Muskrat News

Events for the week of May 17:

Tuesday, May 18                                   Grades 1-5 Expedition to fossil site in Lebanon (repeat visit)

Wednesday, May 19                              Restore Day

Thursday, May 20                                  ICP Board Meeting, 7 pm

Friday, May 21                                                   Finley NWR Expedition 1, Grades 1-3, Noon – 2:30 pm

Upcoming events:

Thursday, May 27                                  Finley NWR Expedition 2, Grades 1-3, 11:45 am – 2:45 pm

Monday, May 31                                   Memorial Day, No School

Wednesday, June 2                               Finley NWR Expedition 3, Grades 1-3, 11:45 am – 2:45 pm

From our Executive Director:

Attached to this week’s newsletter is a survey of student and parent views of our school.  Please complete and return to the MCCS office by June 1, 2010.

There are some changes I have in mind to make our school a stronger more effective school.  However, it would be far better for me to know how parents and students feel about all aspects of the school.  I need to know what is valued, and what causes concern.  This survey will help guide me on how I can best make Muddy Creek Charter School more effective for our families.

~Dan

Restore Day. MCCS is having our last restore day for the year on Wednesday, May 19.  We have three different activities planned.  The first activity is on pollinators, another is habitat drawings, and our third activity is the creation of a wood chip path leading out of the restore area toward the greenhouse.  If any parents would like to join us, the additional hands would be welcome.  Also, we are looking for rakes & buckets (for hauling wood chips) that the students could borrow.  If you are willing to lend us either of those, please make sure they are labeled and sent in on Tuesday.

If you haven’t had a chance to check out the restore area lately, you’re missin’ out.  Trees are leafing out, flowers are blooming, and plants are growing.  Come take a look.  Just be careful where you step – many of our plants are still quite small.

5th Grade Digital Stories Tech Days. 5th Grade Families – if you haven’t RSVPed yet, please email or call Kriste York (kriste.york@gmail.com or 541-908-0913) and let her know when you and your 5th grader will attend, whether you prefer to use a mac or a pc, and if you have any questions.

Please RSVP for one of the following days. All will be 9-4ish.
– Saturday, May 22
– Sunday, May 23
– Saturday, May 29

Check out the digital stories made by last year’s graduating class:  http://room4.muddycreekcharterschool.org/Room_4/5th_Grade_Stories/5th_Grade_Stories.html

Room 2 News. For social studies, our class has been thinking about playground safety and wanted to take some leadership in helping the whole school understand what is safe on the playground equipment.  They first identified three principles of good leadership: 1) Fun and kind, 2) Shows what to do (or tells in a nice way), 3) Asks everyone what they think.  Teams in the classroom are adopting each piece of large equipment (swings, play structure, etc.) and asking the entire school at lunch for their ideas about safety for that piece of equipment.  We are trying to use all of the steps that you would use to solve any social problem: 1) Identify the problem, 2) Gather information, 3) Examine different perspectives, and 4) Identify a solution.

Room 2 has enthusiastically embraced the food drive for animals and agreed to take responsibility for publicity.  Our first step was to give the effort a catchy name.  The children voted on the Chiltimini Wildlife Help Drive.  We are making posters around the school to encourage people to contribute.

Grant from the Gray Family Fund to Support Outdoor and Place-based Education. You might notice that unlike other schools, our students often return multiple times to the same expedition site.  We have been generously funded for buses and field equipment by a grant from the Gray Family Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation.  Often, if only one visit to a site is made, students are so overwhelmed with the novelty of the experience that their ability to focus on investigation is limited.  With repeat visits, students have an opportunity to understand a field site with greater depth and carry out more complex investigations.  Our visits this month to Peterson Butte fossil pit and Finley National Wildlife Refuge are supported by this grant.  Finley is partnering with our school on this project and will provide an environmental educator to work with us on at least one of the trips.

Movin Muskrat News. We have many accomplishments to report today!  Kinder Lily Hull, 1st grader Isabella Legacy, and 2nd graders Madeleine Gaskill and Emma Martin all finished 5 miles today.  Way to go ladies!  Our next runners are no strangers to the newsletter – 4th grader Harrison Schreiber completed 25 miles and Max Brewer finished 30 miles and even kept going.  Wow!  We probably only have 4 more opportunities this school year to get out and move it – so JUST DO IT!

Scholastic Book Club. LAST chance this school year to purchase from Scholastic.  Book club catalogs have gone home with your student or check out the catalog collection on-line.   They’ve got great selections at an affordable price for Pre-K through Grade 6.  They make great gifts and earn our classrooms new books!  Submit your Scholastic book orders by May 15.  Traditional orders should be submitted to the MCCS office along with a payment by check made to Scholastic. Scholastic gives an extra FREE book to our school for every order placed on-line!  Questions?  Contact Elisa Fairbanks at elisasmile@mac.com or 990-3733.

Go to www.scholastic.com/bookclubs and go to Parent Sign In.  Enter our school sign-in information to order:

Class User Name:   muddycreek

Password:         books

Don’t Forget – Charter School Survey. The Oregon Department of Education has asked all Oregon charter schools to participate in on-line surveys for staff, parents, and students.   The surveys can be accessed at the following website:  http://www.ode.state.or.us/surveys/default.aspx .  The parent survey will take about 10 minutes and the student survey (with assistance from parents) will probably take about the same amount of time.  Be sure to mark “Muddy Creek Charter School “ at the beginning of the survey.   The surveys are open until June 15.  Your participation will be greatly appreciated as it will help to show we have an involved parent community. If you do not have access to the internet at home, we can provide access to the survey on one of the school’s computers – just check with Dan or Gretchen.

Soccer Fun. We have a parent, Kenny Rolfe, who would like to start a weekly game of soccer for our kids and families.  Informal, non-competitive weekend games are the idea.  Perhaps could happen here or in Philomath at the park.  Let Gretchen in the office know if you are interested and I will forward the information onto Kenny.  This would be a fun community building time for all ages.