In Hiding

Today we read a novel in a day. That novel was Diary of a Young Girl, the Diary of Anne Frank. This technique allows a class to get a grasp on a novel quickly by splitting it into sections and each group reporting on a section.

The 7th grade twist, because there's always a twist, they had to do this while in hiding. Each group had to hide themselves under their desks. We turned off the lights and they had to complete their task while not being discovered. The other teachers got in on the fun by pounding on the door, shining flashlights under the desks, and "arresting" anyone they could see.

After 45 minutes we came out of hiding and talked about the experience. Here's what they had to say:

"Every time the door rattled my heart raced and I started sweating."
"The flashlight passed right over me, but he took someone else. I was so relieved."
"Every time someone came in, we huddled closer together, determined no one would be taken."
"It was hard to get anything done. It was stressful and cluttered, and dark."

It's an experience they are not likely to forget.

Fort Stevens Food List

Below you will find the list of needed items for Fort Stevens. if you can bring one or more items, please let me know and I'll dd you. All items can be brought to school on Tuesday morning so we can load coolers and head out.

Item needed	Family/Families  responsible
Bread – 8 loaves	Saidjanov
Cheese – 2 large packages	Saidjanov
Lunch meat – 3 large packages	Elkins
Chips – 5 family sized bags	O'Reilly
Apples – 3 dozen	apples
Condiments: for sandwiches and hot dogs	---
Mayonnaise	Marshall
Mustard	Dodson
Ketchup	Marshall
Relish	Dodson
Sauerkraut
60 Hot Dogs	Olson
60 Hot Dog Buns	Olson
Carrot sticks	Rajamoney
Celery sticks	Rajamoney
5# potato salad	McFarland
For omelets:	---
5 doz. eggs	Storm
Diced ham	McFarland
Grated cheddar cheese	Dodson
Onion	Rajamoney
Peppers	Dodson
mushrooms	Hamersly
Tea	Wesson
Hot chocolate	Wesson
3 dozen oranges	Dodson
10# Noodles	O'Reilly
10 LARGE cans of spaghetti sauce	Wesson
7 loaves of garlic bread	Hamersly
3 LARGE Bags of salad	Dodson
Salad dressing – 2 kinds	Moutos
3 LARGE Boxes of graham crackers	Bandara/Marshall
2 packages of marshmallows	Bandara/Marshall
3 – 6pks of chocolate bars	Bandara/Marshall
5 dozen muffins	Parkinson
40 bananas	Moutos
10 bags of ice	Hamersly

Fort Stevens Trip

We are about a month out for the trip. Below you will find the packing list so you can start thinking ahead.
Students should bring a small suitcase and their sleeping bag. In class on Wednesday we created the packing list. It should have come home for use in planning. Just in case it didn't make it, here it is again: 

• Sleeping Bag
• Pillow
• 2 pair of jeans
• 2 pair of shorts
• 4 t shirts
• Underwear
• Socks
• Sweatshirt
• Jacket
• 2 towels
• Pajamas
• Shoes meant for hiking. NO open toed sandals, high heeled boots, etc.
• Toothbrush and toothpaste
• Brush
• Deodorant
• Shampoo
• Sunscreen
• 1 plastic reusable plate
• 1 plastic reusable bowl
• 1 fork
• 1 spoon
• Water bottle
• Necessary medications (These need to be given to me with the proper release form)
• Camera (optional)

Students may NOT pack electronics, hair dryers, curling irons, or anything else that will cause them to spend more than 10 minutes getting ready in the morning.

Materials Needed

7th grade needs milk jugs! Please save all the 1 gallon milk jugs with lids that you can get your hands on. You can send them in at any time, we'll save them here in the room. 

May 10th Field Trip

May 10th  - Skating As A Life Time Sport

Chaperones -(More needed. Please let me know if you can attend this trip.)

• Mrs. Moutos 
• Mrs. Bandara

Uniform - Regular school uniform. Skirts are less than ideal. Long pants or shorts are fine with a collared white shirt. Socks are mandatory as usual. 

Lunch - Healthy no waste lunch. No school lunch will be served. 

This is a regular school day. Students should arrive by 8:00. Carline will be at 3:30. 

Schedule - 

8:30 - Load Cars

9:00 - Arrive Oaks Park Skating Rink

9 - 11 Students will learn about the various forms skating can take. (Jam Skating, Speed Skating, Roller Derby, Art Skating, etc) Students will also have time to practice the demonstrated skills. 

11:00 - Picnic lunch at Oaks. 

11:30 - Bird Watching/Mural Sketching at Oaks Bottom

1:00 - Load cars and return to school

1:30 - Arrive at School

1:45 - Plant Victory Gardens

3:30 - Carline

Rationing

Beginning Sunday all students will be participating in rationing. The purpose of the rationing is for students to experience what sacrifices the civilians on the home front were making during the WWII. The rules were explained to them today and after the moaning and groaning died down, we put the details in their planners. The rationing has two parts.

Part 1 involves the conservation of wheat, sugar, and meat for the troops. A day of the week would be designated as a “wheatless day” or a “sugarless day”.  Mondays are meatless, Tuesdays are wheatless, Wednesdays are sugarless, and Thursdays are dairy free.  This means they are being asked to pack a lunch that does not include the designated item on those days. They can have extra credit if they can also do it for breakfast and dinner but it is not required. We will continue this for three weeks, beginning next Monday.

Part 2  involves the rationing of items in high demand to prevent hoarding, price gauging, etc. Our version of this is designed to help students experience the difficulty of making decisions based upon very limited resources. Students will be given a ration book with pages of ration tickets. Each ticket is good for the item stated upon it. One page will contain tickets for 1 text each. One page will contain tickets for 1 3 – 5 minute phone call each. One page will contain tickets for 10 minutes of TV viewing. One page will contain tickets for 10 minutes of computer time. The last page will contain tickets for 10 minutes of video games. Tickets may not be traded, swapped, bought, duplicated, recycled, saved, rolled over, or bartered in any way. Parents are asked to collect tickets as they are used. Students can earn extra ration tickets by doing extra work in the classroom. Students may lose ration tickets for not turning in homework on time. I know this will be painful and will result in lots of whining but it is an excellent learning opportunity and only lasts two weeks.

Here are some quotes from families that have survived the 7th grade rationing project:

"It's is going really well I'm so proud of her, because I would've given up the 1st night. My student is determined!! There have been a couple of benefits... She tried a food for dinner, that normally she wouldn't, she is spending more of her free time with me! (yay) and it is inspiring us to try to challenge ourselves. I think the hardest part for her, is less time on the computer, which is forcing her to go outside even more & play games with us too! It's all good here"

"Our student has been following through and eating only what she is allowed to eat.  Yes, it means changing the dinner menu a little.  No ration tickets have been used as of yet.  She has been spending her time playing outside or reading.  A good learning moment for all."

"Although our son truly thinks he is dying we enjoyed the card game time together.  I think it is so funny-he's not ever allowed to do nintendo on the weekdays anyway, but for some reason he thinks it's major deprivation!  :-)  No-in reality-it is the VERY BEST way to teach how hard rationing must have been.  I applaud your creativity.  Wheatless was a challenge!  We are having a blast doing it though, and we are humbled by the Holocaust stories and things we are hearing."

BOB Schedule, Current Standings, and Score Updates

Current Standings

1. 7th Grade 439 Points

2. 8th Grade 424 Points

3. 6th Grade 357 Points

4. 3rd Grade 299 Points
5. 4th Grade 252 Points
6. 5th Grade 220 Points

** Challenge points have been added to totals above, so they do not match the totals below.

Monday the 22nd - 

4 vs 5 at 11:10  - Completed - 4th Grade Wins 47 : 25

3 vs 4 at 3:00 - Completed - 4th Grade Wins 40 : 30

Tuesday the 23rd - 

4 vs 6 at 2:40 - Completed 6 Grade Wins 48 : 43

3 vs 8 at 3:00 - Completed 8th Grade Wins 68 : 64

Wednesday the 24th - 

6 vs 7 at 10:00 - Completed 6 Grade Wins 77 : 74

4 vs 8 at 2:40 - Completed 8th Grade Wins 70 : 61

Thursday  the 25th - 

3 vs 6 at 3:00 - Completed 6th Grade Wins 73 : 53

4 vs 7 at 9:40 - Completed 7th Grade Wins 76 : 61

Monday the 29th - 

7 vs 8 at 9:40 - Completed 7th Grade Wins 95 : 91

3 vs 5 at 11:10 - Completed 3rd Grade Wins 72 : 36

5 vs 8 at 3:00 - Completed 8th Grade Wins 98 : 42

Tuesday the 30th - 

3 vs 7 at 9:40 - Completed 7th Grade Wins 84 : 77

6 vs 8 at 3:00 - Completed 8th Grade Wins 100 : 76

Thursday the 2nd 

5 vs 7 at 9:40 - Completed 7th Grade Wins 100 : 62

5 vs 6 at 3:00 - Completed 6th Grade Wins 81 : 55

Final Battle

May 6th 2:30 PM  - Everyone Invited

Battle Presentations

Each 7th grader has been assigned a battle to become and expert on and share with the class. These will be presented in class in May the week of the 13th. 

Each presentation should include the following information: 

• Name
• Date
• Who was involved
• Technology involved
• What happened
• Who "won"
• Why is it considered an important battle of the war?

Each battle is allotted 30 minutes to present. A presentation may include any of the following elements: 

• Lecture
• Movie clips
• Reading passages
• Hands on activity (game, building model, etc)
• Assessment

In the past we have seen games outside, movies, models, jeopardy games, crossword puzzles, Senteo quizzes, Power Point presentations, etc. 

If they need any supplies for their presentation, I will get the supplies if they get me a list at least a week ahead of time. 

Holocaust Speaker

This Thursday, April 18th, Mr. Peter Wigmore will be speaking to our class.

 He is a retired special education teacher, and is a "2nd generation survivor" of the Holocaust, meaning that at least one of his parents in this case his mother is a survivor of the Holocaust. Specifically, she survived Auschwitz, where she had to endure Mengele's "medical experiments." His mother, Rosa, is still alive, living here in the Portland area, but she refuses to speak publicly about her experiences. So Peter has been telling her story for going on 30 years now.

He will be speaking from 1:00 until 2:30. Parents are welcome to join us. It would not be appropriate for younger siblings. Please let me know if you are attending so I can have extra chairs available. 

Summer School Classes

Summer School classes are coming! This summer we have a full line up o f fun and educational topics. From daycare with a twist (Falcon's Nest), to Riggs Camp, Writing Camp, Speech Camp, and Boat Building. Cascade summer camps are an excellent way to stop the summer slump.

I will be running Riggs Camp which helps students that are new to Cascade or struggling with spelling. We spend 4 hours a day on Riggs using a wide variety of hands on activities to help students cement the skills they need to succeed.

Fliers should arrive today. If you have any questions, contact the teacher running the camp!

Field Trip Pictures

Today was a great day. Having two great docents allowed us to learn more than we could have on our own and allowed us to focus on what was most important.

Both docents had nothing but good to say about our class. They asked intelligent questions, participated in conversations, and were very respectful.

Thank you to Mrs. Wesson for the photos below!

April Field Trip

It looks like our April Field Trip is on thanks to Mrs. Wesson, Mrs. Marshall, Mr. Schumacher, and Mrs. McFarland.

Students should arrive at school at 7:45 in their regular school uniform. Everyone should bring a healthy no waste lunch with a largish snack. We will return in time for regular car line!

In the morning we will be building salt dough models of Pearl Harbor. At 10:15 we will load cars and drive to the Nikkei Legacy Center. The Nikkei Legacy Center is described on their web site as follows:
"The term "Nikkei" means Japanese emigrants and their descendants.
Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center is Japanese American history museum in Portland, charged with the preservation and sharing of the history and culture of the Japanese American community. The Legacy Center opened the doors to its current home in September of 2004. The museum now has a larger exhibit space, with exhibits that highlight Issei immigration and early life in Oregon, Nihonmachi (Japantown), and life after Executive Order 9066, including the Portland Assembly Center and contemporary Nikkei life."

It is located one block off Waterfront Park. We will be working with docents to tour their exhibit, hear the stories, and visit the Japanese American memorial at the Waterfront. We will be there from 11:00 - 12:30.

At 12:30 we will be driving to the Holocaust Memorial in Washington Park. There we will meet the president of the Oregon Holocaust Resource Center. She will be acting as docent and helping us to dig deep into the meaning of the memorial.

When we are finished at the Memorial, we will have lunch in Washington Park. This will be a late lunch, which is why they will need a larger snack to eat before we leave in the morning.

By the end of the day, students will have experienced many heavy emotions. In the past I have seen profound changes in attitude and world views. Please be prepared for some fairly heavy discussions at the dinner table Friday night.

OAKS Scores Coming Home

Today students received print outs of their OAKS reports. Please ask to see them tonight. It will show you whether they met the benchmark and what strands their strengths lie in. If you'd like to meet to discuss their results, I'm happy to do so!

Field Trips!

We have 4 field trips left this year. You won't want to miss any of them, so mark your calendars now.

The first is next Friday, April 12th, 2013. We will be visiting the Nikkei Legacy Center and the Holocaust Memorial at Washington Park. Rumor has it we have a bus for this trip, so I'll need chaperones but not drivers. (Subject to change at any time :) )

The second trip is a joint field trip with 7th and 8th grade on May 10th. We will be going to Oaks Park to learn about various sports that involve skates. We will have guest speakers to demonstrate roller derby, speed skating, art skating,  jam skating, and dance. 

But wait, there's more!

On May 23rd we have a mystery field trip. The destination is a secret which students will be working to figure out before we get there. I will need drivers for this trip, preferably ones with larger cars or trucks. We'll be gone for several hours, but will arrive home in time for carline.

Then, on May 28th we head out for our annual camping trip. We will leave school on Tuesday morning and return on Thursday evening. We will spend 3 action packed days in Fort Stevens touring the batteries, learning the history of the area, working with rangers and military experts, as well as learning to build fires, put up tents, tell ghost stories, swim in the lake, play on the beach, and cook our own meals. This is obviously a more involved trip and I'll need at least 2 dads and 2 moms that are willing to spend a few days with us. A more detailed information sheet will be coming home soon, please keep an eye out for it.

All of these trips will require chaperones! Please let me know which trip(s) you'd like to attend.