Living the Lower School Mission
Celebrating Culture in International Fair
Each year, Lower School students learn about and celebrate two countries schoolwide as part of our annual week-long International Fair. An important Lower School tradition, parent volunteers work countless hours to create this immersive experience. In 2024, Lower School students were thrilled to tour and engage with the exhibits of Fiji and Chile.
Serving Others through Faris Strong Giving
Faris Strong Giving is an important partnership between The Faris Foundation and The Kinkaid School. The Faris Foundation's primary goals are to support childhood cancer research, provide creative arts programs at children's cancer centers, and engage the public to build awareness around childhood cancer. A forever Falcon, Faris Virani '24 passed away in January of 2017 after a courageous battle with Ewing sarcoma. One of his wishes was for his Kinkaid friends to help children in the broader Houston community. The Foundation places their values – Faris’ words – into action through their work.
Each winter, with the generous support of the broader Kinkaid community and in partnership with KIPP Public Charter Schools in Houston, Kinkaid Lower School coordinates a holiday gift drive as part of the Faris Strong Giving initiative. In 2023 on a crisp December morning, students from across all three divisions carried bags filled with gifts to the Lower School for collection; gifts were then loaded for transport to KIPP Nexus Primary. A fourth-grade student who helped load the trailer described the morning as "the best carpool of the year!" The truck and trailer overflowing with over 350 sets of brightly colored packages was met at KIPP Nexus Primary with delight, astonishment, and gratitude.
Lower School students help load gifts into a trailer for the annual Faris Strong Giving. Photo by L. Norris
4th Dimension Immersive Art Show
In this integrated music performance and art exhibit, Lower School students flex their creativity, imagination, and planning skills to create the components of the 4th Dimension Art Show. After visiting a local interactive/immersive art museum called Seismique, students design a character inspired by the popular vinyl art toys created by Kidrobot and Funkopop. They then storyboard and create a personality and world for the character. Finally, students create a model that depicts this environment. Each individual box is imagined to be a “room” that houses their characters and reflects their planned environments. Students utilize visual media as well as lighting and sound to construct their rooms. All creations curated by students are designed in four lands that reflect four mindsets on which we focus in Lower School—Optimistmania, Resilitopia, Persistenlandia, and Flexibililand.
The resulting immersive art exhibit is shared with families and Lower School students as a part of a broader choral concert and art presentation. This student-written and -narrated video outlines the creative process utilized by the students to create the art exhibit. After visitors enjoy a choral performance; students then act as docents to guide their guests through the exhibit.
Celebrating Community Spirit
Spirit Days are popular days in the Lower School, allowing us opportunities to celebrate one another, our school, and beloved Kinkaid traditions. Silly Hair Day, Goofy Sock Day, Pajama Day, dance parties – in addition to our beloved Kinkaid spirit dress days – all reveal the joy that abounds in the Lower School!
Art Car Parade
Each year in spring, the Lower School hosts the annual Lower School Art Car Parade – a magical day in the Lower School. In 2022, the Lower School Art Car Parade had actual art cars return in full force with a parade of visiting cars from the Spring Branch Shimmy and 400 student creations.
In pre-k and kindergarten, students use drawing skills to sketch initial ideas for their car. Students enjoy reflecting on this process with their peers, noticing what details they chose to keep, discard, or change from their original vision and why. In first through fourth grades, each student's art car completes a four-week long unit exploring sculptural technique, armature building and engineering, painting techniques, and aesthetics.
The true magic of Art Car is in the creative concepts our students develop through their artistic process. These cars reflect things important to our youngest artists, offering a way for them to share with the world what matters to them. From favorite books and shows, to favorite hobbies and places, the art cars are a diverse parade of passions and interests, fully representing the possibilities, curiosity, and imagination of our very special and talented Lower School students!