November 12
Muskrat News
Upcoming events:
November 2-15 MCCS Holiday Food Drive
November 18 Mr. Day’s Class Restoration Field Trip
November 18 ICP Board Meeting (everyone welcome) 7-9pm
November 19 Bookmobile 2-3:15pm
November 20 Giving Thanks Celebration 4-8pm
November 23 Next to last SCRIP order deadline before break
November 25&26 No school, Thanksgiving
From our Executive Director
Monday evening at the Corvallis 509J School Board meeting a significant event took place for our school. Parents, children, and staff filled the room to overflowing. Tanya Freeman and Anita Grunder (our MCCS Board Officials) made a very compelling presentation for Muddy Creek Charter School to have its charter renewed, and to expand to a K-8 school. Then parents and a grandparent came forward to publically address the Corvallis School Board on behalf of MCCS. It takes courage to do that, but to those of us that have been to these board meetings, it was easy to see the profound affect that the speakers had on the Board members. A huge thank you to all who came – and to those who spoke to me the next day wishing they could have made it.
Next week our LIFESKILL will be courage – thinking of those who spoke at the meeting. COURAGE is to act according to one’s beliefs despite fear of adverse consequences. In the classroom it takes courage for a child to give an answer orally —- and even more courage to try again after a wrong answer. The courage to try makes the best students.
READING. As the days get shorter and the weather nastier, now comes a time to promote reading for enjoyment at home. Make sure your child has a warm comfortable place with good lighting to discover the joy of reading. I didn’t enjoy reading until sixth grade, but when I discovered it, I was amazed by how much time would pass without my knowing it. So don’t be dis-courage-d if your child struggles with reading when it seems like every other kid loves reading and reads so well. The struggling reader needs patience, support, caring, and understanding. Please don’t get impatient or frustrated. Help your child overcome such feelings. By the way, “reading” pictures, cartoons, or the comics is often the activity that opens the door to reading.
My wish for you all is lots of great family time in the weeks that now lie just ahead.
-dan
Classroom News
Room 1 – Check out the graph of our canned food. So far we have collected more vegetables than any other food. – Miss Bridget
Room 2 – This has been a planning week for our clay projects in our architecture project. In the spirit of cooperation we decided to build communities out of clay. The class divided into 3 teams depending on what environment for which they were planning their community: desert, cold weather, or hot and wet (rain forest). Shari Ame is helping us start to build on Friday. Thanks also to Mark Meyer for making wooden forms on which we draped our clay. Thank you to parents who have been helping their children catch up on homework this week. – Ms. Gorman
Kindergarten –The race is on and we only have TWO more school days left before the Kindergarteners take the food to the Benton Co. Fairgrounds next Tuesday November 16th. So please consider sending in several cans of food if you have not donated yet. One young student asked, “Is there a limit to what we can donate?” This is a great opportunity to support our community and spread the bounty in our hearts and pantries. Thanks for supporting the Kinders and making this project a success. – Miss Jenny
Room 4 – Parents of 4th/5th graders, please check your email for regular updates from me. We are almost done with our shipwreck stories project and are looking forward to our restoration field trip next week on Beaver Creek. -Mr. Day
Holiday Food Drive
Please consider joining the MCCS community in donating food to help low-income families in Benton County this Holiday season. From November 2nd-15th each classroom will be collecting food. The types of food needed are: canned fruits, canned vegetables, canned pumpkin, canned cranberry sauce, canned milk, peanut butter, stuffing mix, tuna and other canned fish and meats, baby food, olives, Jell-o, cake mixes, fresh apples and fruits, winter squash, potatoes and other fresh vegetables. No home-canned goods can be accepted. This year the number of people relying on emergency food assistance in Benton County is at an all time high. Thank you for helping us support such an important cause!
PTO NEWS
Wow! What phenomenal support there was at Monday’s School Board Meeting. I know they were really impressed by the presence of so many families present to support the renewal of the charter and expansion to K-8. For the size of our school, the numbers that showed were a great representation!! The Superintendent stated that the decision would be made at the December 13 Board meeting. The district administration is recommending to the school board that our charter be renewed. (Yeah!) The school board will vote on that issue first and then address the changes we would like to have such as the expansion and changing our funding. We will keep you updated as things progress.
Our annual Giving Thanks Celebration is Saturday November 20th, 4-8pm. This is a family and community potluck event, so bring a dish to share, except for dessert. There will be music and games. It is a great way to come together as a community and give thanks to all the people that make Muddy Creek such a special place.
We need pies!!! We will also be holding our very fun pie auction at the celebration. This was a big hit last year! All money raised from the pie auction will go towards supporting the wonderful music program here at MCCS. You can bring your pies to the celebration, or drop them off at school on Friday.
We need help with set up and clean up as well. A signup sheet is on the MCCS lobby table. We look forward to seeing everyone there!
If you have any questions, suggestions or would like to volunteer please contact Kerry Pfeil kerrypfeil@gmail.com /541-207-3562 or Terina McLachlain 8gr8kids@gmail.com /541-829-9847
SCRIP
The holidays are quickly approaching, and we have two more SCRIP orders before the winter break. SCRIP is a GREAT fundraiser for MCCS– the money we raise will be paying for a running track around the field. Please stop by the SCRIP table to learn more and place your order!
From the board
A BIG THANKS to all of the staff, parents, students, and community members who turned out last Monday night, and spoke, or sent comments for the renewal presentation at 509J! I was personally deeply touched and overwhelmed by this show of support, by my count 45 folks. We have a long row to hoe yet, between now and potentially March 13, but that was a wonderful send up to launch the proposal, and it really reinforces for me why this school is special. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!! Tanya
The showing of parents, teachers and staff at the 509J Board Meeting was nothing short of fantastic. It makes us proud to be of service to such a devoted community. One of the important points about our charter school is that we get about half of the operating budget that the rest of the public schools get. This means that the school relies on donations of time, materials and money to be able to deliver programs. Substantial fundraising has to be part of our way of life.
We are about to launch a campaign to raise upwards of $7,000 to see us through the end of the year. You will be receiving letters addressed to you and to be distributed to friends and relatives. A thermometer showing our progress will be up in the hall. Also, we need people to find and write grants. Cedar Dunn has agreed to be the point person keeping a clearing house of funding opportunities. So if you have ideas for how to raise money, or an idea about what is needed, tell Cedar and she’ll keep a record. At the moment we have the following items that are part of our fund raising goal: music program, library support, field trips, and I’m sure you all can think of more.
Opportunity for HP Product Donation
HP’s Product Giving program is underway. HP provides a 3:1 match for all product donation dollars from HP employees towards the purchase of HP equipment for qualified schools and non-profit organizations. We would like to purchase a couple of new PCs for our classrooms and estimate the total donation required would be around $400. If you are an HP employee and are interested in participating in a group donation, please contact Kathy Brewer at kathy.brewer@hp.com or 541-715-0470 by November 12.
Homework Club
Laura Oakes will be starting a grade 3/4 Homework Club meeting Mondays at 3 – 3:45pm in the community room. Bring reading, math, spelling or whatever you need to get caught up on. Snack will be provided.
Weaving Play Into The Day
Energy asks two things of us to maintain healthy order and functioning: to move and to have space. “I just don’t have any energy” is a common complaint of our times, and yet I find that in most cases people have too much energy.
In talking to my daughter and some other parents I’ve noted that the afternoon transition between school and home can be a difficult one. Our children are filled to nearly bursting after a school day and must then meet the demands of a new environment without much opportunity to process the day, move the unnecessary out and make space for a different experience.
Blowing Out is a great tool for transitions throughout the day and moments of frustration and overload as well.
1. Rub hands together, shake them off
2. Place hands on thighs, take deep breath in and out
3. Inhale, reaching hands over head
4. Blow out, forcibly and with any sound that feels good while bringing hands towards the front of the body and down
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 twice
6. On final exhale, bring arms down slowly so that the palms meet at the chest in a prayer-like or meditative position
-Brittany Legacy
A Big Thanks To:
-The parents and staff who volunteered to be a part of the Homework Policy Committee.
-PTO Vice President Terina McLachlain for going the extra mile in getting the word out about the school board meeting earlier this week. With very little notice, she ran out and made flyers, fixed up the announcement sign you saw outside in the parking lot, sent emails and made phone calls. There was a tremendous turn out at the meeting and the strong presence of parents made a big impact with the School Board.
-Melissa Harris for her donation of gardening tools and seeds and Feliciana Torres for her donation of gardening tools and a boombox for Ms Gorman’s room.
Wish Lists
Mr. Day’s classroom is also in need of kid-sized garden gloves, weeding tools and a watering can.
Mrs. Hansen’s music class- rhythm instruments, 50 kazoos!
Ms. Gorman’s and Miss Bridget’s classrooms need a few items to help them with their outdoor activities. They are looking for donations of rakes, shovels, a wheelbarrow, kid-sized gloves, seeds, extra garden tools in general and fall bulbs (tulips, daffodils, crocuses, etc.). Anything you can spare would be greatly appreciated.