Picture Day Is This Week!

Flyers were sent out last week, but as a reminder, the schedule is as follows:

Monday: Middle School

Tuesday: PreK and Grades K-2

Wednesday: PreK and Grades 3-5

Thursday: Upper School

Parent volunteers are needed to assist the photographer. Please call Rhonda to sign up. 

Parent Council Meeting Tomorrow Night!

The first parent council meeting will be held tomorrow night in the Dining Lodge from 7:00-8:00 pm. The Parent Council Committee will be introduced and will lead the meeting. Committee groups will be organized, agendas set, and Nate will lead a continued discussion from the spring concerning how we define academic excellence. Childcare will be available in the K-2 classroom.  We hope to see you there! 

Journeys 3 T's
The Journey School has established a set of community guidelines that each level will adhere to. These guidelines are refereed to as the “3 T’s.” They include “Treat all with Respect, Take Responsibility and Try Hard.” These guidelines create common language throughout the school for teachers and children alike to use.

Need a Carpool?

A few parents would like to organize carpools from areas that are not served by the START bus. If you are interested in setting up carpools from perhaps north or south of town or from over the pass, send Rhonda an email (rhonda.watson@journeysschool.org) with a few details such as which area you live in, number of students needing a ride, etc. Rhonda will help you get in touch with one another to organize carpools. 

September Lunch Menu

Parents are needed to help for Friday lunches. If you are available, you can come to the dining lodge at 11:20 and help serve food, get drinks, wash dishes, etc. Each meal includes a glass of milk.

September 22nd: Cheese Enchiladas, Spanish rice, Fruit Salad & Brownies

September 29th: Pizza

Thank You!

Thank you to all the parents that brought good food and conversation to the PPP last week. We look forward to seeing you all again at future events!

Teton County Library Announcements

September is National Library Card Sign-up Month

Go to the Teton County Library and whether you use your card, replace your lost card, or get a new card, you will receive a raffle ticket for a chance to win one of three Main Event Gift Certificates or the Grand Prize of a 'Fine Free Year'.  See the poster in the media center or Lara at the Library for more details.

Do you want more say in what the Teton County Library offers teens? 

The Young Adult Board is for students in grades 6-12 and meets once each month.   Come to the first meeting of this school year on Tuesday, September 12 from 6:00-7:00pm and new members are welcome.  See the poster in the media center for more details.  You must  register with Lara at the Library.

Teen B.Y.O.B - Bring Your Own Book is a book club for Teens at the Teton County Library

We meet the last Tuesday of the Month and the first meeting is Tuesday, September 26 from 4:00-5:00pm.  There are no reading assignments!  There is no membership required!  Come to as many or as few meetings as you'd like to hear other teens share their favorite reads.  Refreshments will be served.  See the poster in the media center or Lara at the Library for more information.

Check out the Teton County Library website for a complete event calendar. www.TCLib.org

Pre-Kindergarten

Announcements

Labels
As the new year begins, we are reminded of how easy it is for things to be forgotten or misplaced. Please label your child’s belongings, including lunch box, backpack, clothing, jacket and shoes.

Thank you!

Thank you to our parent volunteer, Nancy Lee, for helping us create student pictures above each child's cubbie.

Curricular Updates

Social Skill of the Week: Hygiene

Last week, hygiene was our social skill and we focused on hand washing. We talked about how germs spread and that it is important to wash our hands frequently ...before eating, after going to the bathroom, and after touching our mouths or noses. As an example of how germs spread we dusted the children's' fingers last Friday with black-light sensitive powder.  We followed the trail of the powder and examined hands after washing to see how well we were doing. We will continue to make hand washing a priority.

Chinese and Spanish

Lauren will teach Chinese on Mondays and Thursdays.  This past week was her first. We learned a little bit about China and how to say Hello and Goodbye.

Kjera will begin teaching Spanish this week on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Music with Juliane

Juliane comes to us new this year to teach music on Thursdays.  We will have her for four sessions of singing and drumming. Children really enjoyed their first session last Thursday. In addition to drumming and singing they had an opportunity to express themselves through rhythms and dance. Juliane has had a lot of experience using music therapeutically and certainly that energy is being offered here too.

Art with Tasha

On Fridays, Tasha, from Center for the Arts will be coming into our classroom to do art projects with the children. She has been a wonderful addition in the past and we feel fortunate to have her again. Last Friday we split into two groups to work with clay. Children learned how to make pinch pots.

Threads in the Classroom

Threads are child-driven interests that we as teachers are following, encouraging, and supporting.

Smells:

Following our first journey to the Swan Ponds, children are recognizing and describing smells. Many of you have brought film canisters home to fill with familiar scents.  Charlie has been interviewing interested students about these smells and others.  His questions have been "What does it smell like?" and "How does it make you feel?" Our classroom is filled with new scents everyday by burning essential oils and provoking 'scentual' awareness from children, parents and teachers alike. This week children will have the option to journey to an herbalist during focused exploration to continue their observations on smell.

Hot Air Balloons:

Following observations of hot air balloons while en route to school, children have become fascinated with understanding, building and talking about hot air balloons.  Currently we are working to turn our loft into a hot air balloon with the loft acting as our basket to extend their interest and dramatic play.

Color Mixing:

For the last two weeks we have been experimenting with colors in the studio.  Several children have taken an interest in creating and naming their own colors.  Currently we are working collaboratively to make a color board of all of their mixed colors. Some choice color names include: blue spice, bubbly purple, blackish carnish, crystal green, and statue.  Children are learning how primary colors combine to make secondary colors and how to be responsible for setting up and cleaning up their supplies. Through this exploration children will become more self-sufficient and capable of painting with a varied palette of colors that will serve to enhance their creations.

Announcements

Thank You!

We would like to thank Bobbi Reyes for taking the time to catalogue K-2’s North Den Library. This was a daunting task and we greatly appreciate Bobbi for taking it on. If any parent is interested in cataloguing K-2’s South Den library, we are kindly accepting volunteers!

Advisor Letters

A letter from your child’s advisor will be coming home in your child’s folder this week. Keep an eye out for this letter over the next couple of days and feel free to contact your child’s advisor at any time.

Bus Riding Protocol

If your child is riding the bus this year, please help us reinforce proper bus behavior.  Remind them that they are on a public bus system and they are expected to sit quietly and safely in their seats and keep hands to themselves.  We are working on teaching them to sit in the front of the bus so that they are contained to a familiar space and can be prepared to be packed up and ready to go at their stops.  Thanks for your support.  This will ensure that Journeys students will be welcome on the Start Bus all year!

Student Birthdays

We celebrate each student’s birthdays with a special birthday circle at the end of the day and a healthy birthday snack passed out at dismissal time.  We have 36 students and six teachers in our class.  We recommend easy-to-handle snacks like muffins, bars, fruit or cupcakes.  Please make enough for our entire group if you choose to bring a special snack.  Birthday circles are a wonderful time, so feel free to join us at 2:30 in the classroom to celebrate your child!  Summer birthdays can be celebrated at any time.  Please let us know if you have any questions.

Curricular Updates

Exploring our Theme

As you all know, our theme for the year is Exploration. Each trimester we break our theme down to a focus. This fall we will be learning about Naturalist Exploration. Each week we have an essential question that drives our curriculum. To tie into the beginning of school, our essential questions over the last two weeks have been a way to orient us to this new school year. Our questions so far have been:  Who are we? And Where are we? This week our question will be What is an explorer? And What is an exploration?  Each week we will post our weekly question in Basecamp News so that you can follow our theme development throughout the year.

Exploring a Special Spot

This week students began to develop their exploration skills by seeking out and spending time in their own special spots. Each advisee group spend time becoming familiar with the wooded hill side above the play fields. Students were asked to find a spot that they could get to know very well by using their senses. Each student received a school journal where they were able to document things that they discovered.  The students came together at the end of each exploration session to share things that they discovered and drew.

Literacy and Math Assessment Update

Last week we finished our literacy and math assessments. Starting today, students will join a small group to begin their math and literacy studies for the year.

Literacy and Math Letters

Around the first of each month faculty will send home updates to inform parents of the curricular progression of their child’s Math and Literacy groups. Since there are multiple Math and Literacy groups, we feel that this will be the most proactive way to keep parents informed about curricular developments in these subject areas.

Art

This week in Art Class the K-2 students made some incredible "stained glass" decorations to adorn our level’s windows. Come by and check out these beautiful pieces of art that are bringing bright colors to our classrooms.

PE

This week students discovered the game of lacrosse with Vicki. They played hard and had a great time learning about this new game.

Announcements

Birthdays in Grades 3-5

Birthdays are special days in Grades 3-5.  On the day your child’s birthday is celebrated at school, families are welcome to join us for a special closing circle.  At that closing, your child’s classmates will share why they are thankful for the birthday boy/girl.  Many families also choose to provide a snack to share with the class.  If you would like to provide a snack, please bring enough food to share with 45 children.  A new tradition that Grades 3-5 would like to create this year is the idea of a Birthday Book.  On a child’s birthday, he/she can choose to donate a favorite book to our classroom library instead of bringing a snack.  We will place a special book plate in the book commemorating the child and his/her birthday. 

Grades 3-5 Curriculum Nights

The first Grades 3-5 Curriculum Night will take place on Tuesday, September 26 from 5:00-6:00 p.m.  Please join us for this hour-long session about academics in Grades 3-5.  More specifically, we will discuss “A Day in the Life of a Grades 3-5 Student,” extended Journeys, and our upcoming extended Journey to the Murie Center.  If necessary, childcare will be provided during this meeting by a Grades 3-5 teacher. 

Curriculum Updates

Field Days

Last week, we kicked off our fall science program, "Pathways in Our Ecosystem", with three field days. On Monday we went to Bradley/Taggart in Grand Teton National Park to find and map visible and invisible pathways.  Students found tracks, trails, roads, river channels, sap drips, and evidence of digestive pathways, reproductive pathways, and nutrient pathways. On Tuesday we explored the South Property of the Jackson Campus of Teton Science Schools.  Students learned about biotic and abiotic features of an ecosystem and found examples at Cody Creek and the Swan Ponds.  They found pathways connecting these biotic and abiotic features.  One pathway was, “a bald eagle perches in a tree, the tree is rooted in soil, and soil is made of decayed bison scat.” On Wednesday, students explored our own campus with their new knowledge of pathways and ecosystems via four stations.  Stations included mapping our special place, a micro and macro pathways art project, a shadow investigation, and metaphorical pathways in literature.  As a summative assessment of their outdoor skills, students traveled in small groups from station to station demonstrating their ability to care for each other’s needs such as: snack, hiking skills, water consumption, sunscreen, and route finding. 

Art Journey

Our first art journey of the year will take place this week!  Students in the north den will travel to the National Museum of Wildlife Art during the afternoon on Tuesday, September 19.  Students in the south den will travel to the National Museum of Wildlife Art during the afternoon on Thursday, September 21.  Students in both dens will visit the exhibition of prints by Andy Warhol. 

Fall Journey

We are excited for our Fall Extended Journey to the Murie Center in Moose, Wyoming.  Each student will spend 2.5 days at the Murie Center during the week of Monday, October 16.  Students in the south den will visit the Murie Center from Monday through Wednesday, and students in the north den will visit the Murie Center from Wednesday through Friday.  Students who are not at the Murie Center will have a regular school day, so plan for a full week of school with only two nights on a Journey.  For more information about our Fall Journey, please join us for our curriculum night on Tuesday, September 26. 

Announcements

Journey Reminders

Arrive at normal time on Tuesday with a packed lunch.

Pick up on Thursday at the normal time in the lower parking lot.

Curricular Updates

The fall journey to Yellowstone National Park begins Tuesday, September 19!  Achieving more personal responsibility is a goal of the trip, so students will spend Monday learning how to cook outdoors, pitch tents, pack their personal gear and stay warm in a chilly setting. In the field students will be responsible for cooking their meals, maintaining their tent site and protecting themselves from the elements. Another important goal will be strengthening our learning community so we can all feel emotionally and socially safe at school. While in Yellowstone, we will be hiking to geysers, listening to elk bugling, writing about our surroundings and performing community service for Yellowstone National Park. To connect to our theme of revolutions, Karl will be teaching how the creation of Yellowstone National Park was a revolutionary concept, and how even today, debates rage about the purpose and use of National Parks.  

Announcements

Because upper school students and faculty were backpacking last week in the Wind River Range, there are no announcements this week. Look for announcements in next week’s addition of Basecamp news.

Curricular Updates

Language arts, grades 9-11

Language arts courses have integrated with social studies courses throughout the five years of Journeys’ existence. In order to establish curricula David (language arts) and Drew (social studies) have followed a chronological framework that begins in antiquity and brings us to the Common Era. It takes three years to cycle through the chronology, which is not always linear. David and Drew take advantage of student interest and current events to break out of the chronology to teach relevant topics. They work hard to integrate curricula during these times too. This year the language arts and social studies curricula will examine movements and themes from the 19th century to the current day. This fall language arts students will look at how we observe tropes of freedom. Our primary texts will include a genuine slave narrative called Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs. Jacobs tells her amazing story of being bound as a slave, to hiding for seven years in her grandmother’s miniature attic, to escaping to Boston. The autobiography shows first hand the horrors of American slavery of the 19th century. Students will flash forward to then learn about the 1960s Civil Rights movement using the film Mississippi Burning, a film about the historical murder investigation of two Civil Rights workers in Mississippi, as a context for tropes of freedom in the 20th century. Class objectives will shift as some of the class then studies the novel Tea in the Harem by Mehdi Charef, a North African immigrant who lives in Paris and writes about the effects of French colonialism and post-colonialism. Students will read about Majid, the novel’s protagonist, an adolescent who seeks his way in a culture that does not understand his own. Those who do not read Tea in the Harem, primarily younger upper school students, will learn the rigors of research as they investigate current day slavery and indentured servitude. Students will be sufficiently challenged and will receive the individual instruction they need to improve literacy skills as well as enjoy reading and writing.

Advanced writing, Capstone students

Advanced writing kicks off the school year with advanced writing. Students will quickly learn detailed methods for writing college-worthy essays, ways to critique others’ and their own writing, new styles and language, and a deeper sophistication of writing overall. We will begin the trimester using an anthology of different types of essays called The Prentice Hall Reader (which we will return to throughout the year) to learn how authors gather and use examples and details in their writing. The exercise is aimed to help students begin to meet the goals (and others) listed above. For this essay, and all others throughout the school year, students in advanced writing write their own essay questions and develop their own ideas for essays and creative writing. Following the completion of a detailed essay, students will explore themes of how we observe time, language, narration, and place. The first novel we will read is called The Passion by Jeannette Winterson. The novel is set during the Napoleonic Wars in France, Venice, and Russia. Winterson artfully tells the tale through two narrators, weaves magic into the story, and leaves us with an incredible retelling of the passion through personal sacrifice. If two narrators working to tell the same story is not sufficiently difficult, then students will indeed find a challenge when they next read William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, a novel with thirteen narrative voices. This novel asks one to question which is the authentic narrative voice but also asks us to question who is sane, who isn’t, and who decides. Much writing will take place in advanced writing, from the expository to the creative to the personal. In the past students have found advanced writing to be rigorous as well as rewarding and great preparation for writing in college.

The first editorial will be next week.  

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© 2005, Basecamp News, Journeys School of Teton Science Schools.