News & Events

Shadowing on a Sunny Day
April 08 - Sycamore fourth-graders shadowed the fifth grade on April 24 to get a glimpse of what is in store for them when they make the jump from lower school to middle school next year. Pictured here, students from both grades share a fun outdoor catapult activity that is part of the 5th-grade history curriculum.

7/8 Knowledge Masters 1st Nation
April 08 - On April 23, the 7/8 knowledge masters team competed online in the spring Knowledge Masters Open competition and placed first in the nation out of 753 schools! Their score of 1729 is a new school record. The closest school had a score of 1689. This is quite an accomplishment by our outstanding students. Since 1999, our 7/8 teams have finished first in the nation seven times! The students will receive a "Great-Auk" shirt, plaque, and pizza party for their efforts.

Grandparent & Special Friend Day
April 08 - Each year SSA organizes a wonderful event for students to invite grandparents or other special friends to visit the school for a few hours. On April 21, their special guests were treated to a delicious spread of breakfast items and beverages and a variety of activities were planned for them. Early childhood students had Spanish class in their classroom and enjoyed a kindergarten concert in the theater with their visitors. A first-grade sing-a-long and a 4th-grade band concert highlighted the day for the lower school group. Middle-schoolers attended an 8th-grade choir performance with their special friends. All of the groups had the opportunity to have their photo taken, visit the outdoor science lab, donate a book in the library, and play games in the library or lower school science lab. The success of the day was easily measured by the smiles on the guests’ faces filling the hallways!

Science Olympiad Team Best Yet
April 08 - The Sycamore School Science Olympiad team journeyed to Indiana University for the State Science Olympiad Competition on March 29, during spring break. The team placed 9th overall, the best of any Sycamore team in Science Olympiad history.

Chess Team "Three-peat"
April 08 - Nearly 600 scholastic chess players represented more than 80 schools from all over Indiana at the 39th Indiana Annual Scholastic Team Chess Championships on March 29 in Terre Haute. Sycamore’s 6th grade & under team won all 5 rounds and became the State Champions for the 3rd year in a row. This championship is also the 8th state-wide team championship Sycamore School received in recent years.  Sycamore’s young 3rd grade & under team also competed and received the 6th place trophy.

Class of 2004 Reunion
April 08 - Each year, Sycamore welcomes back their eighth-grade graduates as they are completing their last year of high school. Coming from a variety of schools, the group enjoyed refreshments, socializing with each other and staff members, and a little game of bombardment.

Focus on Indiana History
March 08 - Over the past few weeks, the 3rd grade curriculum has celebrated Indiana history through a variety of interesting projects and activities. They had a visit from a fur trader, they built a barn, and learned what was important to pack a covered wagon for a journey. Each student also researched and wrote a paper on a famous Hoosier, then portrayed the character in a first-person interpretation for the “Living History Museum” on Mar. 24. Parents, grandparents, and students perused the displays, speaking “directly” to the Indiana celebrities from a wide range of careers such as musician & composer, fashion designer, corporate founder, and under-ground railroad conductor.
    

5/6 Knowledge Masters on Top
March 08 - Sycamore School is celebrating the success of the 5/6 Knowledge Master Open team for their recent accomplishment in the Spring Open. On March 19 the team scored 828 points in the open which earned them the ranking of 1st in the state of Indiana, 2nd place nationally over-all, and 1st place nationally for our school size. The contest included 398 schools from across the nation as well as schools in Indonesia, Korea, and Singapore.

Librarian for the Day
March 08 - At this year’s Auction for Advancement fundraiser, nine students got the chance to represent their class as “librarian for the day” thanks to their parents’ winning bids. Each librarian got to choose an activity for their class to do during their regularly scheduled weekly library time: they could show a video, choose a book to read to the class. In addition, they got to choose a bookmark to distribute to the class and choose a new book from the birthday book shelf to donate to the Sycamore school library in their honor with a personalized “librarian for the day” bookplate.

Dancers Delight on St. Patty’s Day
March 08 - A dreary Monday morning was brightened by the colorful costumes and lively dancing of the Irish Dancers of Indianapolis who performed in the gym for the entire student body in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. A Sycamore third-grader happens to be a member of the group. Of her performance, she said, “It was real fun to perform in front of my friends.” She wanted to assure people that her curly locks were not hers but a wig. Later that day, the troupe danced in the St. Patrick’s Day parade in downtown Indianapolis, for three more schools, and at the Knight’s of Columbus that evening.

Sweet & Sticky Field Trip
March 08 - Second grade visited Southeastway Park on March 8 where the Parks Department  demonstrated how to tap maple tree sap then process it into maple syrup. The trip was a continuation of their fall plant unit, since the only time of year for maple sugaring occurs right now. Students learned how early Native Americans and pioneers processed maple syrup versus as how it’s done today. They also sampled some of the finished product.

MathCounts Team Awarded Purdue Scholarships
March 08 - Seven Sycamore middle school students traveled to Purdue University to compete in the state MathCounts Competition against 174 students representing 36 schools from all over Indiana on Saturday, March 8. Our team of one sixth-grader and three eighth-graders finished in first place in Indiana. In individual competition, Sycamore students placed first, fourth, sixth, seventh and nineteenth. Each of the four top Sycamore finishers was awarded a four-year “full-ride” scholarship to Purdue for their accomplishment. Two of our eighth-graders will make-up half of the Indiana team that will be competing in the MathCounts nationals in Denver, CO on May 8.

Making All the Right Moves
March 08 - Sycamore’s 3rd-grade and under chess team won 2nd place in the 2008 Scholastic Chess of Indiana regional competition on March 1. Pictured on left are Sycamore first and second-graders on the team and on the right a kindergartener.
  

Just Mad About Science
February 08 - The twenty-second annual Sycamore Science Fair was held on Feb. 27. There were 65 early childhood and lower school students participating in the fair, with subjects covering the scientific spectrum from Dice & Probability to Dinosaur Discovery. In the middle school, 16 fifth-graders presented projects voluntarily. The entire seventh-grade class participated as part of their science curriculum. The projects were on display in the Meeting Center from Feb. 25 through Feb. 27, giving the students an opportunity to present their work and perform their experiments for their classmates.  Six of the middle school students were selected to represent Sycamore at the Regional Science Fair on Mar. 20

Wednesday evening was Family Science Night for friends and families of Science Fair participants. It was a terrific evening, abuzz with enthusiasm and energy for science. Not only did students proudly exhibit their projects, but The Life Science Education Center of Marian College entertained the crowd with interactive science activities. Students and adults alike were fascinated with the hands-on experience.
 

4^th Grade Fast-finishers
February 08 – A fast-finisher is a person who shows courage by accomplishing great things in his/her life as well as overcoming great obstacles. Fourth-graders have been researching courageous people in history or in their own lives for the past 3 weeks. They created bibliographies, outlines, and PowerPoint’s all culminating in a 3-5 minute speech in front of their parents, peers and teachers in the theater on Feb. 29. Student presentations ranged from Abraham Lincoln’s courageous trials and tribulations to a student’s own father.
 

Pied Piper of Sycamore
February 08 - A bagpipe player from the Gordon Pipers - the official bagpipe and drum group of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway - visited kindergarten for their world cultures unit. After his musical program for the kids he led students on a “parade” down the LS hallway.

Symphony in Color Honors Artists
February 08 - Two Sycamore students from fourth and fifth grades won blue ribbons in this year’s Symphony in Color art contest. The annual event, sponsored by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, attracted 597 entries from 103 schools, representing 27 counties in Indiana. Of those, 100 were chosen as finalists, and from among the 100 finalists, 36 received blue ribbons. The 36 blue-ribbon pieces will hang in the Oval Promenade Gallery of the Hilbert Circle Theatre through March 24, and all the top 100 will hang at the Indiana State Museum from March 29 to May 11. The 36 Finalists, their families, teachers and principals will receive invitations to an awards tea on March 2.

Students Capture Regional
MathCounts Title
February 08 - Sycamore’s team took first place in the regional MathCounts competition Feb. 14 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. The team was comprised of three eighth-graders and one sixth-grader. Individually, the sixth-grader finished in first place and his teammates took second, fourth and sixth. The team will compete in the state meet on March 8. Three other Sycamore middle school students competing as individuals also qualified to advance to the state competition. MathCounts is a national math enrichment, coaching and competition program that promotes middle-school math achievement in every U.S. state and territory. The program was founded in 1983 by the National Society of Professional Engineers and the national Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Eighty-four students representing 24 schools competed in the regional competition. Sycamore’s team is coached by middle school math teacher, Carol Humbracht.

Salsa the Night Away
February 08 - The Meeting Center was transformed into a dance floor the evening of Feb. 23 when four instructors from the local dance studio brought the basics of salsa to 30 Sycamore students. Middle school Spanish teacher Patricia Hanna arranged the lively evening for seventh- and eighth-graders.

Grandmother Shares Chinese Culture
February 08 - For the second year, a grandmother of students in second grade and pre-kindergarten taught Chinese language and culture to EC children at Sycamore. This pre-kindergartener practiced “thank you” and “happy new year” in Mandarin Chinese while learning about a new-year tradition where grandparents give each child a red envelope containing a coin.

Grads Perform for Alma Mater
February 08 - The North Central High School’s Wind Ensemble visited Sycamore last Tuesday and performed for the students. Eight members of this elite band ensemble were graduates from the Sycamore classes of 2004, 2005, and 2006. North Central Band Director Rick Granlund, husband of Sycamore’s Band Director Candi Granlund, commented: “It is great for the young students to see former Sycamore musicians that have continued to use these special talents at the high school level.”

Old-fashioned Fun for 2^nd Graders
February 08 - Second-graders try their hands at quill-pen writing during Colonial Fun Day. Students rotated among five stations, trying a centuries-old task at each. In addition to quill-and-ink writing, they made yarn dolls, stitched samplers, constructed tricorn hats or bonnets, and made quilt squares.

2008 Readathon Fun
February 08 – Sycamore students and teachers enjoyed having time to read just for the fun of it during annual Readathon activities last week. Early Childhood and Lower School students spent Wednesday afternoon engaged in various activities to celebrate reading. They visited the Library, listened to guest readers, and curled up with favorite stories. In Middle School, students had a break from work in one class each day Tuesday through Friday, with the time allotted to read books of their choice.

Author Louise Borden spoke to staff and students on Thursday, sharing her fascinating story about the research and writing process involved in her book, The Journey that Saved Curious George: The True Wartime Escape of Margaret and H.A. Rey. Another highlight of the week was a contest for staff and for MS students to guess how many books the Sycamore Library owns. The answer: the Sycamore library has 18,155 books. The prizes: gift cards to a local bookstore!

Students Dance Their Hearts Out 
February 08 - Sycamore girls perfect a valentine line dance during Student Council festivities Friday. Fifth and sixth grades had casual games and music in the gym while seventh and eighth grades enjoyed a semiformal dance in the Meeting Center. The event attracted 129 students.