The State of the Journeys School: Current Status, Future Goals, and Addressing Challenges

Thank you to all the parents who have taken the time to attend these important “State of the School” meetings. We have reached 61% of all Journeys School families through the previous 10 meetings. To reach our goal of connecting with 100% of Journeys families, we are hosting another two additional meetings this week to accommodate as many people we can.

All Journeys School parents are strongly encouraged to attend an informational meeting and discussion with the leadership of Journeys School and Teton Science Schools to learn more about the current “state of the school” and the future challenges associated with providing an engaging, innovative and challenging curriculum to a diverse student body by an expert and dedicated faculty and staff. Please join us on one of the following dates:

Monday, February 12, 2007, 6:00- 7:00 pm at the home of Megan and Sambo Lewis
Tuesday, February 13, 2007 1:30-2:30 pm in the Education Building of the Jackson Campus
Wednesday, February 14, 2007 8:15-9:15 am in the Education Building of the Jackson Campus

Meeting Details:

• Please RSVP to Laurel Wyckoff at 733-1313 x 1313 or laurel.wyckoff@tetonscience.org
• Childcare will be provided – please indicate childcare needs in your RSVP message.
• Meetings will be casual and informal.
• Light refreshments will be served.
• In case of severely inclement weather, evening meetings may be cancelled. Please call 733-1313 x 1313
  after 3:00 pm for a message about cancellations due to weather.
• Please call Nate McClennen, Jack Shea, or Heather Marks with any questions.

Parent Survey Now Open

Each year, parents are asked to give opinions and feedback to the Journeys School using an online survey. We hope that every parent can complete this survey by Friday, February 16 by accessing the following link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=488473209892 . We appreciate the time you spend to help make our school a better place.

Parent Coffee on Wednesday, 8:15 - 9:00 am

If you are not attending the "State of the School" meeting in the Education Center, please join parent council representatives in the Welcome Center to discuss the school or to just socialize! Everyone is welcome.

Blue Postcards Due This Thursday!

Please return the blue re-enrollment postcard by this Thursday, February 15. This indication from you allows us to make admissions decisions for new applicants. You can also call or email Rhonda with your response.

No School Next Week and No Basecamp News

Just a reminder that next week, February 19-23 is the February Break and school is not in session. There will not be an issue of Basecamp News on February 19th 0r the 26th. Enjoy the week and return to school on Monday, February 26!

Kelly Graduate Students Join the Journeys School for Their Four Week Practicum

Five graduate students from the Kelly Campus have joined the Journeys school community for a four-week practicum. They will work closely with Josh Kleyman, a Kelly Campus faculty member, throughout their experience. The graduate students have been paired with host Journeys teachers to facilitate a smooth transition into the classroom.

Their first week at Journeys was a combination of seminars and observations. The seminar topics provided a broad introduction to key aspects of Journeys School. They also helped to focus observations to build understanding of culture, structure and rhythm in the classroom. Graduate students spent their second week at Journeys playing more of a role in the classroom. For some this meant direct teaching time, for others it was immersion in their content area and beginning to prepare projects. The graduate students will depart for planning and academic courses before returning for their final two weeks at Journeys February 26-March 9 when they will be taking the lead role teaching. Click here to learn more about each graduate student.

Family Groups and Snow Sculpture Awards

First of all, a huge thank you to the Red Tram Fam who was busy cleaning after community lunch for three Fridays, while other family groups created their snow sculptures. They did a super job judging and their awards for each group are below.

But, first things first, some quotes from students leading up to the official day were,
“That was the best family day so far!!”
-Nathan Watson
“Our sculpture could be like a tree hugger, but a squirrel hugger.”
-Finn Johnson
“Can I have a play date with Patrick?” (Patrick is in upper school)
-Griffin Reichert (elementary school)
“I can’t wait for family groups!”
-Tucker Kortum

And now for the awards, drum roll, please….
The Brown Bears built the Great Wall of Journeys School and received the “Most Realistic” award. The Pink Otters won the “Team Spirit” award for their birthday cake (which actually transformed into a Thank You cake for the judges). If you can imagine Will Dykema jumping out of their cake, you will understand why they received the award for most “Team Spirit”. Great Blue Heron’s Loch Ness creature won an award for being the “Most Creative”. A Snow Dragon created by the Orange Pumas won the “Best Animal" award. The Turquoise Ducks created a family of penguins and they won the “Funniest” award! The award for the “Largest” snow sculpture, a castle, was given to the Purple Monkshood group. The Black Ravens created a porcupine and received an award for the “Best Use of Materials”. A snow pyramid created by the Rolling Yellowstones, which illuminated from the inside won a “Most Place Based” award. The (mighty, mighty) Green Squirrels created their mascot sitting in a chair with a nut cached away in the back won (you guessed it), the most detailed. It seems to have been a great project for all Journeys School students, not to mention the wonderful works of art that were created! Ask your child about his/her snow sculpture and what’s happening in our family groups now!

February Lunch Menu 

February 16th

• Veggie Lovers Pizza
• Meat Lovers Pizza
• Cheese Pizza
• Orange Slices & Cookie

Pre-Kindergarten

Announcements

Thanks

Thank you to Matt and Nancy Lee for escorting children to outdoor play and to lunch during our admissions meetings. Matt Lee brought items from Norway to share with our students.

Thank you to Jackie Baxa for continuing to enter books into our computer catalogue.

Thanks to the crew of parent skiers, Phil and Kathy Coosaia, and Jeanne Ball, we had another successful ski day at Snow King.

Thanks to Vonde Smith and her mother for helping out with community lunch on Friday.

Valentine’s Day Celebrations
On February 13th and 14th we will be offering special choice activities that include: baking cookies, making Valentines, reading stories and playing games. We will end each day with a healthy snack and a special thank you circle to appreciate the community and friends that we have and love. If your child would like to bring in Valentines for his or her classmates please make sure there is enough for all of our students. You should have already received a class list for both Tuesday and Wednesday in your child’s mailbox. If you are interested in being apart of the festivities, please tell Erin ext. 1104 or email: erin.smith@journeysschool.org. Thank you.

Curricular Updates
The Loft Will Be….Ta, Da…a Tree House!
After a long voting process and much deliberation, a majority vote was finally found. On Wednesday afternoon a tie was declared between a tree house and a boat. Students talked at length about how to make each option really exciting before voting to break the tie. Suggestions for the boat and the tree house included a telescope, flags, a map, a table, animals, windows and more! On Friday, we began to make fabric and twine vines to hang down from the loft. More construction will happen soon!

Already, the bottom of the loft is being transformed into a better play space with new white curtains, a wall of mirrors, hooks for costumes, and dolls. The environment of the classroom will continue to be dynamic to meet the needs of our students and their interests.

Spinning a Web
Spider webs have trapped the attention of several of our students. Two spiders, unnamed, have been seen in our classroom, one in the mudroom and the other near the rice table. We are hoping that they will spin a web for us to observe. In the mean time we have been researching spiders and their webs to design our own. At morning meeting on Thursday students exercised patience and focus as we greeted each other and spun our own web by passing around a ball of yarn.

Storytelling on Friday Afternoons
Last Friday we had our first storytelling afternoon. Children were encouraged to write their names on the dry erase board if they were interested in telling a story for that afternoon. After rest time on Friday students were then given the opportunity to come on stage to share their story.  Storytelling requires students to use to plan out their story and use their imaginations. We are eager to incorporate more story writing and telling throughout the year.

Announcements
Thank You
Thank you to the Nagel family for donating a children’s dictionary and the Vohr family for donating a new supply of dry erase markers. Thank you to Veronica and Lia Silberberg for sharing photos and a video from their trip to the Galapagos Islands in December. Thank you also to Jen Foley and Lee Lee Robinson for making delicious and nutritious snacks for us last week! A special thanks to Jen Reichert for providing snacks for the cross country skiers and to all of the parents who helped out over the past 5 weeks with the ski program.

100th Day of School
Monday, February 12th is the 100th Day of School. We will partake in various 100th day activities including a special snack and a Chinese New Year / 100th Day art project.

Valentine’s Day
Wednesday, February 14th is Valentine’s Day. We will make mail boxes and exchange Valentine cards at the end of the day. Please make sure to send enough cards for each student in our class (40, plus 7 teachers). To save both time and confusion, please refrain from writing ‘To:’ on your cards and only write who the card is ‘From:’. We will enjoy a special and healthy Valentine’s snack at the end of the day.

Winter Navigation Journey
This Thursday and Friday will be the K-2 Winter Journey. We will be exploring navigation around the town of Jackson, as well as using telescopes to explore the night sky. We will be spending the night at school and taking in a little theater at the 3-5 performance of Freedom Bound on Thursday evening. A reminder that there will be an optional early pick up for tired K-2 students at 11:30 am on Friday. Please reference your K-2 Winter Journey letter for more details.

Super Hands to Work
This Friday will be an ongoing parent volunteer Hands to Work throughout the day. Please feel free to stop by and help us in keeping our K-2 classroom community clean. There will be a posted list of needed cleaning tasks as well as a sign in sheet. Thank you in advance for your efforts.

Curricular Updates

K-2 Reading and Writing Workshop
Our latest Reading and Writing Workshop unit during the months of February and March will be an author study. Each Literacy group is focusing on a different author. Authors include: Eric Carle, Beverly Cleary, Paul Goble, Leo Lionni, Bill Peet, and Cynthia Rylant.

The Black Bears Reading and Writing Workshop Group with Elise:

In the Black Bears Reading Group we are beginning the month of February with an author / illustrator study of Leo Lionni. Each literacy group has selected a different author to focus on throughout the month. We will share and compare our authors during our reading celebration at the beginning of March. During read aloud we have been reading the books: An Extraordinary Egg, Swimmy, Frederick, and Six Crows. We have had discussions comparing and contrasting these books and have tried to draw some conclusions about Leo Lionni’s style of both writing and illustrating. The Black Bears decided that Leo Lionni likes to write fiction about animals and that he uses collage and painting in most of his books. We learned that Leo Lionni was born in Holland (now the Netherlands) and was an artist. He lived in both New York and Italy, and began writing and illustrating books for his grandchildren when he was in his 60’s. He received many honors for his books and died in 1999. In writing, students have been thinking about using details and descriptive words (adjectives). We have written poems using adjectives to help the reader see, feel, and smell the subject and have illustrated our poems using Leo Lionni’s method of collage. We continue to work on our ‘just right books’ daily, both in school and at home. Students use tools such as: looking at the initial sound, sounding words out, spelling the word out loud, using the pictures, and thinking about what makes sense, to help them read more fluently.

After reading the book, Reading Makes You Feel Good, by Todd Parr, here are a few of the Kindergarten responses:
Reading makes me feel good because…
“It makes me feel like I’m really there!” – Leila
“It makes you look up stuff in dictionaries and feel good.” – Chase
“I get to learn how to write.” - Reed
“I learn and study about things.” - Gabe
“I learn new stuff.” --Nick and Sebastian
“I get to look at pictures and have lots of fun!” - Julia

Penguins, Petrels and Seals, Oh My!

K-2 students and teachers were fortunate to hear all about penguins, petrels and seals from Donna Patterson- Fraser who also spoke at the Teton County Library last Friday. Donna works on the field team based out of Palmer Station, Antarctica with Journeys School’s very own Chris Horne’s brother, Peter Horne. What a small world!

Just a few interesting facts we learned were that Adelie Penguins build their nests out of stones, Emperor Penguins nest on sea ice, and female Giant Petrels have a different diet than the males. The best part was she brought bird bones, eggs, teeth, feathers, wings, and even small pebbles that are from penguins’ stomachs (used for either grinding food and/or weighing down these very buoyant birds)! Ask your child about his/her favorite part of the presentation… it was a real treat!

Announcements

Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day is always full of excitement in Grades 3-5. On this special day, students may choose to bring Valentines to school. If your child would like to bring Valentines, he/she is expected to bring enough cards for the entire class (44 children total). Please do not send candy to school on Valentine’s Day. We will have a small Valentine’s celebration with healthy snacks on the afternoon of the 14th.

Freedom Bound DVD
A friend of the Grades 3-5 community, Kristen Gilbert, is planning to create a DVD of the Freedom Bound performance. She made a very professional James and the Giant Peach DVD last year, and it was a big hit! These DVDs will be available for purchase once they have been completed. They are also an excellent gift for grandparents or relatives who were not able to attend the production in person. Stay tuned to Basecamp News and Monday letters for more information about this DVD.

February Break Absences
If your child will miss school because of February Break travel, please notify his/her advisor as soon as possible. Advance notice of planned absences helps the teachers stay organized. This matter is especially pressing if your child will be absent on February 15, the date of the Freedom Bound performance. Thank you.

Curriculum Updates

Freedom Bound Dress Rehearsals and Performances
Freedom Bound costumes were due at school today. If you have not already done so, please send your child’s costume to school in a bag clearly labeled with his/her name as soon as possible.
Dress Rehearsals for Freedom Bound will take place during school on Tuesday, February 13 and Wednesday, February 14. On dress rehearsal days, students will begin their day in the Dining Lodge. Please remind your child to head directly to the Dining Lodge on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week.
The children will put on an in-school performance of the musical on Thursday, February 15 at 9:30 a.m. in the Dining Lodge. We have invited the Journeys School students, from Pre-K through 12, to attend this in-school production. If you are unable to attend the evening performance of Freedom Bound, feel free to attend the in-school performance.
The final performance of Freedom Bound will take place on Thursday, February 15 in the Dining Lodge from 5:00-6:00 p.m. Grades 3-5 students are expected to stay after school on the 15th to prepare for the performance. Families and friends are encouraged to attend the evening performance, and may begin arriving in the Dining Lodge at 4:45. All are welcome!

Geometry and Art
Last week, Sarah’s third grade math class became a hot spot of art and geometry integration. On Tuesday, students explored the concept of symmetry. They learned to identify symmetrical shapes and to properly draw lines of symmetry. To further their understanding of symmetry, students used watercolors to create “butterfly” paintings. They folded papers in half, painted one side with watercolors, and then smooshed the paint onto the other half. When unfolded—surprise!--each student had created a perfectly symmetrical painting. The class experimented with a variety of painting and folding techniques. Stop by the Grades 3-5 Learning Lab to view our gallery of symmetrical paintings!
Our art and geometry integration continued on Thursday during an exploration of three- dimensional shapes. The students learned to identify cones, prisms, pyramids, spheres, and cylinders. Our exploration of three dimensional shapes became really fascinating with help from Grades 3-5 parent Carrie Geraci. Carrie provided the idea and materials for an amazing in-class activity. First, the students built 3-D shapes using toothpicks and gumdrops. Then, we mixed a bubble solution using soap and glycerin. Students predicted what they thought the bubbles would look like when they dipped their 3-D shapes into the soap. Then, we tried it. The bubbles were fascinating, and not what we predicted! Once we figured out how the bubbles were going to look, the students’ creativity was sparked. They built many different 3-D shapes to manipulate the bubbles in different ways. Ask a third grade math student to explain this activity and describe how the bubbles looked. Thank you, Carrie, for the materials and great idea!

Announcements

Internet Safety
In response to some questions at the last curriculum night meeting, here are some basic rules for students to consider when using the internet.

1. Do not give out your user name and password to anyone other than your parents.

2. Do not use any account other than your own.

3. Do not give out any personal information over the internet.

4. Report any suspicious or innapropriate behavior to your parents or a teacher.

5. Do not meet a "friend" from the internet in person without your parents present.

The following is a link with a great set of resources for both students and parents: http://kids.getnetwise.org/safetyguide/. Laws governing email harrassment exist in Wyoming under statute 6.2.506 which describes stalking.

Thank you
Thank you to Brent Blue for guiding the girls on a tour of your personal planes and the flight museum in Driggs. The boys are excited for their visit this Wednesday!

Thank you to all the parents who attended last week’s curriculum night with Charles and Karl. Topics covered included insight to current and upcoming curriculum topics, an update by Jill Wright on the progress of the Romeo and Juliet production, and a special address by Nate regarding recent internet safety issues that have come up in the middle school. In addition, information was distributed about the upcoming winter journeys to DC with the 8th graders and the Kelly Campus with the 6th and 7th graders. Please contact your child’s advisor with any questions.

Curricular Updates
Level 1a Math:
In math 1a we have continued with our investigation into the properties of division. This past week we have focused on long division, and the steps involved in dividing 1 and 2 digit numbers into numbers in the hundreds and thousands. Looking ahead, we will be learning about division involving decimals and fractions. Ask your children about what reptiles they were able to uncover by correctly solving division problems in the reptile math mystery work.

Level 1b Math:
We are wrapping up a unit this week about combining fractions. Students have been learning how factional operations work and then developing algorithms for each operation. While addition and subtraction were conceptually obvious, understanding how multiplication and division work has been more challenging. Please ask your students about these processes. By trying to explain, students realize their own level of understanding and come to class with more specific questions. This unit is the second of three this year that address fractions, so mastery of the concepts is not required just yet, but a growing understanding of how fractions work is the goal instead.

Level 2 Math:
Level 2 math is concluding our unit on positive and negative integers. The last investigation challenges students to locate points and lines on a coordinate grid using all four quadrants, set up a coordinate grid on a graphing calculator by naming the scale and maximum and minimum values of x and y, graph linear equations using a graphing calculator, informally observe the effects of opposite coefficients and adding a constant to y = ax and answer questions using equations, tables, and graphs.

Level 3 Math:
Las week level 3 math began applying the properties for manipulating expressions to solve linear equations. Students are drawing upon their past knowledge of orders of operations and isolating variable and combining it with their fresh knowledge of the distributive and commutative properties to tackle a new challenges. This week we will solve simple quadratic equations symbolically and connect the solutions of an equation to information about its table and graph. Parents, be aware that while I believe that ALL students have a strong grasp of the individual steps, the greatest challenge (and anticipated areas of frustration) exist in keeping track of multi-step calculations. Imagine this is like learning to juggle. One ball is easy, but two or three? As the students practice these skills they will become more familiar than daunting. In the meantime, if your child becomes confused and or frustrated while doing homework please remind them of my new motto. “If you get stumped on a problem at home, figure out as best you can your struggles, and then put it aside so we can SQUASH it together tomorrow!”

Performing and Fine Arts:
The middle school art is in the middle of so much energy being put into preparing for the Romeo and Juliet performance for March 9th. Last weekend the students have been rehearsing and making masks, fliers and plans for set design. This week classes will focus on set design prop lists and final rehearsals before the break. If you have any materials for the prop list that you want to donate for the show please contact Dennis by the 26th of February for delivery. We want all prop list items in the studio by March 1. If you have any questions please contact Dennis at ex. 1139.

Language Arts:
We continue to explore reading books from the World War 2 era. Level 1 began the memoir Behind the Secret Window, by Nelly S. Toll last week. Toll describes her experience as a Jew who is hidden by Christians during the German occupation of Poland. The Level 2 class started Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank last week and the class is already astounded by Frank’s spirit and positive attitude while trapped in the “Secret Annexe” for twenty-five months. They also cannot imagine having their diaries published for the world to read and critique! All classes will write a final essay that tracks the forces in opposition in the life of one character, how they are able to persevere through this time and how they develop and change from their experiences.

After a remarkable job researching, adapting, writing and revising Romeo and Juliet to fit Heart Mountain* for our March 9th performance, the Level 3 class has done an impressive job leading three different Book Clubs for Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, Behind the Secret Window, by Nelly S. Toll, and Night by Elie Wiesel. Each student took turns leading their group in class discussion, as well as developing and grading quizzes of their classmates. Students have finished their books and are now developing topics for final essays and projects to express what they learned from their book.

* After the attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, for national security, 110, 442 Japanese Americans were evacuated from their homes in West Coast states to various relocation centers in the Midwest and Rockies regions. Heart Mountain was a Japanese internment camp outside of Cody, WY. Over 10,000 Japanese Americans occupied the camp, beginning in August 1942 until November 1945.

Announcements

Outdoor Club

This past Wednesday the Outdoor Club took an adventurous trip to Snow King for a night of skiing and snowboarding. Nearly half of the student body participated in this popular outing and good times were had by all. The Outdoor Club meets every other Wednesday after school to participate in activities such as skiing, climbing, hiking, and biking. The next Club outing will be a ski and/or snowshoe trek into Teton National Park on March 7th. All upper school students are encouraged to sign up and attend.

Congratulations

Congratulations to Kelsea and Fielding for competing in a bordercross competition at Targhee February 3-4. Kelsea won first place in her division and qualified for nationals. Way to go!

More speech and debate team success: On February 2nd and 3rd, the Jackson Hole High School Speech Team traveled to Casper for two days of competition at the Natrona County High School “Mustang Classic.” The meet proved to be the largest and most challenging of the year, with thirty-five teams competing in twelve events. In a very tight 3A contest, the Jackson team placed second among the twelve 3A teams and third overall among competing schools. 12th grade Journeys student James Hockett paired with JHHS 11th grade student Jordan Schreiber to place third in Public Forum Debate. In their first outing as a team, they competed against 59 other debate teams at the meet. This particular debate format argues a different resolution each month. At Natrona, the resolution suggested that the costs of legalized casino gambling in the United States outweigh the benefits. Hockett also placed fifth in the Bureau of Land Management Oratory competition, winning a $250 scholarship. The purpose of this one-time event is to inform young drivers about issues and problems associated with off-road driving and offer solutions to improve the decisions young people make that affect our natural resources. Way to go, James and Jackson Hole High School Speech and Debate Team!

Winter Journey

The winter journey will take place is taking place next week, February 14-16. We will travel to Dubois and stay at the new Teton Valley Ranch Camp. The curriculum is currently being planned by upper school faculty. Much of the journey will take place outdoors; an equipment list was sent home with the students. It will be helpful if students can supply their own cross country ski gear, though Journeys has some gear available. The cost for the journey is $20/student. Please make checks payable to Journeys School. For more information about the journey please contact Drew Overholser or Dennis Sanders.

Curricular Updates

US Science: Environmental Chemistry
We have all seen chemical reactions throughout our lives. Many of these reactions involve metals. Some metal reactions are dramatic firework displays with magnesium; others are barely noticeable like the rusting of your bike chain. Why do metals behave differently? What happens to the metal atoms within these reactions? How does the arrangement of electrons determine these reactions? Over the past few weeks, students in upper school science have been exploring a variety of challenging concepts in chemistry in order to address these questions. Students explored the reactivity of metals within two different laboratory investigations. The purpose of the first investigation was to illustrate some properties of the metal copper. Students worked with a powdered sample of copper and observed chemical behavior with the addition of heat to form copper (II) oxide in the presence of oxygen. Students applied this simple chemical reaction to understand electron arrangement and the tendency of different elements to form certain ions and then react with other ions based on “needs”. The second investigation explored the relative reactivity of the metals copper, magnesium, zinc and silver with different solutions. The trimester will conclude after February break by researching the chemical processing within mining and completing a case-study project on a specific mining operation. Kate Gessford, a graduate student up in Kelly, will be joining our classroom to support this project.

                   The next editorial will be in March.

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