We have several exciting happenings going on at BBS right now. 

• Our rainbow trout are growing fast and will probably be ready for release into the fish pond in the next week. 

• Our ski and ride program will continue as long as Hoodoo can stay open. They are day by day right now and we plan to keep going up on Friday if they are open. We will send out an update if anything changes. 

• We have a field trip to the Sun River Observatory on Tuesday, February 3. This will be a full day trip and we will drop off in Sisters on the way home. 

• We are starting music class with local teacher Erik Himbert starting next week. 

In Field Study class we have been learning about our solar system this week in class. We discussed the scale of the solar system and some distinctive features of each planet. There were some strong opinions about the status of Pluto in the group. Students are currently creating posters about the different objects in our solar system to put up at school next week. 

In Health class we covered different topics in each group this week. K/1 group is learning about medicine, 2-3 group is learning about community health, and the 4-8 group is learning about social health and bullying. We also got out on a short trail run since the trails are cleared off and the weather was nice.

In Humanities, Blue Bay has been studying ancient China, and we have begun our overarching world geography unit that will run through the end of the year. As an intro lesson, students sketched out the continents on an orange, peeled an orange into one piece, and laid the peel flat to understand the challenges of displaying a sphere on a 2 dimensional map. They have been studying various world map projections, as well as the continents, subcontinents, and oceans.  Today they drew the world map from memory. This will serve as a baseline, because at the end of the year, they will take a whole class period to draw the world map again from memory, and will be able to see how much they’ve learned. 

In Math, 4th grade students finished a unit on multiplication techniques, and will be reviewing/practicing their division skills next. 5th graders just wrapped up a unit on decimal operations and did quite well on yesterday’s test. 6th graders are working with unit rate, and just finished making a unit conversion chart that they put up in the classroom. 7th grade students have been working on finding the area of circles formula, and just did a hands-on lesson that explains why 𝞹 r2 works. Our 8th grader is still practicing linear equations. 

During Buddy Time, I presented a slideshow recapping the crafts the students made for the winter bazaar, and how we donated the proceeds to two schools in Malawi, Africa. Those two schools sent us videos and photos from Malawi of what they did with the funds (see below), as a gesture of gratitude. It was a joy to share these videos and photos with our students. The buddy pairs wrote down some aspects of BBS they were feeling grateful for, and brainstormed some ideas for next year’s fundraiser.

In Art, Blue Bay students have been working on a paper recycling project. They divided up into two groups, and shredded up paper from our recycling bin into containers. Next, they added water to the bins. Then, they poured the “slurry” onto screens and pressed the paper flat. Lastly, they let it dry and monitored their paper. Yesterday, the recycled paper was finally dry and ready, and they measured and cut it into equal partitions. While some of the paper turned out more like cardboard, this was an interesting exploration into how paper is recycled, on a primitive scale. 

We have reached the halfway point of this school year! As part of this we have been showing what we know using computers and I-ready diagnostics, as well as working on portfolios and continuing any work we need to wrap up. Next week only has 3 academic days due to our 2 field trips. Rose hips will continue their computer and catch up work with Ms. Liz next week as I will be out for the week.

In Science students have voted on making a quilt like mural that shows how BBS can inspire people to protect our forest, river, and wildlife. Each student has chosen a focal image and will draw that on their own square to then put together to make a “picture quilt” that will hang in our classroom.

Green Ridge Math: Students are using their shape know-how and delving into the ‘cut up’ realm of fractions and parts of a whole. They have also started their winter math diagnostic.

Green Ridge Literacy: Students are currently re-reading chapters 3 and 6 of Julian’s World and identifying key events and important moments from the text.

Art Literacy: Contour drawings of our peers (and maybe Mr. B)!