Film and Photography Weeks 2 and 3

We've been busy this week and last working on an editing exercise.  Tomorrow we take a look at each other's scenes.

Check out the class tumblr and flickr for a synopsis of our work last week and this week.

Camp: Day 4 High Ropes and Farewell

There are many mixed emotions on the final day of camp. We are sad to leave Camp Whittier and our new friends (Fox, Grant, Jen, Cookie, and Fabio), but we are all excited to be heading home too!

We ended our trip with two high ropes elements, the High V and the rock wall The challenges today involved a lot of cooperation and trust. Everyone pushed themselves and each other to achieve goals and stretch their limits. We celebrated many break-throughs and goals shattered!

Thank you to all the people who made this trip a success. We have so many new memories that we will cherish for a long time.

Camp: Day 3 Water Day

Today, we took our activities to the beach. We went to Refugio Beach for a day of water activities. We suited up and headed out for a morning of sea kayaking. While out on the water, we successful pinwheeled our rafted kayaks, we played water polo in kayaks, and we learned about kelp. We had a picnic feast for lunch. In the afternoon, played on the beach, we frolicked in the waves and some of us were able to try stand up paddle boarding (SUP). Unfortunately, the weather conditions became unfavorable so we had to cut the SUP lessons short.

Tonight, we are preparing for an evening of skits by the campfire and s'mores. We are having a great time , but many are looking forward to coming home. See you tomorrow at the train station!

Camp: Day 2 High Ropes

We are off to a roaring start today. We did a low ropes element called, "the low V" in preparation for our day of high ropes. We explored how to trust a partner and what we need to be pushed to meet challenges. The class took on a cat walk, high tight rope, leap of faith and a swinging ladder challenge. Everyone met their goals and often pushed through to surpass them! Lots of challenge, support, and fun!

Parent Ed: NMY Tech Talk with Jesse

As part of our Parent Education program, we invite NMY parents to attend a presentation by Jesse Brand, our Director of Technology, for a shared understanding of what technology will look like for your NMY student this year.

Please join us the morning of Thursday, October 11th from 8:00-9:00 in the auditorium.

We look forward to seeing you!

Fall Festival Toy Collection

Please bring in your gently used toys for the Fall Festival prize booth! Bins are available outside of both offices. If you have any questions, please email the Parent Association (PA) at pa@tcslj.org. Be sure to mark your calendars for the big event which will be held on Sunday, October 21 at 11:00 a.m., and check the PA Blog (http://www.tcspa.tumblr.com) for more Fall Festival details coming soon!

Camp: Day 1 Highlights

After a very early start, a five-hour train ride, and a 45-minute van ride, we arrived at Camp Whittier. After a hearty lunch, we played some get-to-know-you games, created a marble run, we were frustrated by the helium pole, balanced on our "whale-watching" boat, and crossed the "acid river" collaboratively.

We had a delicious spaghetti dinner by Fabio, which lead to our night hike. The highlight was a once in a lifetime rattlesnake sighting. We were a little spooked, but proceeded without further incident.

And We Are Off!

They all made it on the train and they are super excited.

Los Cognados

In an effort to show students how much Spanish they already know, they were sent on a mission to look for cognados (cognates). Students searched articles written in Spanish to find the cognates. They were impressed to see how many Spanish words they already knew.

Humantities Update

Wow, it is hard to believe we only completed our second full week of school!  It was great hearing a couple of students say, "The week goes by so quickly."  and, "OMG, it is Friday already?" ...music to a teacher's ears...

It was a productive and busy second full week in sixth grade. We started the week of with a discussion about the 2012 Presidential Elections.  Students identified who was interested in talking more about the political events leading up to our election.  We talked about the possibility of hosting a TCS Presidential Election as well.  Because of a question asked about the incidents in the middle east and a recent anti-Muslim video that was made here in California, students learned about the First Amendments and our rights that protected under it and incidents that may not be protected under it.  I encouraged students to bring these conversations home, but a direct question about the conversation may help open the dialogue.

Sixth graders are in the process of writing a creative story where they need to include both fiction and non-fiction, or as I said in class, two or three truths and one or two lies!  This first story will go through the edit process.  This second writing assignment is a short story and will be at least two pages long.  They will edit their own work, a peer will edit it, and finally, I will edit their writing and they will then write a final copy. This will help me discover their writing skills and needs.  

When we return from our sixth grade trip, which I am very excited about, each student will take a quick reading assessment with me to establish a reading baseline for the year.  They will end the year in a similar fashion, and of course, the goal is that improvement will be evident.

If you have not heard, sixth graders have started their first research project.  Each student has selected an explorer to research.  They will have an expository paper to write, a map to create, and will end the project with an oral presentation to their peers.  The project incorporates their questions, some of my questions and they have several options for a self-selected component like a time line, an I-movie, an art project, a diorama, a 3-D model, and more...  While students are working on this Exploration Project, I will begin to introduce colonization to them.  We started this on Friday with a quick discussion about Roanoke Island and Jamestown.  Your sixth graders are inquisitive and interested in the work we are doing, which consequently, makes my work easier and enjoyable.

Finally, special thanks to the three delegates who represented the sixth grade with our Constitution, Kiley, Melanie and Kendra. Thanks to all sixth graders who participated in these important conversations with Carwai last week.

Camp reminder - Don't forget your water bottles and $10 for a lunch on our return trip this Friday!!

Parent Ed: Social Curriculum 101

WELCOME TCS FAMILIES! 

Tomorrow, at 9:00, following Community Meeting, we invite you to the NMY Common Room, , where we will kick-off this year's Parent Education series with "Social Curriculum 101"!  To help you plan your morning, we will start promptly at 9:00 and wrap up by 10:00. 

We encourage you to come learn about how our integrated social curriculum is woven throughout your children's days. 

We will talk about the philosophy and the implementation of our social curriculum.  

You'll get a peek into The First Six Weeks.

We will talk about the benefits of experiencing empathic connections, conflict resolution, adversity and logical consequences.  

We look forward to seeing you!  

Kelly Parisa

Coordinator of Parent Education and Student Support Services

PLPs

Over the last few Open Studio classes, we have talked extensively about PLPs (personal learning projects). You asked many questions, you shared your collective wisdom with your new classmates, and many of you were eager to get started.

The link on the top bar entitled, PLP, contains the timeline and proposal outline that we created for the coming year. All dates and deadlines are subject to amendment.

We are looking forward to seeing what you choose to tackle for your PLPs. Explore your passions, take a risk, and find something that makes you curious and want to do more!

CPR Discussion: Species of Monkey Discovered

Photo credit: Terese Hart @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/teresehart/

In our CPR discussion we did an Individual Share, where I presented on the new species of monkey that was discovered in the Congo. The Lesula monkey has made news around the world and you were able to ask questions to discover more about it. Here is the link from Scientific American article that I used as a resource.  Many of you asked for the link to the blog of the researchers, conservation biologist, Tom Hart and his wife Dr. Terese Hart. Their blog is called, Searching for Bonobo in Congo.

Film and Photography Week 1

We're Back and 24 Hours.

Take a look at our class Tumblr and Flickr to get an idea of what's been happening in Film and Photography this week.

La Caja de Inglés

La Caja de Inglés serves many purposes in Spanish class. Prior to enforcing la caja Rosana spoke with students about its main purpose; to encourage Spanish-speaking in the classroom. After hearing about its purpose in class, students discussed in small groups about the appropriate number of times they could step inside the box, per class period, to speak in English. Each group shared their number, and then voted on which out of the four groups' numbers best suited them all as a class. Once students agreed on a number, we decided to enforce la caja.

Please stop by our Tumblr page to see all the neat things we do in class. 

Arrival of the Laptops!

 

The day that sixth graders have all been waiting for since school started. Each of the sixth grader students received their laptops today, and they could barely contain their excitement.  In CPR, we spent some time discussing the exciting possibilities that the laptops represent, as well as the new responsibilities that they are taking on.

We hope that you will all come up for air, on occasion, as you get acquainted with your new tool!

Camping Trip Update

As you may have already heard, we had to make some changes to our camping trip plans. The original dates that we shared with you last night ended up becoming unavailable. We had to make some quick decisions, and we are now heading to camp, Tuesday, September 25 through Friday, September 28. We will be sending home a packet tomorrow with a field trip permission slip, transportation details, packing list, and liability waiver. We will pass along as much information as we can, as soon as possible. We appreciate that this is last minute, but the alternative was to go in November or not at all.

Here is a link to the Camp Whittier, our camp location.

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

School Pictures

School Picture forms are going home today.  The directions on the form are pretty clear with one exception.  This year students will have the option of ordering an Identification Card (ID) for a $5.00 fee.  If you want to add this option, you must write it into your form and add the $5.00 fee.  Picture Day is October 2nd.  

Back to School Night 2012

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

7:00-8:00 pm

Welcome in NMY Courtyard with Evelyn

6th & 7th Grade Families will meet in 7th Grade Studio (Dogwood 3-4)

We look forward to seeing you there!

Questions and Answers

Day two is done. Looking back, you have had a productive two days. Today, we began the discussion about what you need to learn and grow. You had a lot of great contributions to the conversation and provided food for thought. We will continue the conversation tomorrow and try to render our list to a few key ideas.

We conducted interviews and made introductions today. Hopefully, you learned something new about everyone and have connection that you are interested in follow-up. You are challenged to make sure you take the time to ask the questions you were wondering about and discuss common interests you have discovered.

Yesterday, you all came brimming with excitement and questions. We did the best we could to answer as many questions as we could. When we returned to the list today, it was satisfying to recognize how much we have already covered.  If you forgot, here is a sampling of the questions that we have already answered:

• Why is school ending earlier?
• Do we have constellations this year?
• Is it only 6th grade that does CPR in the science lab?
• Do we have homework all the days?
• When do we get our laptops?
• Where are we going to have math/science? Humanities?
• Reading buddies? When? Where? Who?
• Will we have to do lunch groups?
• Are we going to  stuff with the 5th or 7th grade?
• What is the common room going to be for?
• If we have other classes, will they be different grade groups?
• Are there any classes we will not have this year?
• When do we share our book reports?
• CSL?
• Fall Festival jobs?
• How are we all to eat lunch together?
• Do we have arts classes this year?
• Are we adding any new classes?
• Is it true we only have homework 3 days a week?
• Will we have math jobs?
• Where will Evelyn be living?
• How many days a week do we have music and art?
• What is the order of the day?
• Where are we going for camp?
• Because of the 5th graders will we have field trips?
• Do we have Open Studio 3 times a week or 4 times a week?

All NMY CPR activity

Rest up!

FIRST DAY of 2012-2013

Welcome back to school! It was great to have you back on campus filling the school with positive energy. You had lots of thoughtful questions about the new year, the program, and what we have in store. We just scratched the surface. We look forward to another great day tomorrow!

Here are a couple of images of our first Chalk Talk:

QUESTION: What do you want to know about this year?