Upcoming Events
Saturday, December 3rd- Open House for Pacific's Biology Department
The biology department at Pacific University is hosting an open house for students of all ages! Visit from 1-4pm to see the biology labs and get your hands on all sorts of fun biology activities: make strawberry DNA, see microbes, race iso-pods and much more! Hosted in the Strain building (the building by the green house along Cedar St.) on the 2nd and 3rd floors.
Monday, Decemberber 5th- Puffins to Forest Grove Public Library 2pm-3pm
Library books are due! Send them in with your kiddo to return today.
Chaperones Welcome! We welcome volunteers to walk with us, encourage our kiddos to make smart choices, and to help kids find and check out books. If you would like to join us, simply meet us in the classroom at 1:55pm.
Wednesday, December 14th- Toy Take Apart Day!
Volunteers & Donations Needed! (see below)
Friday, December 16th- Lunch Orders Due by 12pm
December 19th-January 2nd- Winter break: NO SCHOOL
Class Business: Puffins will be selling terrariums over the break
Happy Holidays Everyone!
Tuesday, January 3rd- 1st day of school after winter break
Welcome Back!
Wednesday, January 4th- Puffin Class Business ORDERS DUE
DONATIONS NEEDED:
We will continue our study of electricity with a Toy Take Apart Day on December 14th! Students will work in small groups to safely dismantle and learn about the "guts" of their toys!
Volunteers: We will need parents to help with disassembly.
Electronic Toys Needed: donations of old/broken mechanical toys(stuffies with batteries or switches, dancing Santas, remote-control cars, etc).
Tools Needed: All sizes of standard and Phillips head screwdrivers, pliers and wire cutters. Please label tools with your student's name so they can be returned.
Terrarium Treasures: Students are encouraged to go on nature walks, hunting for miniature treasures for our class business. Ideas: special rocks, crystals, unique twigs, and beach glass.
Level 2 Weekly homework
1. Typing Homework: This year, Level 2 students will have typing homework to develop and support important keyboarding skills.
Please practice at least 20 minutes per week on: Typing.com
2. Reading: Spend at least 20 minutes reading (outside of school) every day.
When you finish a book, add it to your Tower of Books!
3. Math homework: Students should log on to either Dream Box or Khan Academy (see below) and complete 30 minutes (minimum) of math practice.
Current 4th grade math topics:
- Multiply 1 digit by 2 digits and Multiply 2 digits by 2 digits using an area model
Stephanie's News From Art Room
Students will be creating holiday cards in art class to accompany donations to the Forest Grove Senior Center. You can find a list of needed items and donate a gift at Bi-Mart. There will be a holiday gift wrapping party on December 19th from 9am - 10:30am. They would like volunteers to come wrap the gifts they collect. If you have any questions about ways to volunteer in this project or with seniors, you can contact Joni at 503-530-1527. Annually they collect collect 500 gifts for seniors in need, that is a lot of wrapping!
What's Happening in the Puffin Nest?
This week, Level 2 students got a visit from two special guests.
Our first visitor was an outreach specialist from Metro with an "Investigating Packaging" presentation and activity.
Students considerd questions and discovered a smart solution to a real problem.
Guiding Questions:
What is packaging and why do we have it or need it?
What's in our trash?
What happens to plastic and plastic packaging in the landfill?
How can we put less plastic in the landfill?
Is it cheaper to buy in bulk or larger sizes? Why?
Solution:
Buy in bulk or larger sizes, rather than small individual wrapped items.
Next, The Puffins hosted an expert from our community. As a real-life business consultant, our expert (Jon) had lots of great advice for the kids about thier class buisness! He led an activity where the students created a business map to think through all the components of making their business run. We focused on turning our good ideas into a sustainable business model that will work! We also created a timeline to help us visualize our plans.
The Puffins brainstormed & mapped out the following components for their business:
Puffins Perfect Planter Paradise
Value proposition:
Our passion, what we want to do, and WHY we do it
Handmade by students- unique-crafted with care & love
Environmentally friendly
Reused materials- good for the planet (less trash)
Money raised supports the school
Brings the beauty of nature to your home
Customers:
Who are they? (We will be thinking about what they want and need.)
Parents (Friends, Co-workers)
Teachers
Relatives (Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents)
Neighbors
Relationships:
Make it personal & emotional, a story that captures the heart of our customer
How are we going to connect with our customers during our sales pitch?
Pictures on the order form showing the product
Personal presence & eye contact
Be calm, talk slowly & clearly
Be enthusiastic & be passionate about what we are doing
Be nice and make a connection with our customers
Channel:
How will we physically get the product to the customer?
Pick-up @ Celebrations of Learning
Delivery (charge a fee)
Design Team to create easy, cost effective, environmentally friendly packaging
Activities:
What are we going to DO in the business? What actions/ steps make it happen?
Research the materials, design, and assembly of decorative terrariums
Get re-use containers, decorations and substrate materials
Make prototypes for two categories: live plant & faux plant
Create an order form, sales pitch and work to sell the product
Count sales and plan production
Gather materials needed to fill orders & assemble the product
Research plant care and create a plant care booklet to go with the product
Create sign and display for Celebrations of Learning pick-up event
Decide on a responsible way to spend the profits
Resources:
What do we need to put it together?
Re-used containers: jars, old lamp covers, donated glass
Substrate materials: rocks, gravel, pebbles, sand, soil
Decorative items: crystals, stones, twigs, moss, figurines
Plants: air, succulents, felt
Packaging materials: re-used cardboard, paper
Buisness partners:
Community parnters, contacts, helpers- who will we connect with in the outside world to help us?
ReBuilding Center- containers
SCRAP- decorations
Local Nursery- plants
State Forest to gather materials
Parents (possible delivery channel)
Business Consultant
Cost:
Outgoing money we spend on materials
Revenue:
Incoming money that we get from customers
Read Aloud
In class this week, we finished reading Kate Dicamillo's: Tale of Despereaux
This engaging book abounds with interesting characters and rich themes.
As we read, students were encouraged to connect the story to their personal experiences and feelings, to their general background knowledge, and to other stories they have read. To boost comprehension, we ask questions before, during and after the reading.