November 24th-26th: Thanksgiving Break, NO SCHOOL
2021-22 School Year Calendar
Donations Needed!
Thank you to everyone who has already donated!
In preparation for our final NW Story path episode on November 17th, we are calling on Puffin families to make a small food donation. Our final episode involves a special celebration with a feast of traditional foods which we will celebrate outside.
We need your help to make it really special!
Please take a look at our food list below, which shows the items we still need.
If possible, please select an item (or items!) that you would be able to donate.
- Dried Roots (vegetable chips/dehydrated veggies)
- Dried Meat- (Jerky: salmon)
As these donations are all dried/package sealed items, you can send your donation in with your student any time between now and the 16th of November.
Daily class snack for recess
A BIG Thank you to all of our amazing families who provide daily snacks for the class. Your support is amazing!!
There are many kids who need a healthy snack each day at second recess, and our classroom supply is again running out.
If you are able, please consider donating a box of individually wrapped snacks to the Puffin nest.
What works best? Easy-peel Clementine oranges, granola bars or fruit leather make great individually wrapped snacks.
Just send your class donation in with your kiddo. Our Puffins thank you!!
What’s happening in the Puffin Nest?
Stephanie Craig joined the Plovers and Puffins class this week for a weaving In&About. Stephanie is a 7th generation traditional basket weaver and member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. She values educating and preserving cultural practices for future generations.
Especially in the colder months, the Indigenous people of the NW would spend time indoors enjoying storytelling, making tools, and weaving. Basketry and nets would be woven to provide the tools and storage containers for capturing, containing, carrying and cooking foods gathered the rest of the year. Basketweaving is one of many important aspects of native culture. The techniques handed down from generation to generation are used to create both practical tools and beautiful pieces of art. During our In&About, Stephanie taught students how to weave a tule duck decoy, used by many tribes for hunting.
NW Coastal People Storypath: EPISODE 8
This week, students learned about a plan to relocate the people of their village onto a reservation. In 1854, the United States government decided to make treaties with the Northwest Coast native people to legally extinguish the native people’s right to the land and to set up reservations where the native people were forced to live.
The “Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens” came into our classroom and asked to speak to the chief. Stevens read the treaty to the villagers and then demanded that the chief sign it. Students called a village meeting to discuss the treaty.
We discussed the following questions:
- Why do you think they will only let you set up temporary houses where you fish?
- Why does the president of the United States want the authority to move you to other places whenever he wants?
- Why does the treaty demand that you be friendly to all settlers?
- Why is the government providing education in agriculture and other skills?
- You have always traded with your neighbors to the north. Why is that now being restricted?
Students wrote short stories about their experiences with the treaty and relocation from their character's perspective. We focused on beginning with a lead sentence to spark interest and draw the reader into the story, retelling the important event and providing clear information, using words to create vivid pictures, and including interesting details about the event. We also worked to edit carefully, making sure that our sentences sounded right and made sense when we read them out loud. Finally, we took the time to write carefully and neatly so that the stories would be easy to read and share.
Level 2 "Inclusive Community" Read-Aloud Series
Beginning the second week of November, we will engage a weekly "Inclusive Community" read-aloud series. Through these read-alouds, we will learn about and celebrate diversity in our community.
November: Indigenous People’s Month