Week 35

Weekly Greetings!

I am pleased to say that all the district and state testing is completed for the year! Now, we can get back to a more normal routine for the remainder of the school year. Despite a four-day week, with two mornings committed to the PEAKS testing, the class was still able to experience some enriching activities last week.

Starting with Tuesday afternoon, it was our monthly art activity with Ms. Shauna Lee. The students were able to begin a wind chime clay project. It was a great way to relax after our first morning of testing.
The afternoon after our second day of testing, the students made a traditional Athabascan choker in our Alaska Studies class thanks to Helena Nelson. Some of the students wore their choker daily the rest of the week.
Helena even pointed me to a youtube video of a Tannacross elder, Kenny Thomas, sharing a traditional story of how the Loon got its choker from a blind man. He went back and forth using his traditional language and then retelling the story in English. I feel it gave more meaning to the chokers the students made earlier.
Before lunch on Thursday, it was our scheduled day to use the STEAM room. Most of the students are still very intrigued with making cubelet robots or lego structures, but some students explored other resources available that day.

 While most of the class was in the STEAM room, two students wanted to compete in the Middle School Geography Bee. I am very proud of Anna and Colten for the extra work they put in outside of class to be a part of the event. They did very well, and from what I was told, they were also very mannerly during their time competing.
After lunch on Thursday, there was a special presentation put on by the U.S. Forestry Service about the importance of preserving our forests. The students even got to partner up with a classmate and discuss a variety of important resources our forests provide.
 
This week we will return to our Science unit on Rocks and Minerals, in addition to the regular reading and math curriculum. Also, there will be an early release on Friday at 1:45pm.

Enjoy your week and kind regards!

Julie Brown


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