The swim program was a big success. The students did a great job in the pool and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Hopefully the improvement will help our students be more confident and capable in our local lakes, rivers, and pools this summer.

I will be gone next week on Monday – Wednesday for an interesting work trip. I am going to spend the first part of the week in eastern Oregon visiting other small rural school leaders. I plan to visit 5 different school districts that are of similar size to Black Butte SD. I am excited to learn and connect with other folks in this very unique position of leading a tiny rural district. I plan to bring some lessons learned back to our staff and school board later this month. If you need anything while I am away, reach out to Jane or Molly for help.

We haven’t had much class time for Field Study this past week. We had our final two days of the swim program and have spent time working on our yearbook as well. We are getting close to finishing the yearbook and the deadline is fast approaching. Ms. Sharp has been leading the effort and students should have it done and ready for printing by mid May. All students will receive a yearbook on the last day of school. 

In P.E. class I introduced lacrosse to all the kids this week. The plan is to move on from baseball/kickball to the sport of lacrosse for the next couple weeks. Students are welcome to bring sticks from home if they have them to play on Tues/Thurs afternoons. 

In Humanities, Blue Bay students are preparing to take a quiz tomorrow on the world’s major oceans, seas, and lakes. For studying tonight, they should all have their practice map which has all the labels on it they will need to know. If they have access to a screen with wifi, they can also use https://www.geoguessr.com/vgp/3072 to help them prepare for the quiz. Additionally, they have a test on their Latin Root words. Each student should have a set of flash cards they made to help them practice their English definitions. Blue Bay students finished writing the final draft of a poem they each submitted to the National Poetry Contest and will be reading their poems out loud in class tomorrow. We are doing a reader’s theatre of the history of the Roman Empire so they can understand how the Romans went from a republic to an empire, and eventually collapsed. 

In Math, students are continuing along with their grade level studies, with a whole-group focus on fractions, unit rate world problems, angle relationships, and calculating volume of 3d prisms. 4th graders are studying equivalent fractions and adding/subtracting fractions. 5th graders are also working with fractions. 6th graders are continuing to work on expressions and equations with variables. Our 7th graders are working on solving equations for a variable, after wrapping up their negative/positive numbers unit. Our 8th grader is taking his test on systems of equations tomorrow and is working through a unit on functions. 

On Monday the 4th, we depart for Hancock Field Station for Outdoor School! The class is excited to be out in the field and living “camp life” for this year’s end of year trip. Tomorrow, students will be sent home with another copy of the packing list so they can get all packed up and ready. Logistics are the same as a normal school day on Monday. They will arrive at school at the normal time, and will do a gear check before leaving for camp. We will be back before the end of the day on Friday the 8th, and students can be picked up or ride the bus as normal. Feel free to reach out to me with any last minute questions or concerns as we head into the trip!

Please reach out to me about setting up a show and tell day for your student. Pets are welcome for the show and tell, but do require some logistics. If you would like to attend to watch your student for their show and tell/student of the day morning work (8:15-8:45), please email me with times and dates that will work. 

Math: We are starting our geometry unit and will be working with shapes in different ways over the next few weeks. 

Literacy: Using vowel teams ai, ay, ee, ea, ight, oa and other long vowel spellings in reading and writing. 

We will be wrapping up our material magic unit this week. Look for some work to come home in the student’s purple folders.

Green Ridge Literacy: Students are writing paragraph two on their interpretive essay about Julian’s dad. They are also working with /oo/ in its many written forms (oo, ew, u-e, u).

Green Ridge Math: Students are working on multiplying by 3, 4, and 6 and on the similarities and differences between equal groupings and arrays.

Rose Hip & Green Ridge Creative Movement: Green Ridge and Rose Hips are finishing up their visual representation of an action word, with white pencil on black paper.