Newsletter for October 17, 2011
October 2011
Wednesday, October 19th, 11:30-3pm 2nd FINLEY FIELD STUDY DAY, 1-3grades
Wednesday October 19th FRENCH LUNCH TABLE
Thursday October 20th at 7:30pm ICP BOARD MEETING
Friday, October 21st FRENCH LUNCH TABLE
Friday, October 21st SCHOOL PHOTO PAYMENT DEADLINE
Friday, October 21st BOOKMOBILE
Monday October 24th RM 2 TRIP TO THE MUDDY CREEK MAZE
Wednesday- Friday, October 26-28th NO SCHOOL
November 2011
Wednesday, November 2nd at 8:30am PTO MEETING
Thursday, November 3rd at 3-4:05pm SCRATCH CLUB STARTS AGAIN!
Friday, November 4th at 6-8pm GIVING THANKS HARVEST FESTIVAL
HAPPENINGS
ALERTS
VOLUNTEER
We need a volunteer to mow our RESTORE area on Wednesday, October 19th, 2011. Contact Dan Hays at admin.mccs@gmail.com if you’re interested.
CODE OF CONDUCT
Each family is asked to please be sure to turn in a signed copy of the Code of Conduct. It was previously emailed out to all families in late September. If anyone needs a copy or a second email, please email betty.nickerson@muddycreekcharterschool.org.
CONFERENCES
October 26, 27, and 28
Teachers are working on gathering information for the upcoming conference period – October 26, 27, and 28. They will pull that information together for the conference with you and possibly your child (each teacher will let you know if they would like you to include your child in the conference).
This conference should include setting goals for the year. Each teacher will handle their conferences in the way that works best for them, but I encourage you as parents to have goals for what you want for your child this year. If we do our job the way it should be done, you should come away from this conference knowing how well your child has started the year and what to expect in the way of curriculum that is to be covered. The teacher should come away from this conference knowing what is important to you for your child during this year.
Teachers will in a general sense prepare for conferences on Wednesday October 26th, and hold conferences mostly on the 27th with some happening on the 28th. There are always special circumstances that require teachers to meet special needs holding conferences at different times between now and then. I always hope that teachers will get some of the 28th for planning and curriculum discussions with each other.
ROOM 1 NEWS
The students have been asking for some time in our ever-growing library, so Room 1 will be starting their library hours this week.
-Miss Bridget
ROOM 2 NEWS
Finley Expedition
Wednesday October 19th
We will be doing field sketching with Diana, our guest artist from the Corvallis Arts Center. We will look for birds in the Cabell Marsh and learn about plants along the Homer Campbell riparian trail. A photographer for the OSU Extension Service is interested in taking photographs of our students as part of a project to train naturalist volunteers for the new Extension Service Master Naturalist program. Please sign the photo release as part of the trip permission slips.
The partnership with Corvallis Arts Center has been keeping us busy. Last week, we learned about figure drawing in our special Realistic Drawing class. We are excited that we have two more weeks working with Diana on drawing in this special residency. We are also thinking about how we can build costumes of the insects we are studying. This week, Ms. Gina is going to help us sculpt and paper Mache our insects. Many of these will be mounted on hats as masks. If you have any old bike helmets or child-sized play hard hats that you can donate to the project, they would be very useful. We also need paper towel tubes, toilet paper tubes, and brown paper grocery bags for this project. Please send them if you have any.
Pumpkin Patch-Maze Expedition
Monday October 24th
By popular request, I have scheduled a trip to the Muddy Creek Maze pumpkin patch on the afternoon of Monday, October 24. Visiting this local farm is a fun way to celebrate the change of season and support a local business.
– Ms. Gorman
ROOM 4 NEWS
BUCHANON FARM TRIP
At this farm we heard some weird bird sounds, which we later found out were actually recorded sounds from trapped (and released) birds which gave out distress calls during their captivity. These recordings were placed in bird decoys and are meant, in bird language, to say “I’m trapped, don’t come near”. This is done to protect the farm’s crops.
We saw some giant machines whose purpose we tried to guess, were they chippers? Mr. Day says these machines, which had a conveyor belt leading into a box, are attached to a truck and taken to the Hazelnut trees, where they pick up the nuts on the ground. At one point during the trip, we took a wrong turn and needed the help of a GPS.J Many of the students in the class noticed the darkness under the trees and thought it was cool, and we made up Halloween stories.
Mr. Day showed us a birdhouse on a pole and told us that Starlings take over other bird’s nests, so the birdhouses are a refuge for those displaced birds. On another rough path called Beaver Loop Trail, we saw lichen on trees called Goat’s Beard. They were very large. In lichens, large is good because that means the air quality is high. We saw lots of creatures (moths, spiders, snakes and slugs).
SCHMEDDINGS FARM TRIP
Last year we went many times to this farm and planted a lot of plants. So, we need to go back several times this year and see their progress and work on some maintenance. One student was assigned to be the inventory person and they kept track of which plants were found to have survived, which types they were, etc. The student’s separated into groups which were brought to Beaver Creek, which was ½ a boot height deep. Here, each student put a log and a bamboo stick with their name on it to later see which logs the beavers will take. One student found beaver markings on a stick.
HOT LUNCH PROGRAM
We would like families to tell the office if they would be interested. If there does seem to be interest, we are looking at a trial period for the program that will probably be during the first two weeks in November.
MOVIN’ MUSKRATS
We had several track & field stars this week! A round of applause goes to these three Muskrats: Atira Fairbanks(3rd), Josie Neely(2nd) and Ella Hinton(1st) all made the 5mile mark. Way to move it Muskrats! We’ve had just a few weeks of running on our new track and the Muskrats are doing great out there. It’s never too late to join us on Thursdays at lunch recess!
PTO
Yahoo Group
We have a yahoo group specifically for the Muddy Creek PTO. This is a listserv that allows us to post information, have discussions and store documents. Send an email to sign up to muddycreek_pto-subscribe@yahoogroups.com . You will receive a message to confirm your request. You can visit our group website at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/muddycreek_pto/
GIVING THANKS HARVEST FESTIVAL
Friday, November 4th, 6-8pm
Please come to our annual festival in which we will have a potluck, a pie auction, a cake walk and other activities for the kids, live music and dancing. This is a community event, so if you know of members of the community that have an interest in MCCS, please invite them as well as your extended family members. We need volunteers for setup, cleanup and to help with the auction.
SCRATCH CLUB IS BACK
Great News!!! The popular Scratch Club will be starting up again on Thursday November 3rd right after school ends for the day. We will meet every other week after that through November and December, at least. Be there to learn some easy animation programming on the computer which can be used to make comics, or games, or…? Please contact Kelly at ksbirish@yahoo.com for more information.
BASKETBALL
There is a rumor going around that there would be some interest in getting together to play some basketball, just shooting around and learning some skills after school or on the weekend. If your family has some interest in this, please contact the office? or Kelly at ksbirish@yahoo.com.
STICK WEAVING SCULPTURE
Tuesday, Oct. 18 at 5:30 p.m.
Weaving art, humanities, and science: An evening with artist Patrick Dougherty together with Tom Kaye, Executive Director of the Institute for Applied Ecology, and Margaret Mathewson, OSU Anthropology. Tuesday, Oct. 18 at 5:30 p.m. at the LaSells Stewart Center. A public reception will follow.
Visit OSU’s People’s Park (just west of Gilkey Hall) to see Dougherty’s latest installation. All our young, future stick sculptors should see to what heights their creativity can bring them.