.  SCS teachers are enthusiastic as well, observing awakened senses, improved coordination, and academic enhancement resulting from the students’ engagement with the outdoors.  So the next time you are in car line or have a minute or two on a beautiful day, stop by God’s Garden and the Butterfly Garden to do a little exploring of your own.  You will be glad you did!

Students in K4 through first grade at Southside Christian School are experiencing physical education in a whole new way.  Unlike traditional gym classes even ten years ago where dodge ball, sit-ups, and push-ups were the norm, today’s P.E. class encourages children to remain active throughout the entire period, paying attention to how their body responds to movement and exertion at any given time.  Students are taught what it means to be “fit,” why body and spatial awareness are important, and how exercise can be incorporated throughout daily activities and basic play exploration.

Led by Mrs. Kristi Speaks, who holds a BA in Biology/Pre-Med and a Masters in Exercise Science, Southside’s shift in physical education dynamics is in response to growing research that demonstrates the connection between physical movement and cognitive development in the classroom.  Neurologists have determined that if children do not have a good foundation of gross motor skills and midline coordination, they may start to struggle with reading and writing tasks as their education progresses.  Incorporating balance and coordination exercises, gymnastics, and obstacle courses within gym class not only enhances motor skill development, but also provides a way for educators to evaluate progress in these areas and provide parents with important feedback.

To derive the most benefit from the connection between physical and cognitive development, Mrs. Speaks is incorporating elements of the innovative program, Brain Gym, into daily P.E. classes.  Brain Gym is a trademarked movement program that integrates whole-brain learning and self-awareness that can only be achieved through safe, simple, and effective movement.  The Brain Gym educational model builds awareness of movement in daily life, emphasizes the ability to notice and respond to movement-based needs, promotes self-responsibility, encourages creativity and self expression, and leaves each participant appreciated and valued.  Within the program, 26 movements are divided into four categories, including Midline Movements, Energy Exercises, Deepening Attitudes, and Lengthening Activities.  These movements are designed to enhance, rather than replace, existing programs and curricula.  Stated benefits of the program from educators utilizing this model are numerous.  Many teachers report significant improvements in the basic skills of reading and writing as well as in areas such as concentration, attention, confidence, and creativity. 

If student enthusiasm is any indication, incorporating new activities and goals into the physical education program at Southside is worthy of a gold medal.  Mrs. Speaks reports that being fit is becoming a great source of pride for the children she teaches, who often stop her in the hallway to share a new sport or exercise they have tried.  Students are learning that exercise is fun, being active makes them feel great, and that taking care of the wonderful body that God gave them is a privilege.