News

Cactus Zentangles: A Colorful, Fun Art Project

"Cactus Zentangles" is the title of our most recently completed art project for third through fifth grade students. This project included learning about many different elements of art, featuring line, landscape, and color.

Fourth graders Lillian Grooms, Catherine Daniel, and Merritt Beecher agreed that "zentangle" is a fun word. "This was our first big project. It took three weeks!" The girls walked me through the steps of their project.

First, the students learned about the three parts of a landscape - the foreground, the middle ground, and the background. Next, they worked hard to create this landscape with lines to form a Zentangle. A Zentangle is a form of doodling that has patterns, or "tangles", that come together to form a Zentangle. From there they continued to use line designs to create more detailed artwork. Finally, the students used watercolor for the first time this school year.

Art teacher Mrs. Kylie Siegwald said, "Third through fifth grade students took line to the next level as they applied this art element to landscapes! I was extremely impressed with each student's choice of color as they worked to create a beautiful composition!"

Physical Education In The New SLC!

Going to the Student Life Center for PE is unlike anything our lower school students have experienced. 4th graders Caroline Bennett, Brie Williams, and Amelia Hoffman raved about the new gym in the SLC. They went on and on describing how big everything is and how PCA is stamped over everything. "There's like a million basketball hoops!" Caroline's excitement is evident through her overestimation.

Now that our PE department has access to a full gym, they are no longer having classes next door to the noisy lunchroom. We have the ability to have two PE classes going on at the same time, with the installation of a large curtain that comes down in the middle of the new gym. Even with the curtain down there is still a large enough space for two volleyball nets to be up or two basketball games to go on at the same time.

Coach Shelly Kaiser remarked, "The space is amazing. With the new gym we have more options and we are less likely to have injuries. It's opening up the possibilities of more units and growth in the PE department." Some of the future possibilities of PE include units on tennis, badminton, pickleball, and the hope of having a future archery team for PCA. All of our lower school teachers, coaches, and students are thankful to the Lord for the positive impact that the new gym in the SLC has had on their PE classes.