ANNOUNCEMENTS, NOVEMBER 11, 2007

§ FALL PRESENTATIONS AND NOVEMBER PARENT MEETING:

At 3 pm on Wednesday, November 28th, our students will be sharing presentations of their organ system reports. They will be divided out into two spaces, depending on their hands-on illustration work. The model-builders and poster-makers will be presenting in the classroom, and the PowerPoint Slideshow designers will be in the Computer Lab. We suggest parents divide themselves into two groups and take half-hour turns in each space. At around 4, we will call a shortened Parents' Meeting to order.

§ CLEARING SPACE IN GYM:

We need a small army of parents (ATTENTION ALL DADS) to help us, under the supervision of our custodian, Dan, to move several large crates containing the white boards for the new building, from their present location in the gym to the office space in the new building. Gloves, muscles, and several sturdy flatbed dollies will be necessary. The frred up space in the gym will allow us some room for a few furniture building projects in December. Please contact Andy by email, fremont63@msn.com and let him know when would be a time or two during the week that you could help, and whether you have a flatbed dolly to lend.

§ HAMLET AT SCT:

A parent in the elementary class has offered to be a liaison for us with Seattle Children’s Theater, in case a group of our students would like to attend a school performance of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. (For ages 11+)

Details below:
Seattle Children's Theatre is performing Hamlet from Jan 25 - Feb 24. Tickets are $10.50 each and a minimum of 10 people are needed in order to qualify for school group pricing. School shows are offered at the following days/times:
§ Tuesday, 10:30 am
§ Wednesday, 10:00 am
§ Wednesday, 12:30 pm
§ Thursday, 10:00 am
§ Thursday, 12:30 pm
§ Friday, 10:15 am

If interested in attending, please e-mail/call Sarah Rosenbloom at sarahrosenbloom@yahoo.com / 425-890-4164. Please include your preference for day/time when e-mailing. She will contact everyone interested with a specific date and time after tickets are requested and confirmed.

§ ASSIGNMENT CALENDARS:

HISTORY OF HUMANITY

ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS STORY CALENDAR:
(This is a back-up copy of information already shared.)

Stories should be from the time period that stretches from the beginning of writing (around 3000 BC) to the establishment of the classical civilizations (beginning around 600 BC).

The reason to do the research is to share with the whole group the aspects of ancient human culture that interest us as individuals. Learning alone, we learn according to our own scope and vision and patterns of thought. Learning together as a community, we can learn more, we can learn faster, and we can challenge our minds to see things in new ways. And our way of seeing things can challenge others to grow as well.

Each person is responsible for writing up three stories in their own words.
-Stories may be researched alone or in small groups, but each group member needs to do their own writing.
-Stories may be presented alone or in small groups.
-Group presentations should include the input and voices of all group members.
-Each written story should be at least a paragraph in length and should include the following:

1. A topic sentence, summarizing the main point of the story. Topic sentences can be at the beginning, middle, or end of a paragraph, as long as their placement within the paragraph makes sense.
2. An organized sequence of information. A good story has a clear beginning, middle, and end, and the sentences should flow smoothly from one to the next.
3. Necessary info: WHAT is this story about?
4. Necessary info: WHO is this story about?
5. Necessary info: WHEN did this story take place?
6. Necessary info: WHERE did this story take place?
7. Necessary info: WHY is this story an important one for us to remember?
8. Interesting additional info: HOW did this story change humanity

-Stories can be illustrated:

1. with timeline cards (see Andy’s “Phoenicians” examples)
2. with pictures
3. with objects created by students (If a student spends a long time with a particular handmade object, that student can research and write three short stories related to the one object. For example, one could easily tell three stories about what pyramids were for, who built which ones, and how they were made, using the same detailed pyramid model as an illustration.

-We will use classroom time in November to get our stories written:

• Story #1 typed and handed in by the end of week 5th - 7th November.
• Story #2 typed and handed in by the end of week 12th - 14th November.
• Story #3 typed and handed in by the end of week 26th - 28th November.
• All illustrations/ hands-on objects are to be completed by Wednesday, 28th November.

Andy will gladly help you with resources, questions, story writing, hands-on work, presentation practice, etc., IF YOU JUST ASK HIM!!!

Story presentations will be shared amongst the whole class in early December. Some of you may even want to share stories with some elementary students as well.