Clay Creations and Festive Fun

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This week was a whirlwind of fun and learning as we wrapped up projects before winter break. First, we were delighted to get our clay creations back from the kiln. We applauded as each artist shared their creation with the class. Thank you, Ms. Casey, the leading this phenomenal project! This week we also created top secret holiday gifts for our families. We wrote cards and decorated gift bags for our family gifts. On Wednesday we worked in small groups to read and follow a recipe for sweet bread in preparation for Thursday’s Bread Celebration. Thursday morning Ms. Libby came in to share about a tradition in the UK called Christmas crackers. This tradition involves opening a “cracker”, which makes a noise and then reveals a joke/riddle and small gift. Ms. Libby helped students write jokes and riddles for their own Christmas crackers. We decided to save our Christmas crackers to enjoy during our afternoon bread celebration. For the bread celebration we lit candles, read a Gingerbread story, and enjoyed opening our Christmas crackers before sampling several types of bread. A huge thank you to Libby for the fun project and for donating the extra loaves of bread for us to sample. We got to try sweet bread, brioche, marzipan, focaccia, and banana nut bread. Yum! This afternoon Ms. Robin came in to teach her next elements of design art lesson. We reviewed the primary and secondary colors. We learned about a color wheel and complementary colors. This week we also learned two new spelling patterns, wrapped up our Chapter 3 math modules, and finished our informative writing unit. Students have been enjoying learning materials gifted by ELC families this week. We learned how to play a game called Mountain Raiders and have been loving our life cycle puzzles and models. We also enjoyed hearing some Flat Stanley updates, including a presentation from Claire and Juliette about some behind the scenes adventures. Tomorrow we are looking forward to a cozy pajama day before we depart for winter break.

Salmon Release and Clay Pot Glazing

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This week we said goodbye to the salmon we had been raising over the last couple of months. Students carefully and gently released their salmon fry into the Tualatin river where they will begin their journey toward the Pacific Ocean. After releasing our salmon, students gathered in a circle to share goodbye letters they wrote to our salmon. The letters shared fond memories of raising the salmon and hopes and wishes for the journey ahead. We sure will miss having 200 salmon flitting around our fish tank!

Earlier this week Ms. Casey came in to help us glaze our coil clay pots. After another round in the kiln, our masterpieces should be ready to take home. We can’t wait!

Clay Project and Music Performance

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It’s been an exciting and busy two weeks in our classroom! We’ve been learning, creating, and exploring, both inside and outside. Here’s a peek at what we’ve been up to…

Exploring Nature
We discovered a playful squirrel and some fascinating fungi in our outdoor classroom. The students enjoyed observing, asking questions, and making connections.

Special Visitors

  • Asayo’s Family: Asayo’s mom and grandparents came in to teach us about clay. They led a hands-on project where students created beautiful clay coil pots. The creativity in the room was incredible!

  • Dean Andy’s Visit: Dean Andy shared highlights from his trip to Washington, D.C., and taught us about the three branches of government. The students loved learning about how laws are made and asking questions about his experiences.

  • Ms. Linda’s Craft Project: Ms. Linda helped us make pillows! Students practiced their fine motor skills by tying knots to secure the stuffing inside. This was a fun and rewarding project.

  • Alumni Day: Former students returned to lend a hand with reading, math, and art projects. It was wonderful for the class to connect with older role models and share their learning.

Flat Stanley Updates
Our Flat Stanley project is in full swing! We received updates from Tokyo, Washington, D.C., Chicago, New York, and the UK. To add a sweet touch, we sampled unique Kit Kat flavors from Tokyo, sparking conversations about international traditions and flavors. Be sure to visit our Flat Stanley page for more photos and information.

Wrapping Up November
The students completed our November calendar, reflecting on everything we’ve accomplished and all the fun events we enjoyed this month.

Math Fun
We’ve been practicing our math skills by playing games like “Knock Out” and a new favorite, “Zeus on the Loose.” These games are not only fun but also help strengthen mental math and strategic thinking abilities.

Music and Performance
We had our final music session with Ms. McKenzie for the calendar year and ended with an informal performance for parents. The students showed off their rhythm and teamwork, and it was a heartwarming way to celebrate their progress.

Stone Soup and Library Trip

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This week we got to celebrate Razah’s birthday and we enjoyed our second weekly popcorn stand. Students used their knowledge of coin values to pay for their popcorn. Each week the popcorn prices change as students gain practice counting money. This week students were excited to discover that our salmon are becoming increasingly active! They have been darting and flitting around the tank each morning. We noticed that when the water temperature is warmer, the fish are more active.  We continue to use place value blocks to keep track of the temperature units (TUs). As of Friday, our TUs were at 1253 and we plan to release the fish around 1600TUs. Depending on the temperature of the water, the daily TU value fluctuates a little, but is somewhere around 20 TUs each day. This week in writer’s workshop students were working on individual essays about Oregon. Learning how to structure an essay is new for most students. When students finished their essays, they had time to work on writing pieces of their choice. Together we brainstormed a list of different types of writing that students enjoy. Students chose to write grocery lists, recipes, letters to family members,  stories, diagrams, and warm fuzzies to classmates. This week we read five different versions of Stone Soup including Cactus Soup, Quill Soup, Bone Button Borscht, and two versions simply titled Stone Soup. We compared and contrasted the different versions and discussed our favorites. On Friday students in each classroom worked together to chop vegetables and prepare cheese and fruit for our Stone Soup Celebration. Our soup turned out delicious. Even better was getting to spend time together as an ELC community! For the last several weeks, Ms. Linda has been volunteering her time on Thursday afternoons to help students sew individual book bags using a sewing machine. Last Thursday our final student finished sewing his bag and so the class was ready for a trip to the library! On Friday afternoon we took our first walking field trip to the Forest Grove library. Students each selected book to check out for the week and used their book bag to keep their book safe and dry on the way back to school. This week we also received Flat Stanley updates from our Flat Stanleys in Uganda, United Kingdom, and Japan. You can read the updates on our Flat Stanley blog.

Elements of Design with Ms. Robin

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This week we were hard at work on our salmon mural. Our scientists and artists created detailed sharpie line drawings of three salmon life cycle stages: egg, alevin, and fry. Together artists created a river background complete with cool, fresh water and a speckled gravel redd (nest). We are waiting for three absent students to add their contributions before we post a photo of the mural. This week we mailed our Flat Stanleys around the world to 21 different locations! We already heard back from Flat Aaron Big Bob Beatty in Uganda. We learned about the wild Kampala traffic jams where people can get stuck for hours, just trying to go a few miles. They call this “The Jam”. Several people in Kampala, Uganda use motorcycles or Boda Bodas to get around. We can’t wait to receive updates from the rest of our Flat Stanleys in the coming weeks! In writer’s workshop this week we started a unit on informational writing. We learned how to use the TIDE acronym to plan our essays. TIDE stands for topic, important ideas, details, and ending sentence. We created a shared essay about why Oregon is a great state using ideas that were collected from our Flat Stanleys exploring Oregon last month. Next week students will create their own essays using the TIDE acronym as a way to organize their notes. As usual, one of our highlights this week was music making with Ms. McKenzie. This morning Emersyn did a fantastic job representing the Otter classroom during our Friday Summit. She shared about how the Otters have a weekly popcorn stand on Tuesdays to practice counting money and making change. This afternoon Roman’s grandma, Ms. Robin, came in to led us in an art lesson about the elements of design. Ms. Robin is a retired first and second grade teacher who is passionate about art. We discussed the true primary colors: magenta, yellow, and cyan. Then students used only those colors to create many beautiful colors in our imaginary “paint factory”. We will use all this beautiful painted paper in upcoming art lessons with Ms. Robin.