And the spirit around the school seems high.
Our field ecology schedule kicks off at the end of this month and there are tons of things to prepare at every grade level.
Some of the ways that the ecology program carries on the legacy of progressive education,
is by asking parents to help me prepare for our trips,
by asking parents to attend the trips,
and by inviting parents to participate in the trip activities and learning.
I learn new stuff every time I teach, from K-8.
As a school we learn,
we grow,
we become more interwoven as a community.
If you stay at the school K-8,
and participate in the Ecology program,
I hope that you will come away a little more grounded in this place we live in,
a little more knowledgeable about the lake,
the River,
the natural areas
and the consequences of bad land use choices.
I hope that we will all become stronger voices for a restored,
healthy,
just,
and peaceful world.
Here are some of the things that I need help with right away:
Some one to help oversee the sorting line at lunch time,
even for a half hour.
This accomplishes a number of things:
1) it helps the youngest kids and new children to learn the ropes with a friendly hand;
2) it shows the custodians that we care, and understand the added burden that is placed on them;
3) we get to see our little community in action,
their courage and enthusiasm.
(Just watch!)
Lunch sorting goes from 11:15 until 12:30 or so.
Let me know if you can do a shift.
More stuff!
1st Grade: we will soon be doing our leaf collection,
an activity that begs for many helping hands,
including afterwards to sort and press the leaves;
2nd Grade; River trips begin in October, on Tuesdays.
We need to prepare trip journals.
This just means folding 100 card stock sheets;
3rd Grade: first Mighty Acorn year.
We need to prepare their 3-year hard cover journal books.
This means collecting and taping oak leaves and spine labels,
and pasting in maps, songs, and non-fiction pieces for 70 kids;
4-5th Grades: I need to re-sort through the journals for any changes in the classrooms,
or new comers;
6th grade: I need to prepare year-long field journals for River studies.
This means,
folding card stock covers and 8 sheets of paper for the inside,
including benthic organism
and chemical test sheets, for 100 kids;
7th grade:
similar to above,
except, for Lake Studies.
for 70 kids;
8th grade:
garden maintenance,
harvest activities
and special projects supervision very helpful.
Monday mornings, after drop off,
is a good one if you would like to work together with others in the Conference room.
But, if you would like to set your own time,
or take stuff home, let me know.
Yeah team!
We are on our way!
Mr. Leki