A Parade for Head of School Carolyn Fox!

Seven Hills celebrated Head of Lotspeich Carolyn Fox with a special parade on May 25! Fox, who is retiring at the end of the school year after 40 years at Seven Hills, was greeted by a crowd of cheering students, teachers, administrators, and parents lining the parade route. The parade was a surprise for Fox and it was organized by Lotspeich Parent Community co-chairs Meredith Ficks and Erin Snelting. The parade ended at Mimi’s Garden with a ceremony to dedicate a bench that will be placed this summer in Carolyn’s honor. We will miss Mrs. Fox!

Click here to see more photos from the parade.

Third-graders Share Cincinnati History Presentations

As a culmination of their study of Cincinnati history, third-graders in Kim Walden and Yael Newman’s classes created an outdoor Cincinnati History Museum. “Each student was assigned a topic based on something home-grown in Cincinnati,” Walden said. “It could be anything from the Purple People Bridge to the Cincinnati Reds, from King Records to Kings Island. The students did research on their topic, wrote a report, created a display board, and then shared their knowledge with their class and the Lotspeich community.” The museum was held outside the third-grade classrooms.

Author Maulik Pancholy Speaks to Students

Author and actor Maulik Pancholy recently spoke to members of the fourth- and fifth-grade book club and the Middle School’s GSA Just Be You! Club via Zoom. Pancholy discussed his background as an actor and his debut middle-grade novel, “The Best At It,” which tells the story of Rahul Kapoor, a gay, Indian American boy coming into his own in small-town Indiana. Pancholy, who, like his character Rahul, is gay and Indian American, said when he was younger, he loved to read. As he read, he didn’t see characters that looked like him in books. Pancholy said he began to think about what it would have been like as a 12-year-old to see himself in stories. “This story didn’t exist,” he said of “The Best At It.” “ If you have a story to tell, don’t wait for someone else to write it.” Students enjoyed Pancholy’s visit and had an opportunity to ask him questions. “This visit was made possible by a pilot program of Lambda Literary: LGBTQ Writers in Schools to extend the reach of their authors,” said Lotspeich librarian Lori Suffield.

First- and Fifth-grade Buddies Design Garden Stones

Every year, Lostpeich first-graders and fifth-graders pair up for the buddy program. First- and fifth-grade buddies get to know each other throughout the school year and  work on fun activities together. Recently, the buddies worked together to design and create cement stepping stones for gardens outside Lotspeich. “The project arose from a design challenge where fifth-graders were creating a better outdoor classroom area for first- and second-graders,” said Project Math teacher Laura OGrady. “We are also hoping that the stepping stones will become a new Lotspeich tradition where each new first-grade class will add a stepping stone that they make with their buddy, and, when they are fifth-graders, they get to keep the stone they made as a first-grader!”

Second-graders Host Arcade Day

Second-graders in Laura OGrady’s Project Math class hosted a special outdoors edition of Arcade Day! Every year, second-graders design and build an arcade game and invite Lotspeich students of all ages to play and earn fun prizes designed by second-graders. This year, students created pinball machines.