Guy’s Poker Night:  Texas Hold’em
Monday, May 21 at 6:30 - until you run out of cash
At The Bunnery Restaurant

Beer and chips and maybe more
$50 “buy in” - Keep “buying in” until your
money runs out! Bring your buddies if you want.
All proceeds to benefit the 2006-07 Journeys School Annual Fund
Tell Tony (Labbé) if you’re coming tony@bunnery.com or

734-0075. Space is limited. Pay at the door – cash, checks…or your car?

Girls' Night Out!

Enjoy fine wine, hors d’oeuvres, sushi by Nikai and titillating conversation on Wednesday, May 23rd 6:30-9:30pm. This event will benefit the Journeys School Annual Fund. Please click here for the invitation and more details!

No School Monday May 28th in honor of Memorial Day

School will resume on Tuesday May 29th. The next issue of Basecamp News will also come out on that Tuesday. Thank you and enjoy the long weekend.

Parent Council Meeting

If you were unable to attend the parent council meeting, the minutes are available by clicking this link. If you have suggestions to add to the discussion about “What Should the Parent Council Do Next Year” please email them directly to Nate at Nate.McClennen@journeysschool.org

Way to Go!!!

Junior Bryn Windle is the starting pitcher for the Jackson Giants, American Legion baseball team.  He pitched 5 innings in a game against Green River this past weekend.  He did not give up any earned runs and only gave up 3 hits.  The Giants won 12-3.  The team is playing in Belgrade, Montana this weekend!!  Way to go Bryn!!

Springtime Dancing

Students from many levels of Journeys School will be performing at the Center for the Arts theatre this Thursday, May 24 at 6:30 pm in a dance concert. Everyone is welcome to attend. Call the Center or Dancer's Workshop for tickets.

Thank You for Collecting Boxtops!

Thank you to all parents and teachers who faithfully clip and save your boxtops and Campbell's soup UPCs. We will be sending in one last batch of boxtops and labels next week, so please gather what you have and turn them in as soon as you can. Your efforts are appreciated!

After School Program Schedule

Monday May 21st: Using computers to look up kid friendly websites and learn more about technology

Tuesday May 22nd:Swimming at the Rec. Center

Wednesday May 23rd: Hiking High School Butte

Thursday May 24th: ***Climbing at Enclosure Rock Gym***

You must sign up today if you want to participate and fill out a liability release form by Wednesday May 23!! There will be an additional charge of $6.00.  Call 733-1327 ext. 1104 or email erin.smith@journeysschool.org

May Lunch Menu 

Friday May 25th:

Pizza

Spinach Salad with Honey-Mustard Vinaigrette

Fruit & Dessert

Graduation and Community Celebration

Journeys School's graduation ceremony will take place 5:30 - 6:30 pm on campus on June 13th. The traditional end-of-school-year potluck celebration will occur following the ceremony, 6:30 - 7:30 pm. The potluck schedule is listed below, and please bring a serving for 8-10 people. If you have more than one child at Journeys School, please select your dish based on the youngest child.

PreK - side dish or salad

K-2 - main dish

3-5 - main dish

MS - dessert

US - side dish or salad

8th grade Capstone Benefit Dinner
Help us support The Lost Boys and Girls of Sudan

Friday, June 8th at 6:30pm in the Dining Hall
            All Silent Auction items donated by MS students
How can you help?
   - Suggested donation $25/individual, $40/family
   - Spread the word, invite your friends!
   - Bid on great auction items like babysitting, award-winning  

       artwork, car washes, dog walking and unicycle lessons!
   - RSVP, or if you can’t attend but want to support the cause
       email Jo at Joanna.Snyder@JourneysSchool.org

Hosting Opportunity for an International Student

Journeys School has accepted an exchange student for one trimester next year. Franziska is a 16 year old girl from Germany. She is the cousin of Camillo, who attended the fall trimester this year. Franziska enjoys rowing, music (she plays the flute and piano), and is a strong student academically. She will need housing from September through November. If you are interested in hosting Franziska, please contact Rhonda.

Support the Journeys School Annual Fund by ordering Journeys School Organic Coffee.
Online: www.FreshOrganicCoffee.com/journeys.html or call (307) 733-8046

Pre-Kindergarten

Announcements

Thank Yous
Thank you to Dave Bucholz, Steve Hershock, and the crew from North Folk Builders for donating so much in the construction of our greenhouse. It looks beautiful! We are already planting and planning to put it into use immediately!

Thank you to Jackie Baxa for continuing to enter books into our online catalogue. Your efforts are greatly appreciated.

Thank you to Meghan Tozzi for assisting Susan during Music on Thursday morning; having an extra hand can be critical at that time.

Pre-K Curriculum Night
Come join us for our last Curriculum Night on Thursday May 31st from 5:30pm to 6:30pm. We are encouraging all parents and children to attend this event and celebration of the 2006-2007school year. Our evening will begin with a slide show exhibiting the works and experiences of your children. We will then take time to present portfolios to students moving on to Kindergarten. The evening with conclude with refreshments in the Pre-K play yard.

Pre-K Wellness Festival
Come join us for the afternoon of June 6th for the Pre-K Wellness Festival. It will be a culminating event for our explorations of medicine, health and human bodies. More details will be posted shortly.

Journeys
During the next four weeks that remain to the end of school there are numerous scheduled journeys. Many of which leave school by 9 or 9:30 am; please try to come to school prepared for these journeys. This week we have a journey on Wednesday to the Enclosure rock gym with half the class and an all day journey on Friday to Driggs, Idaho. Click here to access the entire schedule.

Curricular Updates
Measuring
Students were strengthening early math skills by measuring anything from picnic tables to tires last week. Children worked independently and together to connect Unifix cubes and count them. They compared and contrasted their findings and charted their data. Students wrote the number of Unifix cubes needed to measure each object. The findings: length of the picnic table: 68, width of the picnic table bench: 10, height of the picnic table bench: 23 and dump truck bed: 31. Their chart is posted above the mailbox for closer inspection.

Fine Motor Skills Being Developed
Catching a ball, cutting shapes, beading necklaces, pushing buttons, manipulating clay—these are all examples of how we build our fine motor skills in our fingers. These skills are used to write, type, and construct. Children who develop these muscles at an early age trend to have an easier time learning to write and participate in school activities. Through the year, we have worked with students to develop these muscles in fun and engaging ways. Last week we focused on these captivating activities during our social skills/advisee time.

From the Mother’s Belly to the World
On Monday, May 14, 2007, the class journeyed to the hospital to meet Dr. Annie Fenn and explore the Baby Ward. We were welcomed by the nursing staff who told us a baby had just been born the day before! Thus, we scrubbed down (washed our hands) and entered the room where the mother lies to have her baby. We discussed how a baby eats through the umbilical chord, how they rock with their mother’s steps, and what they need when they are delivered. For the grand finale, Nicole, the new born visited us. She was just over 6 pounds and very calm. The nurse showed us how to swaddle babies and how crying makes the baby’s heart pump faster which in turn, leads to their face turning red. The students were fascinated and showed much respect during the journey.

Police on Tricycle Alley
There were numerous cops out and about last week; they monitored speeds and were on the watch out for any traffic violations. Children acted as officials writing tickets for speeding, driving through a stop sign, not wear a helmet and colliding with other tricycles or pedestrians. We charted the number of tickets given out during the week and we were alarmed by the number of collisions that were happening. (Mind you that these collisions ranged from light taps to significant bumps.) We are trying to educate our tricycle riders of the importance of following at a safe distance.

Through explorations such as these we are engaging young children’s imaginations and giving them meaningful opportunities to strengthen literacy skills. Students properly circled or checked off the right violation and signed their name to make each ticket official. Through graphing the number and categories of violations, students were challenged to compare, contrast, and count amounts of tickets.

Announcements
Thank you

• to Veronica/ Lia Silberberg and Kelzang Wangchuk for their amazing presentation about Bhutan. Our students really enjoyed learning about Bhutanese culture and landscape. They’ll be making prayer flags soon, similar to the ones they saw in many of the photos the Silberbergs took during their Spring Break visit to Bhutan.
• to Valerie Holdsworth for bringing in special snacks for our faculty meeting last week. Yummy!
• to Maggie Valiante for coming every week to create stories with our 1st and 2nd grade students. This was a real highlight for our budding authors and they have each just received a year’s worth of work in a keepsake book… thanks to Maggie!

K-2 hits the stage, again!

Parents, be sure to mark your calendars for the upcoming K-2 performance of Lewis and Clark: A Journey West, premiering Tuesday, June 12th at 1:30 here at school. An encore performance will most likely be the next day for the rest of the school. Stay tuned for more details!

Journey Information Needed!

Hopefully, you have already sent in the form, but if you need another or have questions, please contact Betsy via email @ betsy.trowbridge@journeysschool.org. The journey to South Pass City is rapidly approaching and we need to know ASAP if your child (and/or you) are joining us!

Curricular Updates

Guest Author Maureen Butterfly visits K-2!

Maureen Butterfly, local author of The Adventures of Brady the Grasshopper and other related books, as insects as main characters, came to visit K-2 last Monday. If you are interested in a signed copy of one of her books, send in the bright green form that was sent home in your child’s folder last week.

Kindergarten and Pre-K Interactions: Mapping our Campus

Each Wednesday, the Kindergarten and Pre-K students that will be moving up next year, have a wonderful project time. The students have been exploring the concept of mapping all year. They began by reading about, examining and exploring different kinds of maps. Then the students moved into building maps of familiar places with three dimensional objects. As the group became more comfortable with making maps, they also represented familiar places two dimensionally. They were asked to read maps and follow directions to find certain locations (usually in the form of a scavenger hunt). Finally, the students used their measuring, number and cooperative skills to make play dough for our final mapping project. Each student made a relief map of coyote canyon, where our campus is located, and painted it. It has been very beneficial for all of these students to build relationships with one another and to interact with teachers at the different levels. We look forward to welcoming our Pre-K friends into the K-2 classroom next year!

Owl Math with Bari

My little owlets are almost ready to fledge the nest and fly on up to 3rd grade math! New concepts such as multiplication and division are definitely challenging, but the Owls are rising to the challenge, working hard and loving it. Recently, we have been exploring measurement to the nearest centimeter and inch. Unit 8 was an introduction to equivalent fractions, and we have explored collections of things. The fraction number stories students wrote were insightful to how they truly view numbers and the concepts of fractions. I was totally impressed! Not only are the Owls doing well in Math, they are excited about all of these new challenges. They loved reading, Inch by Inch, to compare the difference of 1/2 ,1/3, and ¼ inch. A great way to implement fractions at home, is with your food… be it pizza or whatever! Students also thoroughly enjoyed integrating a bit of Spanish into our most recent lesson to review fractions. (Thank you, Kjera for help with a few translations!) It was Matemáticas de Frijoles Negros (yes, Black Bean Math). Students used black beans to solve fraction number stories and create their own fraction equivalents. Ask your little owl about the activity! Thanks for all of the support you have given your child to further expand their knowledge and love for mathematics!

Squirrel Reading and Writing Workshop with Kalen

Spring is in the air and the Squirrels continue discovering a cache of knowledge inside the world of reading! Nuggets of literacy strategies support these growing readers and writers. After culminating our Character Study with a phenomenal performance of Charlotte’s Web, the remainder of the school year will be filled with explorations of Reader’s Theater and poetry. With a plethora of excitement, the Squirrels have already shared their eagerness and ability to embrace these literacy activities. Reader’s Theater engages and challenges students to experiment with voices and to practice fluency while reading aloud. The Squirrels adored reading and performing scenes from Charlotte’s Web and continue to practice the last few scenes. Other Reader’s Theater topics will integrate the spring season and Lewis and Clark skits. With a current emphasis on poetry, the Squirrels are beginning to see ordinary things in extraordinary ways. In turn they are able to see through poets’ eyes and describe the world in fresh, new and unusual ways. Recently, students read poems by Zoe Ryder White, such as Pencil Sharpener and Ceiling. These pieces opened a new window to soak up and share details of their lives in fresh new ways. As we develop an appreciation for poetry, we listen closely for sounds, rhythms, imagery, and language. Using our senses, we are beginning to stretch our imagination as poets. As we put our poetry skills to practice, students have written Acrostic, Makes-Me-Think-Of, and Windspark poems. We will continue our poetry study through reciting poems and writing more of our own, such as Diamante and Haiku poems. Using a blend of watercolors, oil pastels, and colored pencils, students have added an illustrative layer of texture to their poetic masterpieces! The Squirrels will continue to explore hearing the music in poetry and to uncover the nature of their inner poets. Putting “powerful thoughts in tiny packages” is a lifelong art to be supported, nurtured, and celebrated at Journeys School.

Gender Differentiation

Shannon and Bari attended the Gender Differentiation workshop on campus last Friday and Saturday. They are looking forward to sharing some interesting knowledge about the ways boys and girls are ‘wired’ and how it affects all aspects of learning at school.

Kick It!

K-2ers have been learning the rules of the road, in kickball, that is. Ryan has worked his magic during P.E. with them, and some students even played a big game in our family groups last week.

Announcements

Grades 3-5 Portfolio Night
Grades 3-5 Portfolio Night will take place during the evening of Thursday, May 31 from 5:00-6:00 p.m. Parents, family and friends are invited to view student portfolios, hear mini-presentations and celebrate a year of learning in Grades 3-5. Students are expected to stay with their portfolio from 5:00-6:00 p.m. Please contact your child’s advisor if you and your child will be unable to attend. Please plan to join us!

Thank You
Thank you to all of the parents who helped with the third and fourth grade journey to Pinedale: Kathy Kehr, Tessa Johnson, Jill Wright, Arturo Peralta-Ramos, Andrea Broyles, Lisa Daily, Amy Bryan, Annie Fenn, Janet Garland, Molly Hawks, Maho Hakoshima, and Teresa de Groh. We greatly appreciate all the parents who volunteered their time and talents!

Curriculum Updates

Capstone Presentations
Fifth grade Capstone presentations will take place this week! Please join us in the Grades 3-5 Learning Lab between 8:30 and 10:00 in the morning. Each student will have 15 minutes to share his or her learning. Each student will give an overview of his/her project and answer questions from the audience. Parents, grandparents, siblings, relatives, and friends are invited to attend. Faculty and students from other grade levels have also been invited. Presentations are scheduled as follows:

Monday, May 21:
Asa: “What technology companies are there in Jackson Hole?”
Tara: “What are the different techniques and types of baking in Jackson Hole?”
Shelley: “What is the history of the International Pedigree Stage Stop Sled Dog Race?”
Lyons: “What is the history of aviation in Teton Valley, Idaho?”

Tuesday, May 22:
Sascha: “What is the population and habitat of trumpeter swans in Jackson Hole?”
Ella: “What is the history of therapeutic riding in Jackson Hole?”
Connor: “What is the history of skiing in Jackson Hole and the Teton Range?”

Wednesday, May 23:
Nicole: “What habitat do dragonflies need to live in the Jackson Hole community?”
Tige: “What is the history of fire in the Greater Yellowstone area?”
Ariella: “How do humans interact with animals in the Jackson Hole area?”

Thursday, May 24:
Ruby: “What at the origins and characteristics of six common wildflowers in Jackson Hole?”
Melissa: “How can acupressure help our community?”
Brooke: “How and why has the wolf population changed since 1914 in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks?”

Friday, May 25:
Daniela: “In what ways do Latinos contribute to the Jackson Hole community?”
Charlotte: “What is bio-dynamic farming and how are these practices beneficial to Teton County?”
Faith: “Is the bald eagle population increasing or decreasing in Jackson Hole and why?”

Art and Physical Education
Two weeks ago, Grades 3-5 students were thrilled to travel to the Center for the Arts to participate in a clay class. Students created pinch pots and sculptures during their visit. This week, we will return to the Center for the Arts on Wednesday afternoon to glaze the projects we started two weeks ago. Sydney has arranged for the pieces to be fired, so the finished projects should be ready to view on portfolio night.

In physical education, students will start a personal fitness unit this week. Since the class will be going to the Center for the Arts on Wednesday afternoon, Ryan is going to take the students to the base of Snow King. Students will learn about heart rate and aerobic fitness, and then participate in some hiking on the King. We will measure our heart rates and breathing rates. Please remind your child to wear workout clothes and sturdy hiking, walking, or running shoes every Wednesday for the rest of the trimester.

Announcements

6-7 Journey
The sixth and seventh grade journey is next week. Students received a contact list, packing list and itinerary last Friday and all parents with email addresses were sent electronic copies. Students should bring their packed bag to the Outfitting Building on Friday May 25th. We will store all equipment there for the three day weekend. On Tuesday, May 29th, we will load vans and the trailer and be on our way. For more information, see attached documents in "6-7 Journey" in Outlook calendar or contact Karl at karl.vansycle@journeysschool.org 733-1327 x1124.

Capstone Journey

See information in "Capstone Update" below.

Capstone Service Project
Benefit Dinner to support The Lost Boys and Girls of Sudan
Friday, June 8th at 6:30pm in the Dining Hall
Please keep an eye out for your invitation in the mail this week. The eighth graders have taken on quite an inspiring challenge for their capstone service project. Please read more in “Capstone Service” in the Capstone Updates. All middle school students have been asked to be involved with at least one silent auction item, whether they donate a service or make something for the event. Also we need students to volunteer the night of the event. This is a great way for your child to make up those last few hours of community service, while getting a great dinner! Please ask your child what they plan donate (this might affect you) and encourage them to sign up to volunteer. We will also be looking for a few parent volunteers. The eighth graders have been working very hard to make this amazing event a reality. If you have any questions, please email Jo at Joanna.Snyder@journeysschool.org

Attention parents of 8th graders!
¡Baja, bebé! The Sea of Cortez in December . . . perfecto. Sí, sí, we’re already planning one of the options for Minimester 2007, a unique opportunity to travel to La Paz, México with Ecology Project International! We will be gone December 1-9, 2007. Students will travel to vibrant La Paz, and then join with instructors and local scientists to begin exploring. The scientific content of our courses will focus on benthic macro invertebrate diversity in sandy beaches as an indicator of human impact on coastal areas. This information can be used to help establish sustainable practices for public beaches in and around La Paz. Courses will also contain lessons and activities on coastal, desert, and marine ecology; botany and plant identification; research project development; data analysis and presentation; Spanish; plus snorkeling, kayaking, journaling, and hiking. This is an exciting opportunity for students to study ecosystem diversity, conduct research and visit with local high school students. ¡Qué oportunidad! Please contact Kjera (733-3729 x1122, kjera.strom@journeysschool.org) or check out www.ecologyproject.org.

To reserve your student’s place for this journey, please complete the EPI application and turn it in to Kjera or Charlotte with a $200 deposit by Friday, June 8.

Capstone Update

Capstone Braided Essay
Eighth grade students work all spring on their three-pronged Capstone Project. The academic component culminates in a braided essay, with three narratives, historical, personal and symbolic braids, woven together. The purpose of the braided essay is to provide the students with a rigorous seminar-style class and introduce them to a complicated written form that investigates their past in order to inform their present and their future.

The first is an historical braid. Students researched a family member through three interviews and research of the time period in which a significant event occurred in that person’s life. They investigated the characteristics of this family member, and brought out those themes of perseverance, hope, faith, etc while writing their narrative. Students then chose a significant experience in their life (whether it was a move, a trip in the wilderness, or a death in the family) that changed their perspective on life or the way they act and wrote a personal narrative about this event. The last symbolic braid will be explored during the students Rite-of-Passage journey next week. Margot will lead them through a visualization and give them prompts so during their solo, they will find a spirit animal, an animal that symbolically represents their personality and character traits that they will take with them into the future. The symbolic braid is a narrative written about that animal that will help glue the other two braids together, binding the themes of all the narratives. Students also have learned about heraldry, and used what they have learned about it and themselves to create a personal coat of arms.

These essays and coat of arms will be on display during Capstone Presentations Thursday and Friday morning, the last week of school (June 14th and 15th).

Capstone Service Project Background
Inspired this past winter by the National Geographic documentary “God Grew Tired of Us,” the eighth grade class has decided to raise money to support the educations of the Lost Boys and Girls of Sudan that have been resettled to the U.S. The benefit dinner will be held on Friday, June 8th at 6:30pm in the Jackson Campus Dining Hall.

Students are researching various elements of the political situation leading up to and surrounding the current situation in southern Sudan, in order to become more informed and thus better educate the dinner guests. In addition, each middle school student will donate at lease one item to our silent auction. All proceeds raised from the dinner and auction will be donated to the Sudanese Education Fund. The eighth grade class has been working very hard to make this event a success. They have addressed facility and supply considerations, contacted local papers and radio stations, organized and recruited silent auction items, created a fabulous invitation and even are negotiating with local business owners to help cater some of the food! I can’t say enough about how proud I am of the responsibility and initiative they have demonstrated. See more details in “Capstone Service” this week in the Outlook calendar.

Right-of-Passage Journey
The 8th graders have been busy preparing for their Spring Capstone Journey, “The Rite of Passage”. It is our hope that students will take many lessons with them from this journey as they move on to 9th grade and the rest of their lives. Self reliance, self confidence, and independence are important aspects of this journey that we hope our students will develop and foster in themselves. Chris, Charles and Kevin Taylor from Wildlife Expeditions will be departing with the 8th graders from Journeys on the morning of Tuesday, May 29th, and will be returning in time for pick-ups on Friday, June 1st. We will be spending the week camping in the Gros Ventre Mountains, near the South Fork of Ditch Creek. In preparation for the journey, we have been practicing skills like fire building (without matches), shelter building and primitive cooking with the students. This is a very special journey, and teachers and students alike are very excited for this memorable experience. An informational sheet with a rough schedule and packing list was given to students last week. Please contact Chris or Charles if you have any questions.

Curricular Updates

Level 1a Math
In Math 1a, students have been studying the use of positive and negative exponents. Specifically, we have been studying the concept of scientific notation, and practicing writing numbers in standard form vs. exponential form. For example, ask your child to write how many years ago the Earth was formed (about 5 billion) using scientific notation (5 x 109). Currently, we have moved on to investigating the use of parenthesis in multi-operation equations, and examining how this affects the order of operations. Students have learned the phrase “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally” to remember the order in which to perform steps in equations. Quiz them on this!

Level 1b Math
Our class just finished a unit about probability in which students determined the likelihood of events in chance scenarios such as tossing coins, twirling spinners and rolling dice. We discussed the differences between experimental probability and theoretical probability and applied some of our new knowledge to winning games of Black Jack. Our final unit of the year focuses on basic statistics. We just reviewed the concepts of range, mode, median and mean and will be exploring various ways to display data sets using graphs, line plots, stem and leaf diagrams and other representations. To practice with your student, have them point out to you examples of these concepts in the world (median home price, national average price of gasoline, most frequently requested song on the radio, etc.).

Level 2 Math
Level 2 math is in the middle of our three dimensional geometry unit. Students have been examining the relationship between a given volume and varying surface areas. A primary focus has been the conservation of resources in packaging materials. Specifically, students are investigating the relationship of the surface areas of rectangular prisms and cylinders to the total area of a flat pattern needed to wrap the solid. Ask your student about the “human box” we made in class!

Level 3 Math
As a final push in level 3 math students have been working with organizing large amounts of data and using samples to make representative inferences about populations. Students engaged in a modified version of the scientific method by posing questions, collecting data, analyzing the data and interpreting the results through a survey of Journeys Students that included questions ranging from favorite color to experience with bullying. As a final project students are analyzing data about life expectancy and access to safe drinking water from various regions to create a report for our “Safe Drinking Water Initiative Global Summit.” Students are looking for general relationships between life expectancy and access to safe drinking water, comparisons of access to drinking water between regions and life expectancies in each region. Students will then use their data to identify any critically hazardous regions and make recommendations for improvements.

Level 4 Math
After a successful unit on graphs and equations (way to go, Colin!), we are building on this knowledge in unit 7, systems of equations and inequalities. This unit explores three different methods for solving linear systems, or how to determine if a set of lines are parallel, the same line or if they intersect and the coordinates at which they intersect. These methods are the graphing method, the substitution method, and the elimination method, and their use is determined by the equations (information) given. For example, students are asked to solve a linear system, 3x-2y=9 and –x+2y=-7, using one of the methods above, graph the two lines, and then determine the coordinates at which the lines intersect, if they do at all. It is a laborious process, but very rewarding when the steps are properly followed and the correct answer is guaranteed!

Fine Arts & Film Elective
Over the last few days the students have been fine tuning their percussion skills and studying the Stomp musical/percussion performance. With the trimester coming to an end soon they are also preparing for a final performance (to be announced). Thank you, Liz (Conner Nay’s mother) for covering music on Monday. Let’s not forget how much effort the students are putting into their film elective. This week they are spending the afternoon shooting their short film and will be editing for the rest of the trimester. If you have any questions please contact Dennis at 733-1327 ex 1139.

Physical Education
The second group of middle school students are now taking the field for our field hockey unit. Group one finished their unit last week with full game play. Group two will start anew with the fundamentals and rules of the sport, ultimately leading to full game play by the third week.

Language Arts
In The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giono, the author makes it clear that he writes about Elzeard Bouffier, a truly unforgettable character, in order to promote the “the qualities of a truly exceptional human being.” These four qualities are a character devoid of egoism, with unparalleled generosity, heedless of recompense, and one who leaves a positive, visible mark on the world. With these traits in mind, students chose and researched a person who too has exceptional qualities and has left, or is leaving, a positive visible mark on the world. They chose people from modern history or the present, and from all fields: politics; the arts; literature; science; and advocacy. Ask your student who they wrote their expository essay on and how this person exemplifies truly exceptional qualities.

Students began last week uploading their poems onto YouTube to be judged in the Teton County Public Library’s r.a.p. (random acts of poetry) contest. The students who are not registered in the TCPL contest will perform their own r.a.p. on campus. Margot kicked off r.a.p. on campus with a performance of “Play Ball” by Shel Silverstein at a morning all school faculty meeting! Ask your student what poem they used, original or someone else’s, where they performed, and for whom.

In addition to the study of the semester theme "seeking balance", the Spanish B class had the opportunity to use their Spanish in more authentic ways when they visited the Jackson Hole Middle School ESL class last Wednesday to make new friends and compare stories from our respective Yellowstone journeys. The first bilingual-bicultural exchange of the year proved to be a great success when students from each school practiced using their new language during a personal scavenger hunt, individual interviews, and slide shows from our Yellowstone adventures. The Spanish A section will visit next week.

Elective Updates
Stick sports
The stick sports players continued to develop their lacrosse and field hockey skills over the past two weeks as they spent afternoons out in the sun. With an extra long electives block on Wednesday, they had the opportunity to have one scrimmage for each sport, and they were even joined by the film elective crew for some strong competition.

Yearbook
The students have been working very hard to pull together a yearbook of new proportions this year! After an impressive hunt for pictures and crash courses in using Microsoft Publisher, we have begun to make it happen! Thanks to Karl for his continued technical insight!

Announcements

Spring Journey

The Upper School is on their Spring Journey to Boise, from May 21 to May 25.

Course Syllabi Available on Internet

In response to parent feedback, syllabi of students’ courses are now available on the internet. Some assignments and criteria will be posted as well. To access the syllabi and assignments go to info.tetonscience.org and click on Journeys School resource pages and navigate your way to individual course syllabi and assignments. If you have any difficulties with this online format please contact David Porter or Nate McClennen.

Curricular Updates

English Grades 9-11

As the school year winds down students in grades 9-11 English complete their study of Multiple Literacies of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Over the past several weeks we have shifted from reading historical information about Judaism, Islam, the WWII Holocaust, and the creation of Israel in 1947 to artistic responses to the conflicts and violence that have taken place in Israel and Palestinian in-holdings. From the Israeli perspective we read and studied poetry by Jewish poet Yehuda Amichai. Amichai uses many traditional poetic conventions to express his distaste for violence in Israel as he calls for peace and remains hopeful throughout his work. Students studied poetic conventions of metaphor, tone, symbolism, and imagery. In addition to studying the poems students wrote original poems, practicing the use of the mentioned conventions. They also gave readings and prepared simple poetry portfolios. We have moved on to what we’re calling a documentary comic by Joe Sacco called Palestine. Sacco’s work documents his experiences with individuals while traveling and conducting interviews with Palestinians in The West Bank and Gaza Strip. Check in with your children about his exciting form of literature that is more and more integrated into American high school English classrooms.

Advanced Writing

To complete our study this year in advanced writing students are reading David James Duncan’s The River Why. The novel presents the life of Augustine ‘Gus’ Orviston, an obsessive fly fisherman who seeks a life of only fishing, that is, until he finds that life hollow. The novel presents many elements that are in step with the Journeys School mission – stewardship of the wild, better understanding of self, working together with others to accomplish goals. The novel is also quite humorous as well as very philosophical. In addition to reading and discussions, students are working on acquiring some of Duncan’s rich vocabulary. They will study a survey history of western epistemology from Plato to Sartre, with philosophy instructor Amy Goicoechea. There will be a formal assessment that asks students to apply philosophical theory to Gus’s search for self. The non-traditional assessment will require the making of a ‘braided’ map that braids together Gus’s physical and metaphysical journeys as well as students’ experiences from their recent trip on the San Juan River in southern Utah for their Capstone journey. Students have demonstrated a great deal of learning this year in advanced writing and should be well prepared for writing next year in college.

                  Neuroscientific Constructs Informing

                                  Classroom Practices
                                                   or,
                     My Group Project Is Due Tomorrow         

                                        by Karl Van Sycle

Understanding the growth of children’s cognitive abilities is essential to an educator’s planning and delivering a developmentally appropriate curriculum. Remarkably, most scientific studies in the area of cognitive development are less than sixty years old. The first study cited by most educational psychology textbooks is Jean Piaget’s 1952 study; a study he began by observing his own three children! If understanding the scope and sequence of the cognitive development of children is relatively new, applying these findings to a classroom scope and sequence is an even more recent endeavor. Where does an educator look to gain the information necessary to plan curricula? Along with an introduction to cognitive development, this article will explain how Journeys School meets the challenge of providing developmentally appropriate curricula.

In simple terms, metacognition is defined as, “thinking about thinking.” For an educator, no task is more important than understanding the metacognition of children— how a child thinks, how a child’s thinking changes over time and in what order the changes occur. Many frameworks exist to help the teacher understand her students. Howard Gardner proposed a theory of multiple intelligences. Frank Williams proposed a classification of thinking based on creativity. To better serve students, Journeys School now uses an extensive framework of cognitive and emotional development by Mel Levine. Another framework of metacognition helpful in the classroom is Benjamin Bloom’s Taxonomy of Critical Thought. This University of Chicago educational psychologist proposes a hierarchy of problem-solving abilities and higher-order thinking skills. His hierarchy, from lowest to highest is, in brief—

Knowledge- recall of information
Comprehension- organization and selection of relevant facts and ideas
Application- use of facts and principles in a different situation
Analysis- outlining, comparing, classifying ideas
Synthesis- creating something new from existing ideas
Evaluation- judging an idea for validity, value, etc

Almost every educational philosophy recognizes the necessity of recalling, comprehending and applying knowledge. An example is multiplication facts. No matter how difficult, or boring, every student needs to memorize and use “times tables.” Knowledge, comprehension and application are also the domains of standardized testing. Most traditional exams ask for demonstration of these first three skills. Recently, essay writing has been added to test requirements. Usually, the topic is provided so the student is asked to perform, at best, some type of analysis.

Teachers face the daunting task of educationally preparing students for a future the teacher cannot even imagine. Therefore, Journeys School recognizes the necessity of teaching students how to think versus solely what to think. Bloom’s Taxonomy is a useful guide in developing and delivering curricula that provokes critical thinking. For example, in the Journeys School elementary grades, students often get “choice time,” a choice of activities or topics of study. This freedom to choose begins with students using evaluation, the highest level thinking skill! In the Middle School, each trimester ends with a culminating project. This “group final exam” asks students to begin the project by evaluating their own ideas and their peers’ ideas in creating something new through synthesizing knowledge gained from the trimester. The projects also challenge students to practice and display skills a traditional test could never hope to cover, skills such as communicating to a wide audience, leadership, cooperation, problem solving, conflict resolution, public speaking and delegation of tasks.

Perhaps the best example of students using Bloom’s higher-level thinking and problem-solving skills at Journeys School is the capstone experience in fifth, eighth and twelfth grades. Through a self-selected project, the learner progresses from simple recall of information through synthesizing that information to create something new. To quote from the Journeys School website,

The culmination of the Journeys School experience is the Capstone Year, when twelfth grade students bring their Journeys School education to an end. Students complete a challenging set of academic classes, participate in extensive service learning, conclude a thesis project and design their own experience, such as professional internships or international travel programs. (http://www.journeysschool.org/academics.html)

Younger students in fifth and eighth grades have a similar experience based on developmentally appropriate practices. The Capstone experience challenges students in ways a traditional test can not.

New advances in the fields of educational psychology and cognitive development make this an exciting time to be an educator. Foundational research exists to aid the teacher in providing challenging assignments and assessments. Current research shows a curriculum emphasizing critical thinking and problem solving can actually provoke the growth and complexity of neurons in the brain. This growth and complexity is the physical basis of what is commonly referred to as, “being smart.”

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