In Field Study class we began a new unit of study this week- Astronomy. We will spend the winter learning about all things outer space. This week we are starting with some math related lessons around scale to show just how big our solar system is. We will also start with a focus on our solar system before expanding out into a study of the galaxy. We have scheduled an Astronomy themed field trip on February 3rd to the Sunriver Observatory. It should be a fun unit to explore this winter.

In the winter at BBS we get most of our P.E. hours from our Ski and Ride Program. This means we will spend our Tues/Thurs afternoon block focusing on Health class. These classes will typically have a short (5-10 minute) exercise routine followed by a lesson on a specific health topic. The topics will vary depending on the week and age of the students.

We are using The Great Body Shop curriculum this year as our Health curriculum. You can learn more about the curriculum at this link. Each week we will tackle a different health topic. Students will receive a packet with information and activities related to each lesson. These packets will usually come home at the end of class for the week (Thursday) and are a great way to engage with your child about what they are learning in health class. Feel free to go over them as a family. They often have some suggestions for conversations to have at home around the particular health topic. Please reach out to me if you have any questions or want to discuss how we are addressing the state health standards this year. 

In the 2026 Blue Bay classroom, we are excited to continue our learning as we begin the second half of the school year! Some exciting news is that we have gained a new student (Elisei), and have expanded our classroom to incorporate 8th grade. There is a lot to look forward to in the months ahead, including the Friday ski program (hopefully), OBOB tournaments in Feb/March, and Outdoor School as our end of year trip. 

In Humanities, Blue Bay students are continuing to study ancient India, and are learning about the old religion of Hinduism and how it connected to Indian culture and way of life. Next we will take a closer look at how Buddhism emerges from this and the impact this philosophy has had on history. Spelling words from this week are all related to these eastern topics and the test is on Friday. We are also beginning our big World Geography unit this week, and students will be working on their mapping skills and polishing up their geography knowledge throughout the rest of the year. 

In Math, 4th grade students have been working on some hands-on measuring and geometry skills, incorporating unit conversion techniques to find perimeter and area. 5th graders are working hard on their decimal operations and rounding. 6th grade students are most of the way through their unit on ratios, and will move into percentages shortly. 7th graders are midway through their large unit on proportional relationships, and our 8th grader is working on slope intercept form.

Welcome back! Students are doing a great job of jumping back into our Rose Hip Rhythm. We loved our first yoga class with Ms. Phoenix yesterday. She will join us to start our Tuesdays for the rest of the month. Phoenix was the BBS counselor from 2018 until her retirement in 2021.

In math we are working on using what we know to solve bigger problems with unknown addends. 

In literacy we are reviewing our short vowel spelling rules for special ending with trigraphs tch, and dge and double trouble, ll, ff, ss. 

Games & Activities to try at home

• Math- Try change unknown problems around you.  Examples- I had 5 and I got some more now I have 13. How many did I get? I had 21 cookies and I forgot how many I ate, now there are 7. How many cookies did I eat?…besides too many 😉 

• Literacy- Students should have brought home books from the BBS library. Ask them why they decided on that book and find time to read it together.

In science we are continuing our art unit reading a great book called “Everything Naomi Loved” by muralist Katie Yamasaki. This book centers on the life of Naomi and her multicultural community in a large city. We touched on the big word gentrification and will grapple with the hard concept of ever changing towns and finding places for everyone.