Dear Live It Learn It friends,

Can you believe first semester is already done? We wanted to take a moment to celebrate our work together and share a few highlights from the school year thus far! 

• 4th graders at Randle Highlands ES were featured on Channel 9’s “Cool Schools” series during their Pop Art program.

• 5th graders at Raymond EC were also featured on Channel 9 during a Pathways to Professions program with the National Park Service.

• 4th and 5th graders at Patterson ES put their own twist on the Live It Learn It “ditty,” as seen here. 

• Read about Live It Learn It’s history and impact in The Washington Post. 

We invite you to “like” our Facebook page, where you can see photos, videos, and more of all our Live It Learn It classes in action! We update the page daily.

We consider it a great privilege to partner with you and serve DC students—and we look forward to more exciting academic experiences in 2013!


Happy holidays!

The Live It Learn It team



P.S. Looking for something fun to do with your students (or even your own kids) over the break? Check out this winter weather-themed art contest with KidsPost!

A New Take on Shakespeare

After a series of conversations over many months, we have succeeded in piloting a new multi-part program with the Shakespeare Theatre.  This program includes three core components:

1. A “Pathways to Professions” visit to the Theatre, during which students meet various staff members and learn about jobs in the theater industry.
2. A second visit to the Theatre to watch a kid-friendly version of a Shakespeare play.
3. A third visit to the Theatre, during which students get to perform a scene from a play they have been rehearsing.

Students learning about the work of a costume designer!

We have thus far piloted the first and second components with a class of 5th graders from Randle Highlands– and each has been a resounding success! Special thanks are due to Marcy Spiro, the Community Engagement Manager for the Shakespeare Theatre for her coordination of this program and also to Ms. Caesar for her work in preparing her class for the multiple pieces of this experience.

We look forward to updating you on the last piece of the program (a student performance) during the Spring of 2013.

Checking-out the Shakespeare Theatre's facility

Student sharing her knowledge!

Live It Learn It Students Prepare for 2013 Inauguration

This week a group of fifth grade students from Raymond Elementary School visited the park headquarters of National Mall and Memorial Parks to investigate the role National Park Services plays in preparing for the inauguration. Check out the awesome story  from Channel 9 news! 

"App-pealing" Opportunity

On November 7th, MavenLIFT hosted an app pitch night at the Arlington Cinema Drafthouse and the prize was $3,000 in support to build an app. 

Chris pitched an idea that is currently called Textcursions which would essentially move Live It Learn It programming onto mobile devices.  Students would be challenged to answer questions and solve problems on a mobile device while on our field trips.  Students would then return to the classroom and edit the work they started on the trip to write a final report electronically.  Once students have finished their reports they could send it to their teacher and also notify their parent of the trip that they just completed.  One final addition is that families would also be given the opportunity to download a copy of the trip report and even print out a photo book for a keepsake. 

The exciting news is that we won!  We are now in collaboration with MavenLIFT to build a working app and we are also securing tablet computers to roll this out come spring!  It will prove to be an exciting venture.