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Friday, October 8th: NO SCHOOL for students
Professional Development/Grading Day
Friday, October 15th NO SCHOOL for students
Professional Development/Grading Day
Thursday, October 21st: NO SCHOOL for students
Student Conferences
Friday, October 22nd: NO SCHOOL for students
Student Conferences
2021-22 School Year Calendar
What’s happening in the Puffin Nest?
Project: Storypath: “Early Northwest Coast People”
This week, we began to create the characters in our story.
We learned that the early NW coast people lived in extended family groups which included uncles, aunts, grandparents, and cousins, as well as parents, brothers and sisters. During group discussion, we considered the advantages to living with two or more generations.
We also learned that extended families, or clans, had their own clan crest that represented the family. The clan crest usually was an image of the ancestor of the clan. This ancestor was often an animal.
Students created their own identity within their family groups, and worked together to make their animal clan crest.
During Writing Workshop, Puffins drafted, edited and published a narrative piece about their daily life in the Puffin Nest.
During Reading Workshop, students jumped into the rich NW storytelling tradition by retelling and acting out a native legend about their clan animal.
We also began our new class Read-Aloud: The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich.
Set in 1847, The Birchbark House is a historical fiction novel that chronicles the life of Omakayas, a young Ojibwe girl, and her extended family. They live on land her people call the Island of the Golden Woodpecker (an island on Lake Superior). The story encompasses a year of daily routines and chores, a harsh winter and a spring of rebirth, myths and stories, and feasts and celebrations.
It will be interesting to compare and contrast the lives of the Ojibwe people with the NW coastal groups we are studying.
Our kiddos have been working diligently each day to strengthen their stamina with important school routines and practices. We are focusing on:
- Scholarship: caring about my learning, being an active listener and participator, doing my best work, and trying new things with an open heart
- Stewardship: caring about and taking care of my place and my tools
- Citizenship: caring about people in my community, collaborating with others to solve problems, and being safe and respectful towards others
We celebrated their progress with a well-earned "drawing" party at the end of our day on Thursday.
Keep up the good work Puffins!