Last week we found out we had the opportunity to hear Danica McKellar speak on the Microsoft campus on Monday, October 1 (thank you Keith for making this happen). We put our parent driving network into action (thank you Gail for jumping on the transportation). Many of you responded, volunteering to drive and we so appreciate your willingness to do so.
In the meantime, Rafael (our Assistant Head) received an invitation from Microsoft to bring some of our students to the luncheon with Ms. McKellar as well as attend her presentation. Now, because so many of our students will be attending (the entire 5th grade class, for instance) a bus has been ordered and our transportation issues are solved!
Thank you to all those parents who were more than willing to drop everything and take us to this great event. You are still welcome to come with us, but you'll need to ride the bus with the girls (and their teachers) and will only be able to attend the speaking engagement as reservations for the luncheon are limited. This will mean you'll need to wait for about an hour or so before being allowed into the venue.
While it would be wonderful if you could drive your own car and not depend on the bus and its awkward schedule, unfortunately parking is limited and requires a pass all of which had to be obtained earlier.
Complicated? Confused? Yes, we must apologize for all of that, but everything came together so quickly we had to scurry, scurry, scurry to make it all work. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused our families. Hopefully, it all makes sense now...hopefully.
But don't sign off of this blog yet...there are a few more details about Monday's event:
First, it's a luncheon...at Microsoft...with an actress/mathematician therefore the girls will need to dress appropriately. Nothing too fancy, but certainly nothing too casual either.
Secondly, we'll be giving the girls a brief lesson on how to eat when there is more than one set of silverware on the table, but if you want to review Western-influenced table manners that might be a good idea.
Finally, we know that some of the girls have particular food needs so it might behoove you to pack a sack lunch for your daughter that she can eat BEFORE we attend the event to ward off any frustration and hunger in the afternoon.
We're very excited about this presentation and are thankful so many people worked to make it happen. Danica McKellar is not only an actress (as seen on "The Wonder Years" and more recently "West Wing"), but she is also an accomplished mathematician whose new book "Math Doesn't Suck: How to Survive Middle School Math Without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail" is currently Number 5 on the NY Times Bestseller list. Check out her website at www.danicamckellar.com.
Thanks again for being so flexible and willing to "go with the flow" during all of this confusion. We're excited about the opportunity and we're sure the girls will have great stories from the event.
Perhaps we'll have them write a comparison paper titled: What I Learned From Shoveling Horse Poo and My Time with Danica McKellar.
Have a great weekend!
P.S. A special shout out to all the parents who drove and went with us to Peggy's farm on Friday. Another successful field trip that couldn't have happened without all of you!
P.S.S If you have any photos you'd be willing to share with us from Friday's field trip at Peggy's farm, we'd greatly appreciate it. Just email or send a CD with photographs into school.
Ms. GreNini
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Monday, September 24, 2007
ATTENTION!
This week we have TWO, count 'em TWO field trips to three different locations.
First, on Thursday, September 27 we'll be heading out, bright and early, to hop on a city bus to REI -- a local business who practices Stewardship. This will be a two hour presenation after which we'll eat lunch. SO PLEASE, HELP YOUR DAUGHTERS PACK A HEALTHY SACK LUNCH (nothing microwaveable). If the weather is not nice, we'll eat at REI. If it IS nice, we'll hop on another city bus and head to the Seattle Aquarium where we'll eat our lunches on the waterfront before heading into the Aquarium to meet with the employers and see some of the Stewardship that happens there.
We'll be home by 3:30 and if we're late, we'll make certain to call the front desk and let them know...it all depends on the city bus being on time!
On Friday, September 28, we have yet another field trip that will require an EARLY ARRIVAL to school. We'd love for the girls (and the parent drivers) to be here by 8 so we can head out the door ASAP. Traffic heading south/east can be horrific and if we arrive late, we have less time to spend at our destination. Our destination is, of course, Silk Purse Farm where we'll be meeting and working with Peggy Gilmer and her magnificent horses.
We'll spend the day at Peggy's farm doing many activities -- art, mucking stalls, grooming horses, as well as working with them and with Peggy -- so again, plan to help your daughter PACK A SACK LUNCH (nothing microwaveable). In addition, you may want to pack a little extra as the girls tend to get hungry after working so hard.
In addition, the weather for both of these field trips doesn't look too promising. Comfortable, close-toed shoes is a must especially around the horses and layers of clothing as well as a raincoat is vital. It's a miserable job when you're picking horse poo out in a pasture in the pouring down rain =-) or standing on the city street waiting for a bus. Please help them come prepared for any kind of inclement weather.
Finally, that pesky traffic we muddle through in the morning is also the same traffic we muddle through Friday afternoon. While we plan to leave from the farm at 2:30, if we are delayed or traffic is horrible, we'll call the front desk and alert you to any late arrivals.
We're excited about both field trips and we know we'll continue to learn more about Stewardship of the earth as well as of ourselves in all three experiences.
While this is a picture of last year's class at Peggy's farm, we'll have many, many pictures to share in our Class Photos link (on the sidebar) from our own trip on Friday.
If you have any questions, feel free to email or call or come on by...have a great week!
Ms. GreNini
First, on Thursday, September 27 we'll be heading out, bright and early, to hop on a city bus to REI -- a local business who practices Stewardship. This will be a two hour presenation after which we'll eat lunch. SO PLEASE, HELP YOUR DAUGHTERS PACK A HEALTHY SACK LUNCH (nothing microwaveable). If the weather is not nice, we'll eat at REI. If it IS nice, we'll hop on another city bus and head to the Seattle Aquarium where we'll eat our lunches on the waterfront before heading into the Aquarium to meet with the employers and see some of the Stewardship that happens there.
We'll be home by 3:30 and if we're late, we'll make certain to call the front desk and let them know...it all depends on the city bus being on time!
On Friday, September 28, we have yet another field trip that will require an EARLY ARRIVAL to school. We'd love for the girls (and the parent drivers) to be here by 8 so we can head out the door ASAP. Traffic heading south/east can be horrific and if we arrive late, we have less time to spend at our destination. Our destination is, of course, Silk Purse Farm where we'll be meeting and working with Peggy Gilmer and her magnificent horses.
We'll spend the day at Peggy's farm doing many activities -- art, mucking stalls, grooming horses, as well as working with them and with Peggy -- so again, plan to help your daughter PACK A SACK LUNCH (nothing microwaveable). In addition, you may want to pack a little extra as the girls tend to get hungry after working so hard.
In addition, the weather for both of these field trips doesn't look too promising. Comfortable, close-toed shoes is a must especially around the horses and layers of clothing as well as a raincoat is vital. It's a miserable job when you're picking horse poo out in a pasture in the pouring down rain =-) or standing on the city street waiting for a bus. Please help them come prepared for any kind of inclement weather.
Finally, that pesky traffic we muddle through in the morning is also the same traffic we muddle through Friday afternoon. While we plan to leave from the farm at 2:30, if we are delayed or traffic is horrible, we'll call the front desk and alert you to any late arrivals.
We're excited about both field trips and we know we'll continue to learn more about Stewardship of the earth as well as of ourselves in all three experiences.
While this is a picture of last year's class at Peggy's farm, we'll have many, many pictures to share in our Class Photos link (on the sidebar) from our own trip on Friday.
If you have any questions, feel free to email or call or come on by...have a great week!
Ms. GreNini
Friday, September 21, 2007
Naked Chocolate
Our most recent field trips have exposed us to many different topics, but perhaps the most interesting was our trip to Theo Chocolates where we learned about Fair Trade, Organic ingredients, and yes, Naked Chocolate.
The purpose of the field trips is to gain a shared understanding of the concept of Stewardship so on our adventures and in class, we've been talking to (or listening to) different Stewards. We started the endeavor by watching a video on Dr. Jane Goodall and her amazing work with Chimpanzees. While Dr. Goodall has spent most of her life in Kenya, she left her beloved chimps to actively become a steward, traveling around the world educating children on how they can make a difference in the world through her foundation and her Roots and Shoots organization.
Next, we travelled to our own Carkeek Park where we met with many of the employees to learn about the purpose of the park, its history, and how their work is an example of daily stewardship of our local environments.
Our final stop was to the acclaimed Theo Chocolates in Fremont, the only Fair Trade organic chocolate factory in the country. There we learned what Fair Trade means, how chocolate is made, we actually watched it get made, and again, talked about how a business can also be an example of Stewardship.
We ended the week analyzing our "data" and collating our interviews creating a list of words that bring to mind the kind of Stewardship we've been studying. "Compassion" and "Responsibility" and "Commitment" were just some of the concepts the students generated, but our scientific work is not yet done.
Next, we travel to REI, another local business, and then to the Seattle Aquarium (next Thursday, September 27) followed by a trip to Peggy Gilmer's Silk Purse Farm to learn about Stewardship of the self in relationship to others. Our last Stewardship trip will be to the Woodland Park Zoo after which we'll create a working definition that we will use for the rest of the year.
Every year it takes us awhile to really get to know our girls and to define the personality of our class, but this year it hasn't taken us too long. Yesterday, Belinda Chin of Carkeek Park told us that our girls were bright and unafraid and Nicole at Theo Chocolates said we were the most amazing school group they've ever had on a tour. We, too, have noticed how bold and outspoken our students are and are so excited about the upcoming year -- how we can take that energy and bravery and willingness to speak up and use it to empower ourselves, each other, and the world around us.
Oh, and about the "naked chocolate"...this is simply chocolate without any additives. They girls tasted it, but few were impressed. "It tastes like chalk," one student exclaimed. Still the term, "naked chocolate" was too hard to resist as a title!
Have a great weekend,
Ms. GreNini
The purpose of the field trips is to gain a shared understanding of the concept of Stewardship so on our adventures and in class, we've been talking to (or listening to) different Stewards. We started the endeavor by watching a video on Dr. Jane Goodall and her amazing work with Chimpanzees. While Dr. Goodall has spent most of her life in Kenya, she left her beloved chimps to actively become a steward, traveling around the world educating children on how they can make a difference in the world through her foundation and her Roots and Shoots organization.
Next, we travelled to our own Carkeek Park where we met with many of the employees to learn about the purpose of the park, its history, and how their work is an example of daily stewardship of our local environments.
Our final stop was to the acclaimed Theo Chocolates in Fremont, the only Fair Trade organic chocolate factory in the country. There we learned what Fair Trade means, how chocolate is made, we actually watched it get made, and again, talked about how a business can also be an example of Stewardship.
We ended the week analyzing our "data" and collating our interviews creating a list of words that bring to mind the kind of Stewardship we've been studying. "Compassion" and "Responsibility" and "Commitment" were just some of the concepts the students generated, but our scientific work is not yet done.
Next, we travel to REI, another local business, and then to the Seattle Aquarium (next Thursday, September 27) followed by a trip to Peggy Gilmer's Silk Purse Farm to learn about Stewardship of the self in relationship to others. Our last Stewardship trip will be to the Woodland Park Zoo after which we'll create a working definition that we will use for the rest of the year.
Every year it takes us awhile to really get to know our girls and to define the personality of our class, but this year it hasn't taken us too long. Yesterday, Belinda Chin of Carkeek Park told us that our girls were bright and unafraid and Nicole at Theo Chocolates said we were the most amazing school group they've ever had on a tour. We, too, have noticed how bold and outspoken our students are and are so excited about the upcoming year -- how we can take that energy and bravery and willingness to speak up and use it to empower ourselves, each other, and the world around us.
Oh, and about the "naked chocolate"...this is simply chocolate without any additives. They girls tasted it, but few were impressed. "It tastes like chalk," one student exclaimed. Still the term, "naked chocolate" was too hard to resist as a title!
Have a great weekend,
Ms. GreNini
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Ms. GreNini ...by Gre...
This morning I was asked if I wanted to run the Community Meeting in Marja's absence. I agreed because I had an observation I wanted to share with our community, one I didn't realize I needed to share until my recent experiences these past few weeks.
I began the community meeting this way --
A number of years ago I was roped into going to the Puyallup Fair by a number of friends. Fairs aren't my thing. I don't like large crowds and I don't even like looking at carnival rides let alone getting on one, but these were good friends and they convinced me we'd spend the bulk of our time in the barns petting goats and cows and bunnies. That was something I enjoyed.
Little did they know the day would be unbearably hot. Sweltering hot and so I found myself not in the barn at all, but in a long line of customers waiting to purchase an ice-cold hand-squeezed lemonade. In front of me in this extremely long queue was a boy about 7 years old. He clutched his $5 bill in a sweaty hand and looked as if he would melt away any second. We both were craving something cool and icy, sour and refreshing.
Eventually we go to the front of the line and when the clerk looked up, she didn't see him, she saw me and asked, "May I help you, ma'am?"
The boy whirled around as fast as he could and gave me a look that was both pathetic and pained, as if to say, "How dare you!"
I spoke up immediately. "No, he was first," I said to the clerk and pointed down to the boy tight-fisted in front of me.
"Oh," said the shocked clerk, "I didn't see him."
This is one example (and I have a million more) of privilege. I was an adult and I am tall so I tend to be seen in a crowd since I take up so much space. The boy, on the other hand, was just that -- a boy, young and short and in our culture, easily overlooked or invisible.
Recently at SGS, I've noticed a similar overlooking or "not seeing" and it's disturbed me.
When we decided to hire Ms. Nini as my new teaching partner, I was thrilled for many reasons. One, Ms. Nini is an amazing teacher who cares and is concerned about each and every one of her students and their learning. Another reason was because she was young and had fresh ideas to liven up this old nag (me) who'd been teaching for a long, long time. Next, and yes, this was extremely important to me, she had a sense of humor and anyone who's been in this profession for any length of time knows that without a sense of humor you don't last long.
Finally, and even more importantly, Ms. Nini was a teacher of color and I knew this was not only enriching and valuable in my own life and learning, but was extraordinarily important for our students, our families, and our students.
When we first started working together, Ms. Nini and I decided to talk about what we would like to be called by our students. I have always been called Gretchen, but Ms. Nini felt that she needed to "claim her space" a bit more and garner a bit more respect since she was young (as well as shorter than me). I agreed and thought nothing more about it until the students arrived and all of the sudden being called simply Gretchen afforded me more respect and familiarity than it did for Ms. Nini to be called Ms. Nini.
So we regrouped and decided I would be called Ms. Gretchen, not because I needed more respect, but because we wanted the girls to see that Ms. Nini and I were on equal footing.
But even deeper than that was the underlying notion that I was granted more privilege not just because I was on a first name basis with my students, but also because I was taller, older, more experienced both in teaching and at SGS, and yes, I was white. We wanted to address that privilege and the way we did it was to use similar names.
Today I told the students in Community Meeting that by calling me Ms. Gretchen, they were doing some very important work. First, they were seeing Ms. Nini and claiming a space in our community for her and not forcing her to have to claim it herself. Secondly, they were no longer (and rather unintentionally) making her invisible (as the clerk had done with the boy at the Fair). They were seeing her and most importantly, they were seeing her as an equal to me, as valuable to their education as I was.
This, I told them, is the important work of those with privilege -- we must do the seeing and not force those we have not seen to have to jump up and down to be heard or seen or treated with the same respect and fairness with which we treat certain other groups in our society.
By calling me Ms. Gretchen they were showing their respect for Ms. Nini.
As my students now know, I do not like public speaking. Still, there are things we must do that make us uncomfortable in life and today's Community Meeting made me very uncomfortable, but I felt like I had to say it. Later that day, Ms. Nini came up to me and whispered, "More girls have said hello to me than any other day."
That made me smile and I'm glad the message was heard and I'm thankful the boy at the fair in front of me gave me that look -- "Hey wait a minute! What about me?" He taught me a lot, yet still there is a lot left to learn.
I began the community meeting this way --
A number of years ago I was roped into going to the Puyallup Fair by a number of friends. Fairs aren't my thing. I don't like large crowds and I don't even like looking at carnival rides let alone getting on one, but these were good friends and they convinced me we'd spend the bulk of our time in the barns petting goats and cows and bunnies. That was something I enjoyed.
Little did they know the day would be unbearably hot. Sweltering hot and so I found myself not in the barn at all, but in a long line of customers waiting to purchase an ice-cold hand-squeezed lemonade. In front of me in this extremely long queue was a boy about 7 years old. He clutched his $5 bill in a sweaty hand and looked as if he would melt away any second. We both were craving something cool and icy, sour and refreshing.
Eventually we go to the front of the line and when the clerk looked up, she didn't see him, she saw me and asked, "May I help you, ma'am?"
The boy whirled around as fast as he could and gave me a look that was both pathetic and pained, as if to say, "How dare you!"
I spoke up immediately. "No, he was first," I said to the clerk and pointed down to the boy tight-fisted in front of me.
"Oh," said the shocked clerk, "I didn't see him."
This is one example (and I have a million more) of privilege. I was an adult and I am tall so I tend to be seen in a crowd since I take up so much space. The boy, on the other hand, was just that -- a boy, young and short and in our culture, easily overlooked or invisible.
Recently at SGS, I've noticed a similar overlooking or "not seeing" and it's disturbed me.
When we decided to hire Ms. Nini as my new teaching partner, I was thrilled for many reasons. One, Ms. Nini is an amazing teacher who cares and is concerned about each and every one of her students and their learning. Another reason was because she was young and had fresh ideas to liven up this old nag (me) who'd been teaching for a long, long time. Next, and yes, this was extremely important to me, she had a sense of humor and anyone who's been in this profession for any length of time knows that without a sense of humor you don't last long.
Finally, and even more importantly, Ms. Nini was a teacher of color and I knew this was not only enriching and valuable in my own life and learning, but was extraordinarily important for our students, our families, and our students.
When we first started working together, Ms. Nini and I decided to talk about what we would like to be called by our students. I have always been called Gretchen, but Ms. Nini felt that she needed to "claim her space" a bit more and garner a bit more respect since she was young (as well as shorter than me). I agreed and thought nothing more about it until the students arrived and all of the sudden being called simply Gretchen afforded me more respect and familiarity than it did for Ms. Nini to be called Ms. Nini.
So we regrouped and decided I would be called Ms. Gretchen, not because I needed more respect, but because we wanted the girls to see that Ms. Nini and I were on equal footing.
But even deeper than that was the underlying notion that I was granted more privilege not just because I was on a first name basis with my students, but also because I was taller, older, more experienced both in teaching and at SGS, and yes, I was white. We wanted to address that privilege and the way we did it was to use similar names.
Today I told the students in Community Meeting that by calling me Ms. Gretchen, they were doing some very important work. First, they were seeing Ms. Nini and claiming a space in our community for her and not forcing her to have to claim it herself. Secondly, they were no longer (and rather unintentionally) making her invisible (as the clerk had done with the boy at the Fair). They were seeing her and most importantly, they were seeing her as an equal to me, as valuable to their education as I was.
This, I told them, is the important work of those with privilege -- we must do the seeing and not force those we have not seen to have to jump up and down to be heard or seen or treated with the same respect and fairness with which we treat certain other groups in our society.
By calling me Ms. Gretchen they were showing their respect for Ms. Nini.
As my students now know, I do not like public speaking. Still, there are things we must do that make us uncomfortable in life and today's Community Meeting made me very uncomfortable, but I felt like I had to say it. Later that day, Ms. Nini came up to me and whispered, "More girls have said hello to me than any other day."
That made me smile and I'm glad the message was heard and I'm thankful the boy at the fair in front of me gave me that look -- "Hey wait a minute! What about me?" He taught me a lot, yet still there is a lot left to learn.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Thanks for Coming!
Thanks to all of those who took time from their busy schedules and lives to attend our Curriculum Night last night. We had a great time sharing with you our exciting curriculum. We know that it might still be a bit confusing (it's difficult to pare down 9 months of education into 90 minutes), but if you have any questions or concerns, please free to contact us.
We're thrilled to be working, yet again, with a wonderful group of girls. Their energy and humor has started the year off on the right foot and we look forward to helping and watching them grow throughout the year.
We've added two new features under "Helpful Links" -- a page that lists out for you our upcoming field trips and another for recent photographs. These field trips are also listed on your daughter's calendars, which should be in their binders. Next week we'll be organizing the binders into sections so it will be easier to find homework, assignments, and calendars. We apologize the for the delay in this, but there is so much for us to introduce them to that organization has yet to be addressed. But have no fear...it will be addressed.
Again, we appreciate your attendance last night and all of your thoughtful questions. We look forward to getting to know each of you better and are thankful we have such supportive families and amazing students.
Have a great weekend!
Ms. GreNini
We're thrilled to be working, yet again, with a wonderful group of girls. Their energy and humor has started the year off on the right foot and we look forward to helping and watching them grow throughout the year.
We've added two new features under "Helpful Links" -- a page that lists out for you our upcoming field trips and another for recent photographs. These field trips are also listed on your daughter's calendars, which should be in their binders. Next week we'll be organizing the binders into sections so it will be easier to find homework, assignments, and calendars. We apologize the for the delay in this, but there is so much for us to introduce them to that organization has yet to be addressed. But have no fear...it will be addressed.
Again, we appreciate your attendance last night and all of your thoughtful questions. We look forward to getting to know each of you better and are thankful we have such supportive families and amazing students.
Have a great weekend!
Ms. GreNini
Sunday, September 9, 2007
3 Days of Creativity, Chaos, and Challenges
Student: This is hard!
Teacher: Yep, that's why they call it work!
Student: But we were having so much fun, why do we have to do work?
Teacher: Because our job is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.
Student: What?
If teachers were to record the conversations from the beginning days of school in September we'd never have to record them again...we could just hit replay at the beginning of every school. It's amazing the our students are surprised that work can be followed by fun and that fun can again be followed by work. It's amazing that after four years of schooling they haven't seen a pattern yet in their lives that school is at times excitingly fun and at other times unbearable work.
Much like life, yes?
As we wrap up our first week of school (albeit only 3 days) the familiar refrains are reverberating through our classroom. Some students LOVE art while others feel frustrated and chant the "I can't" mantra over and over.
Teacher: No "I can'ts." Instead try, "I'm experiencing techinical difficulties."
Student: Technical whats?
Some students LOVE to write, their pens fly like hummingbirds across their page and they race to show us their thoughts or ideas or finished poems. For other students, writing is like pulling teeth. In fact, they'd rather sit in a dentist chair than face a blank page on their desks.
Student: This is all I can think of.
Teacher: Good start, but let's try to expand on this idea. What's an elephant look like when he's tired?
Student: I don't know.
Teacher: Sure you do. Close your eyes and picture a tired elephant. What does his head look like?
Student: It's down.
Teacher: Great! So what's another way to describe "down"?
Student: Like hanging down?
Teacher: Brilliant!
Blood often comes easier from a turnip, but still, these are the conversations we have hour after hour, day after day until one day (and that day WILL come) the students say, "Oh, I get it...it's like this!" And we get to say, "I knew you could do it!"
Comforting the afflicted; afflicting the comfortable. That's why they call it work!
Teacher: Yep, that's why they call it work!
Student: But we were having so much fun, why do we have to do work?
Teacher: Because our job is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.
Student: What?
If teachers were to record the conversations from the beginning days of school in September we'd never have to record them again...we could just hit replay at the beginning of every school. It's amazing the our students are surprised that work can be followed by fun and that fun can again be followed by work. It's amazing that after four years of schooling they haven't seen a pattern yet in their lives that school is at times excitingly fun and at other times unbearable work.
Much like life, yes?
As we wrap up our first week of school (albeit only 3 days) the familiar refrains are reverberating through our classroom. Some students LOVE art while others feel frustrated and chant the "I can't" mantra over and over.
Teacher: No "I can'ts." Instead try, "I'm experiencing techinical difficulties."
Student: Technical whats?
Some students LOVE to write, their pens fly like hummingbirds across their page and they race to show us their thoughts or ideas or finished poems. For other students, writing is like pulling teeth. In fact, they'd rather sit in a dentist chair than face a blank page on their desks.
Student: This is all I can think of.
Teacher: Good start, but let's try to expand on this idea. What's an elephant look like when he's tired?
Student: I don't know.
Teacher: Sure you do. Close your eyes and picture a tired elephant. What does his head look like?
Student: It's down.
Teacher: Great! So what's another way to describe "down"?
Student: Like hanging down?
Teacher: Brilliant!
Blood often comes easier from a turnip, but still, these are the conversations we have hour after hour, day after day until one day (and that day WILL come) the students say, "Oh, I get it...it's like this!" And we get to say, "I knew you could do it!"
Comforting the afflicted; afflicting the comfortable. That's why they call it work!
Friday, September 7, 2007
A Few Reminders
Week One is almost done...whew!
In addition you'll find this important Reminders:
1) On Monday, Sept. 10 we'll be taking a hike/walk to Mt. Baker Beach. We'd like to eat lunch a bit early, which means that, yet again, we need the girls to bring a non-microwaveable lunch.
2) If you haven’t done so, please sign and turn in your daughter’s gym waiver.
3) Picture Day is Tuesday, Sept. 18 and picture packets went home on the first day of school. If you want pictures, please fill out the form and have your daughter’s turn it in at the front desk.
4) Next week we’ll officially begin Health and Fitness Classes. It’s important that your daughter’s have gym shoes. We have a place to store them, but if you want to just have your daughter wear them on those days, HF will be on Tuesdays and Fridays.
That’s it for now! Hope to see you all this afternoon at 4 for the girls’ performance and then later at the CAP picnic at Powell-Burnett Park at 5.
GreNini
In addition you'll find this important Reminders:
1) On Monday, Sept. 10 we'll be taking a hike/walk to Mt. Baker Beach. We'd like to eat lunch a bit early, which means that, yet again, we need the girls to bring a non-microwaveable lunch.
2) If you haven’t done so, please sign and turn in your daughter’s gym waiver.
3) Picture Day is Tuesday, Sept. 18 and picture packets went home on the first day of school. If you want pictures, please fill out the form and have your daughter’s turn it in at the front desk.
4) Next week we’ll officially begin Health and Fitness Classes. It’s important that your daughter’s have gym shoes. We have a place to store them, but if you want to just have your daughter wear them on those days, HF will be on Tuesdays and Fridays.
That’s it for now! Hope to see you all this afternoon at 4 for the girls’ performance and then later at the CAP picnic at Powell-Burnett Park at 5.
GreNini
Thursday, September 6, 2007
One Done...Lots More to Go!
Well, we're exhausted...how about you? And that was just day one...imagine how tired we'll be in June? But we're having so much fun now, we may never even notice how tired we are.
Yesterday was a time to get to know each other, getting to know the school, and as you can see from the photograph, getting to know ourselves in a whole different way. The students not only worked with us, Ms. Nini and Ms. Gretchen, but also with our illustrious art teacher, Ms. Trina. The girls are making masks as representations of the Animal That Lives Within each of them. We laid down the base layer of the mask yesterday and today we're researching the qualities that animal has and how they connect with who we are as people.
It's not as easy as it sounds. Often we feel an affinity to an animal, but only because we like it, but really the animal doesn't match our personality. So, who are we? What qualities do we possess and what animals in the natural world might best represent those qualities.
Once the research is done, we'll go back to working on the masks and turning the basic shape into a "spirit animal" or the animal that truly represents our inner spirit.
Meanwhile, though, it's time to make a mess, be creative, and really get to know each other!
What a great group of girls!
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Tomorrow!
Well, we woke up to rain today, which is a sign that perhaps summer IS officially over and school should begin. We hope you had a great Labor Day Weekend and are all ready to begin the work of the upcoming school year. We're here putting the last pieces together and feeling the giggle of excitement in our stomachs. We hope you are, too!
Please check the link on the right. Book-It Theater is a local organization that puts on amazing performances. Check out this year's schedule. It's great family fun.
See you soon!
GreNini
Please check the link on the right. Book-It Theater is a local organization that puts on amazing performances. Check out this year's schedule. It's great family fun.
See you soon!
GreNini
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