newsletter

Peregrine Press

December 1-5

 

Schedule

Monday: Running Club

Tuesday: Out and About to Waste Management

Wednesday: PE; Celebrations of Learning 5-6:30

Thursday: Art

 

Last Week:

Those 2 days were jam packed.  We had another buddy lunch and All School Meeting on Monday.  We also spent a great deal of time working on the class newsletter.  Each student contributed to the newsletter and several student editors typed it all up and designed the layout.  That newsletter will be completed on Monday and will hopefully be sent out by Tuesday.  Tuesday Laura led us in a great teambuilding activity where students created "monsters." Your children can probably explain it J. Tuesday afternoon we worked with literary devices (writing enhancers) such as alliteration and personification to write poems about Thanksgiving or November.

 

This Week:

Celebrations of Learning

Wednesday, December 3rd

-At FGCS

-5:00-6:30

-Bring a mug and a treat if you can.  We will provide hot chocolate and coffee.

For our celebrations of learning I would encourage anyone that can, to please bring in a treat to be shared.  It would be great if we could share some of the food that the students included in their heritage projects.  This night will be an opportunity for students to share their heritage projects, their Outdoor School projects and also kick start our service projects.  The class has voted on two main service projects for the winter.  The first is to adopt a local family to provide gifts for.  This will be through the Family Resource Center.  The second is to assemble care packages for soldiers overseas.  We have several students in our class this year that have family members serving overseas and we really want to show our support.  So, this Wednesday, at the Celebrations of Learning I would love to kick start these projects and get the details out to everyone.

 

For the months of December and January our main theme will be Consumerism.  For this unit students will be learning about product life cycles, persuasive ad techniques, reducing consumption and many other aspects of consumerism.  Our Out and About to Waste Management will be a great way to get the class thinking about how much we "consume" and waste.

 

Upcoming Events

December 9^th: Out and About to Ash Street Field

December 19^th:  Classroom Holiday Celebration

Peregrine Press

December 1-5

 

Schedule

Monday: Running Club

Tuesday: Out and About to Waste Management

Wednesday: PE; Celebrations of Learning 5-6:30

Thursday: Art

 

Last Week:

Those 2 days were jam packed.  We had another buddy lunch and All School Meeting on Monday.  We also spent a great deal of time working on the class newsletter.  Each student contributed to the newsletter and several student editors typed it all up and designed the layout.  That newsletter will be completed on Monday and will hopefully be sent out by Tuesday.  Tuesday Laura led us in a great teambuilding activity where students created "monsters." Your children can probably explain it J. Tuesday afternoon we worked with literary devices (writing enhancers) such as alliteration and personification to write poems about Thanksgiving or November.

 

This Week:

Celebrations of Learning

Wednesday, December 3rd

-At FGCS

-5:00-6:30

-Bring a mug and a treat if you can.  We will provide hot chocolate and coffee.

For our celebrations of learning I would encourage anyone that can, to please bring in a treat to be shared.  It would be great if we could share some of the food that the students included in their heritage projects.  This night will be an opportunity for students to share their heritage projects, their Outdoor School projects and also kick start our service projects.  The class has voted on two main service projects for the winter.  The first is to adopt a local family to provide gifts for.  This will be through the Family Resource Center.  The second is to assemble care packages for soldiers overseas.  We have several students in our class this year that have family members serving overseas and we really want to show our support.  So, this Wednesday, at the Celebrations of Learning I would love to kick start these projects and get the details out to everyone.

 

For the months of December and January our main theme will be Consumerism.  For this unit students will be learning about product life cycles, persuasive ad techniques, reducing consumption and many other aspects of consumerism.  Our Out and About to Waste Management will be a great way to get the class thinking about how much we "consume" and waste.

 

Upcoming Events

December 9^th: Out and About to Ash Street Field

December 19^th:  Classroom Holiday Celebration

newsletter

Peregrine Press

November 24 and 25

 

Schedule

Monday:  Buddy Lunch with Sherry's Class and John's Class; All School Meeting

Tuesday:  Team Building with Laura

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday: No School-Enjoy Your Thanksgiving!

 

**I forgot to bring my camera home to upload the most recent pictures so I will post some pictures on the blog on Monday.

 

Last Week:

We started out last week with a visit to Pacific University where we enjoyed some different cultural food and musical entertainment.  The event was called FAME and stood for Food, Arts, Music and Entertainment.  The kids had an opportunity to taste some baklava, spam, vegan squash soup and many other cultural foods.  This tied in nicely with our study of heritage and it also gave the students an opportunity to be brave and try something new!

On Tuesday we spent almost the whole day focused on Outdoor School.  First we brainstormed as much as we could about all the things we learned and participated in while at outdoor school.  The students then used the brainstormed list to write a paragraph about each field study so they could share what they learned.  The end product also allowed for illustrations and creativity.  I was really impressed with how well the students did with this project.  They stayed focused and appeared to have a great time doing it.  Their paragraphs express a great deal of understanding of the different concepts we studied at outdoor school.

Wednesday the kids took turns sharing parts of their heritage projects.  It was really fun to see the excitement in their eyes when they shared something about their family.  First thing Thursday morning we left for Cornelius Elementary School.  When we arrived the kids were initially very nervous and hesitant to meet their buddies, but after a few minutes of sharing they loosened up.  There was time to play games and have a little bit of recess with them as well which seemed like a nice icebreaker for them.  Overall I think it was a rally nice experience for all the kids.

Friday Laura Harley (Out and About Coordinator) subbed for me because Thursday night I got very sick with some sort of flu.  She reported to me that the class was well behaved and respectful, which is not surprising because they are a great group of kids!  They did their usual spelling tests, goal reflections and then they joined Gretchen's class for Running Club.

 

This Week:

This coming week is going to be very short.  Monday we will have Buddy Lunch with Sherry's Class and John's Class then we will go to the All School Meeting.  The theme for this meeting is "thankful" so students can dress in attire that represents what they are "thankful" for.  I did not get a chance to tell the class about this because I was gone on Friday so please relay that message to your kids.  It may be a difficult "dress up" day, but I am sure these creative kids will find a way to represent what they are thankful for.  They do not have to dress up if they don't want to.  It is completely optional.  Tuesday we will do some teambuilding with Laura and do some reflecting on what we are thankful for.

 

**I am not sending any homework this week (Unless you were one of the students that did not turn in the outdoor school homework, or turned it in incomplete).  Those students do need to get that homework turned into my by Tuesday.  I would like the kids to have quality family time as much as possible this week. 

 

Upcoming Events:

December 3^rd: Celebrations of Learning and Hot Chocolate Social

(This will be a night to celebrate the heritage projects and see pictures from outdoor school.)  Please bring your own mug for a nice hot drink.

 

newsletter

Peregrine Press

November 17-21

 

Schedule

Monday:  Cultural Celebration at Pacific University 1:00-2:00

Tuesday: No Out and About

Wednesday:  P.E.

Thursday:  Out and About to Cornelius Elementary School to share our Heritage Projects (We will be riding the Tri-Met bus.); Art

Friday: Running Club

 

Last Week

What a week!  I am still trying to recover and rest up from the very intense week of Outdoor School.  I hope that all of your children are bathed and rested and ready for a regular week of school.  I am sure that you are hearing many of the songs and riddles that the students were taught and I hope that they have all shared the wonderful and interesting things that they learned while at camp. 

 

The day we arrived was by far the wettest and most miserable day but I was incredibly impressed with the focus and positive attitudes that the students maintained through it all.  Unfortunately the beach field study on that first day was cut short due to the weather, but the students were still able to learn about dune grass and the Snowy Plover, mole crabs, tides and tide-pool critters.  Wednesday we hiked up to the high meadow and learned about the forest on the way up.  We learned about compaction, tree parts, photosynthesis, and beaver adaptations  (and a few other things along the way).  Thursday our field study took us to the estuary.  We learned about the water cycle, macro-invertebrates, water quality, estuary ecosystems and ghost shrimp adaptations.  While on this field study we were also lucky enough to see lots and lots of seals out in the water watching us. 

 

Campfires and mealtimes were entertaining with a number of songs and skits performed by both the staff and the students.  Thursday night we ventured off on our night hike with the cabin groups.  I joined a group that was lucky enough to go inside a cave and learn about dragon teeth and these interesting sweets called "dulces de dragone."  The girls that I was with were very brave and the field instructor was a very gifted story teller that made the whole experience of the night hike incredibly memorable.  Friday we said goodbye to everyone and hiked back out the 3 miles to the bus.  This Outdoor Experience will definitely not be forgotten!

 

In planning for next year I would really like some input from you, the families, about Outdoor School.  I know that you were not able to join your kids there but I would like to know how your kids felt it went and if it was worth the "money."  I know the expense of it was much greater this year than last year so I think it is important for us as a staff to get family input about how valuable of an experience was.  Please email me with any feelings you have about it.  In planning for next year there are a few options:  there are 4 different camp locations and we have the option of fall or spring.  Thank you.

 

I will say again that I was incredibly impressed with the positive attitudes these kids had through the whole week.  They treated the staff and counselors with great respect and really made me very proud!  There were no behavior problems at all with this class!

 

 

This Week

This week we will be completing our Heritage Projects and sharing them with our buddy class at Cornelius Elementary School.  We will also spend some time following up on our trip to Outdoor School.  For homework this week I would like the students to do some work to follow up our trip to Outdoor School.  This will be in place of some of the other work they normally would have.  I will pass that out to all of the kids on Monday and I would like it returned on Friday. 

 

Upcoming Events:

November 26^th, 27^th and 28^th No School for Thanksgiving

November 24^th: All School Meeting and Buddy Lunch

December 3^rd:  Celebrations of Learning Combined with a Hot Chocolate and Coffee Social at the School 5:00-6:30 (Please bring in your own mug.)

 

**At the celebrations of learning there will be a slideshow of pictures for those of you that would like to see what camp was like.

 

 

Newsletter

Peregrine Press

November 10-14

 

Schedule:

Monday: Peace Hands Banner with Rachel's Class; Outdoor School Gear Drop off 6:30-7:30

Tuesday:  Leave for Outdoor School. Drop off at school between 9:00 and 9:30.

Friday: Return from Outdoor School at 2:00

 

Last Week

We had a very smooth week of activity.  Tuesday we experimented with blubber and discussed different animal adaptations, with a specific focus on marine mammals.  The students were great scientists and are going to do very well at Outdoor School with all the science and nature they will be learning while there.  After the blubber experiment Laura took us outside to do some really fun teambuilding activities.  These activities are so incredibly helpful for building our classroom community but one area that we need to work on is taking the teambuilding activities seriously.  It just takes a few kids goofing off during an activity for the activity to fail.  Friday morning we spent time with the Mayor of Forest Grove, Richard Kidd, and a City Council member, Pete Truax.  The students learned about our City Government structure and had some great questions for the Mayor.  This was a great opportunity for the kids to better understand the rules about no skateboarding downtown.

The heritage project is just about finished.  Students worked on the recipe and food connection to the project this past week (Which is my FAVORITE part).  A major setback and frustration with this part of the project was that yet again, several students had not done the necessary work at home to be able to do this part of the project at school.  The students were told 2 weeks ago to bring in a recipe and to have 4 or 5 kids still not have a recipe on the day that it was required really messed up how our work session went.  When students are irresponsible it does not just effect them, it effects me and the rest of the class because we either have to put things on hold, or I have to find other things for them to do, OR they distract their classmates.

 

* Rachel's class partnered with Elizabeth's Language Arts class and they wrote and shared poems for two voices with us.  The poems were beautiful.

 

Week after Outdoor School:

November 17:  Food and Culture Celebration at Pacific University 1:00-2:00.  This event will teach the kids about some different cultures through food and presentations.  This is sponsored by a small group of students from Pacific University for part of a class they are taking.  The event should be really fun and connect perfectly with our heritage project!  Please let me know if you do not want your child to sample the food.  (They will have Hawaiian food, Greek food and Vegan food to name a few.)

 

November 20:  Trip to Cornelius Elementary School to share our Heritage Projects and meet our buddies that we have been exchanging letters with.  I would love it if we had a few volunteers for this trip so please let me know if you can join us.  It will be from 9:00-11:00.

newsletter

Peregrine Press

November 3-7

 

Schedule

Monday: Italics Class; Running Club

Tuesday: Out and About (nature and animal adaptations study)

Wednesday:  PE

Thursday: Art

Friday:  Outdoor School Preparation Activity

     

Last week:

Last week was both productive and fun.  We spent a great deal of time working on the heritage project.  Students have written unforgettable memories involving their families, they wrote a diary entry pretending they were leaving the country, and they finalized their family history interviews.  The next couple of steps in this project are:  a recipe important to the family, a family tree (as far back as great grandparents if possible) and the collage cover (this part can include family pictures).  Please help your children with this information. 

On Tuesday our trip up to the Tom McCall Forest provided us with an opportunity to look closely at nature, spend some quiet time journaling, and discuss animal adaptations. We did a fun activity involving tape and button up shirts to remind us how important our opposable thumbs are.  (Ask your children to explain.)

 

The rap the class presented at the All School Meeting describing our community was a success and received a series of applause.  This class is so creative!

On Friday, in celebration of Halloween we made slime.  The ingredients are simple and safe, and the class did a great job of following the directions for how to make it.

**I am concerned with spelling for several students.  Please feel free to practice spelling at home with your kids.  If you would like some samples of word lists, I can send those home. 

 

This week:

This week we will continue focusing on nature and animal adaptations.  Part of our Out and About will be an In and About where we will be conducting an experiment about blubber and the adaptations of marine mammals.  We will also continue working on the heritage project.

I still need recipes from the majority of the class and I am really hoping to get those by Tuesday because we will be working on that part of the project Tuesday afternoon.

 

Outdoor School Update

Monday November 10^th: 6:30-7:30

Tuesday November 11th morning drop off at the school between 9:00 and 9:30. Please have your children wear their raingear and rain boots (not just tennis shoes, or hiking boots, they need to be water proof) on the day we leave for Outdoor School because we will be going directly to a field study as soon as we arrive at camp.

 

When packing for outdoor school, please pack the sleeping bags and duffel bags or suitcases in garbage bags to prevent them from getting wet during transport.  Also, please pack additional garbage bags for the return trip.  Contrary to last year, students are encouraged to bring a small flashlight this year for the trips to and from the cabins to the bathrooms.  Students are not allowed to bring any electronic devices or any food.  The morning that we leave (Tuesday) they can bring a snack because we will not be eating lunch until 12:30.  

We will return Friday between 2:00 and 3:00 but we will get confirmation this week as to a more accurate return time.