October 5, 2014

Last week was incredible in Turquesa. It felt good to get back in the groove after IslandWood.

We extended our trip to IslandWood this week by spending as much time outside as possible. One morning, we started class with a  visualization of a walk in the forest, then we took paper and pencils outside to write about trees. On a different day, a team of interested students created veggie salad with a giant tomato (thanks KT Eisler!), and a whole variety of herbs and assorted bounty they picked from our MCH garden. Continuing the theme of meaningful experiences with the natural world, Ms. Amy held music class on the Nature Trail on Wednesday with an introduction to Pete Seeger. The class explored the ways in which we, as humans, connect deeply with the world, the universe and ourselves when we are alone in the woods. It is completely wonderful to return from IslandWood and continue our work in such effortless ways.

Speaking of our amazing trip to the School in the Woods, I will have the pictures from IslandWood ready to share with you soon. I'm pulling them together from several different sources, so that you can see the complete collection. 

In the classroom, I found that the students of Turquesa worked peacefully together as a community this week in profound ways. One of the intangible and priceless benefits of our beginning-of-the-year excursion to IslandWood is a deep sense of belonging and connection that the children bring back to the classroom. I see it every day from the way they cheerfully help one another to the calm assurance with which they move from one task to the next.

This coming week, we will be launching our history study of the Medieval World.  Students will be creating a Medieval Response Journal in which to record their thoughts and lesson notes throughout the semester. They will also begin their first history project of the school year! I will email the project guidelines to you this week, so that you can fully understand the different aspects of the project.

I hope you will join us on Tuesday evening from 6-8 pm for an exploration of our Upper El approach to writing. Writing is such a fundamentally important and exciting aspect of life for students as they approach secondary education that it is a major focus in Turquesa. We'll have fun exploring the different parts of writing, and talk about our upcoming NaNoWriMo adventures. You are welcome to bring along your Turquesa student, or take them to child care.

In homework this week, students are expected to:

1. practice Rocket Math daily for 5 minutes

2. complete Wordly Wise Lesson 3, exercises A-D only

3. finish reading their Choice Book (project guidelines will be coming home at the end of this week)

4. read their literature book assignment

5. practice spelling words

I also want to say a quick thank you to Karolina, Iza's mom, for her assistance with our Baked Apples cooking project on Friday! Yum!

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Thanks,

Nicole