Beth's Class

2010-10-17T22:49:00.000-07:00

2010-10-17T22:46:00.000-07:00

Hello all. This has been a great week. We had our pet day that came from a proposal a couple of weeks ago. We were visited by charming pets and stories of pets last Friday. Check out pictures on the blog of our friends.
This week's meeting had a proposal that did not pass to have a take-apart day. Albert will re-propose it with some supplemental information in a couple of weeks. It sounds like fun but some kids weren't sure about it. Some of our classmates have moved up to a level III in responsibility. Some of the students found that its more complicated than they thought.
We are starting some ready groups during reading time. These will run for varying lengths and change from time to time as we work through the year. Some work with me and some with parents. The more parents we have volunteering the more groups we can have. Let me know if helping from 10:45 to 11:45 works for you!
We have a field trip this Wednesday to Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. If you can help drive that would be great as we are pretty short on drivers right now.
I will be out of the room on Monday for (Critical Friends Group) CFG professional development training. I am a facilitator for this group and once a month I have a meeting in the mornings. Usually its on Wednesday, but we have a field trip that day so it was rescheduled for Monday. Additionally, I will be out Friday for an appointment. Sorry to have two things in one week but I wasn't entirely in charge of either event. Marc will be my sub both days. The kids know him already and he's got a good rapport with them.

Hope things are going well at home for all your lovely children. Let me know if there are concerns. We're working hard to learn and have fun! Thanks for your support.
Beth

Notes from Back to School Night

2010-09-29T10:39:00.000-07:00

Back to School Night
Thursday, September, 23, 2010

Events
A. Field Trips
.....Need Drivers: 9/29 to OMSI at 10:15 to noon and 10/20 to NWCT from 9:30 to 11:30
.....Please turn in field trip permission slips

B. Sleep Under 9/30
.....Begins at 6:00, go home at 8:30 pm
.....Event for kids in grades 1-2; parents can stay if they want
.....Includes pizza dinner, games and fun; return in the morning for breakfast

Curriculum Focus
A. Reading
1. Methods
.....Want to develop love of reading and strategies
.....Use “Growing Readers” by Kathy Collins as guide
.....“Read Well” program for kids needing extra help with phonics
2. Classroom Help
.....Please sign up to help with Read Well program or with literature circles.

B. Writing
.....Making books is a primary writing focus
.....Inventive Spelling: Encourage your children to be “brave spellers;” don't just tell them how to spell a word. We go into editing later and help kids get to conventional spelling.
.....Need volunteers to make books and copy the books created by kids.

C. Math
.....Investigations Curriculum -- card games, dice games, practical math in real life.
.....Number talks -- write a simple equation, and ask students to show "silent thumbs" (quiet thumbs-up sign in front of chest) when have an answer. Then ask for all the answers, without reference to accuracy, and ask students to explain their reasoning -- how they got to the answer. OK to change their answer as they continue to think or talk their way through the problem.
.....Students grouped by ability for math; studies show math is an area where ability grouping really helps

Art, Music, Garden, Physical Education, Science, Service
A. Most of these subjects are in the mornings.
B. Service projects will likely be in and around school grounds.

Clubs
A. Clubs will be on Fridays; grades 1-2 combining with 3-4-5 students.
B. Will have several choices (chess, jump rope/hula hoop, etc.)
C. Some clubs are just one week; some require a commitment for a few weeks.

Parent Volunteers
A. Sign up sheets outside the class.
B. Some things can be done at home, such as book assembly, etc.
C. Volunteer opportunities at school:
.....driving for field trips
.....assisting with classroom work such as reading, writing, math
helping with clubs
.....photocopying, folding and stapling, other misc. tasks

Snacks
Please bring one for your child every day.

Performances
A. Times:
.....in December in the Multipurpose Room
.....in June outside, with a potluck.
B. Make sure your child comes! We work really hard for those days.

Back to school news

2010-08-31T19:26:00.000-07:00

First & Second Grade Handbook
2010-11

Dear Families,

Thank you for taking the time to read through some important information that will help you, your child and us have an exciting year. Keep this handbook for future use.
Beth, Brian, and Whitney are all excited to be back at school this year. We love working as a team to provide your child with the best personal education we can. This year’s theme is “Time Machine.” We will be learning about our world. We will frame our studies through thematic questions about community, caring for our world, the animals that are there and more. Once again we have a winter performance night planned and an end of the year feast. You will find those dates and more information in the following pages noted below. Thanks for reading this and remember to ask any questions you might have!
Table of Contents
Monday through Thursday Schedule 2
Friday Schedule 2
Supply List 3
Field Trip Information 3
Snack 4
Lunch 4
Conflict resolution 4
Activity Fee 5
TFT 5
SleepUnder and Campout 5
Sharing 6
Birthdays 6
Parent meeting nights & Project Nights 6
Communication 6
Recess, Park and Garden 7
Volunteers 7
Contact Information 8

Monday through Thursday Schedule
Our typical schedule for the beginning of the year looks as follows, things change as the year progresses and special topics are developed and classes planned. Note that there is a different schedule for Fridays as Friday dismissal is at noon.

8:30 Class begins – Please be on time – Check in, Morning Brain Teasers, Morning Message, calendar, and announcements.
9:00-10:05 Art/P.E./Garden/Science rotations/Music for Brian
10:05-10:20 Snack
10:20-10:45 Recess
10:45-11:45 Reading Workshop – Tuesday music for Beth and Whitney
11:45-12:45 Lunch – lunch recess
12:45–1:45 Math and Literacy Menus
1:45-2:45 Writing Workshop/Theme Activities
2:45 – 3:00 Clean up and dismissal, Please be on time!

Friday Schedule
8:30 Class begins – Please be on time – Check in, Morning Brain Teasers, Morning Message, calendar, and announcements.
8:45-9:15 All-school meeting
9:15-9:45 Class meeting
9:45-10:00 Sharing
10:00-10:10 Snack
10:10-10:30 Recess
10:30-11:30 Science or Cooking Friday
11:30-11:45 Clean up
11:45-12:00 Story or Closing Activity
12:00 Dismissal - Please be on time

Supplies
We are including a supply fee for your child’s class supplies. You do not need to bring in any regular supplies. We ask that you pay this fee directly to your child’s teacher. It is $30.00. We may ask for special items to be brought during projects, but they should be things you find around the house.
First Day Things to Bring:
• Extra clothes in a Marked Zip-loc bag (Mark with child’s name on clothes)
• Emergency Contact Information, and all other paperwork.
• Activity fee and other forms from website
• Old T-shirt to be used as a paint shirt by the class community
• Inside shoes (slippers or flip flops) for in-class wearing
• Leak proof water bottle
Field Trips
We have planned the following field trips to enhance our learning experiences during the year. Many of these will require drivers. All will require chaperones. They should be great fun and educational as well.
Date Location
Sept. 23rd Back to school Parent Meeting
Sept. 29th OMSI Cardboard Rocket 10:30 am
Sept. 30th SleepUnder- Games & Fun! 6:00 to 8:30
Oct 1st Group Breakfast
Oct. 20th NWCT Alexander & the Terrible … 9:15
Oct. 27th OMSI Hubble Omnimax movie 9:30
Nov. 5th OMSI Fossils – here at Trillium
Dec. 10th Performance night 6:00pm
Mid Jan. Swimming at Mt. Scott
Jan 31st – Feb 4th Intensives
Feb. 9th TOJ Puppet – Bridge of the Gods 9:15
Mar. 10th OMSI PB& J Robot lab 10, 11, or noon
April 7th NWCT “Go Dog Go” 9:15
April 20th OMSI Birds Lab, 10, 11 or noon
May 19/20 Campout, Cape Lookout
June 3rd Project Night - FEAST! 5:30 – 8:00

Snack
We encourage you to pack a healthful snack for your child each day. Please make it something nutritious and fast to eat with no preparation needed. We will not provide class snacks.

Lunch
Lunch is eaten in the classrooms. Lunch should be sent with your child daily or hot lunch may be purchased. Please try not to send food that your child cannot prepare by her/himself. Please remember to send utensils and food that does not require refrigeration or heating. School lunches are available this year made in-house. The cost is $3.25. These lunches are also available at free and reduced cost. Breakfast is also available for $2.50. Please complete the PPS form for eligibility to receive a free or reduced lunch, even if your child chooses to bring their own lunch. If you qualify for free lunch please complete the form because it qualifies Trillium for additional funding for special programs. Check the Trillium website, http://www.trilliumcharterschool.org/index.php?page=home-visit-packets , for the link.

Conflict Resolution

We use peer mediations as a form of nonviolent conflict resolution at Trillium. We want to give students the tools to solve their own problems. They do so with the support of their teacher and other staff. Please familiarize yourself and your child with our constitution bill of rights and responsibilities. This serves as a foundation for our mediation process and how we frame our responsibilities as members of the community. Mediations are not punitive, but rather a way to fully understand and solve issues.

If the same behavior keeps occurring over and over, then the issue can be taken to Judicial Committee. This is a group of students who ask questions and help to come up with solutions to the ongoing issue. It is much like a multi-mediator mediation. Once again, the goal is to solve issues nonviolently and in a way that works for all members involved. If you have questions about this process, please ask. Please support your child in developing nonviolent conflict resolution skills.

Activity Fee
There is an activity fee that is all-inclusive this year. It covers all field trips, a campout, supplies for class activities for your child. The cost is $115.00. These fees make field trips possible. Additional siblings or family members that attend must be paid for separately and in advance. We should not have to ask for any additional money for our class this year. The only other charge could be an intensive your child chooses. Please make the arrangements for payment or work out a payment schedule with the front office. Please give all payments to your child’s teacher so that we can keep our accounts accurate.
• If you qualify for free and reduced lunch you can receive a scholarship from TFT by filling out the scholarship request form in the home visit packet.
• You must fill out the scholarship form however. TFT cannot access free and reduced lunch information so you must request the scholarship.

TFT
TFT or Together For Trillium is a parent organization that supports the school. It sponsors Trillium in Bloom various social activities to enrich the Trillium community. Please consider participating and or attending the Potluck, skating party, swimming party, and Auction. It’s your chance to help the school, be involved and meet new friends.

SleepUnder
We have a SleepUnder on September 30th, beginning at 6:00 with pizza dinner and fun activities and games to be enjoyed by all. Parents are invited to come and play and stay if they want or leave their children in our care for the evening. Children should be picked up by 8:30 and go home to sleep and return for a group breakfast with us the next morning. It will be a lot of safe fun for all.

Campout
We will be having a primary campout on May 19th & 20th. We will go to Cape Lookout State Park at the Oregon Coast, 12 miles southwest of Tillamook. We leave in the morning of the first day and return on the second at about 3:00. One parent is strongly encouraged to come, as this is a community activity and a chance to meet the community members and welcome new families. Between the classes there are 12 yurts. Each yurt sleeps a maximum of 8 people. Three tent sites are also reserved. If you are planning to bring a whole family you will need to make your own campsite reservations since we will not have room for everyone’s entire family. The cost of the campout and food is included in your child’s activity fee for your child; any additional family members attending will need to pay an additional fee of $25.00 or $10.00 for those 4 or younger.
Sharing
We love to be able to give the opportunity for all students to share each week. In order to make sharing an interesting and valuable part of our day, each class will have a sharing schedule that will be posted in the class. Sharing is not a time to share toys one may own. DO NOT SEND TOYS. We will have a schedule with a theme for sharing. Please make sure the item or story they share is related to the topic for the week. Check newsletters or calendars for the current themes.

Birthdays
We would love to celebrate your child’s birthday in class. Students with summer birthdays can celebrate their birthday on their half birthday or at another time that we can arrange during the year. Please let us know in advance if you are planning on bringing a snack at 10:00 for the class. Snacks should be healthy and not sugar laden. Advance notice is necessary so we can address food allergies.

Parent Meeting and Project Nights
We will have a back-to-school parent meeting night on Thurs, Sept. 23rd. The parent meeting nights are for parents only. We will focus on classroom support and we will answer questions you have. We have two project nights, Dec. 10th and June 3rd.Project nights are for sharing work!

Communication
All newsletters and important class and school information will be distributed through three avenues: the home files located in/outside each classroom, through electronic emails, and on our blog at the addresses listed at the end of this newsletter or through the main Trillium Website. Please check your file daily to keep up with all of the new and exciting activities in the primary classes and at Trillium. Talk to your child’s teacher if your family needs more than one home file. Make sure we have the correct email an actual home address and phone information for your family.

Recess, Park and Garden Activities
We would love to be able to go outside daily throughout the year to play, work in the Trillium garden and play at the park. Please send your child to school with appropriate outerwear/raingear for the beautiful wet Oregon days.

Volunteers
We are looking forward to a year of partnering with all of the adults in the lives of our students. We hope to be able to learn from your experience with your child so that together we can make his/her experience at Trillium a great one. We have a wide range of opportunities to volunteer in and out of the classroom. Please sign up with your child’s teacher to help or talk to the classroom liaison to help. Each class needs volunteers for a few ongoing projects:
• Book Assemblers – Copies and assembles books from Reading A-Z library for student use. Many volunteers make this an easy job. It is a job that fluctuates with the calendar and your schedule.
• Dictation – Either takes dictation from students in class or types up recorded dictation that students have made in class.
• Portfolio Assistant – Scans and assists in getting work into electronic portfolio system.
• Reading Group Facilitators – Help work with small groups of students in reading groups with guided, leveled oral reading.
• Menu Time/Project Time Helper – Help with math and literacy menus so that children have adult support in their small group learning.
• Before School, Lunch and Recess Duty Helpers – Help assure safety of children during these times and supervise games.
• Project helpers – Help students work on ILP projects.

Please contact your child’s teacher if you would be willing to work on one of these projects. Your help is incredibly appreciated.
Trillium and PPS have a policy to help ensure the safety of our children and community. If you are planning to help in any way that gives you access to other people’s children we are required to complete a criminal background check. Those forms are available through the school and help us all to feel better about who is working with our kids. Thanks for your cooperation in completing these quickly so that we can all be involved.
When we go on field trips and you choose to chaperone, remember you are there to help and it is okay to reinforce positive behaviors of children as well as remind them of appropriate limits. Check with any of us if you have questions. Remember that if you volunteer to chaperone we are expecting that you make that your priority and that you take care of all children in your charge just as carefully as you would your own.
While we generally have an open door policy when it comes to parent involvement in the classroom, we are requesting that for the first two weeks of school parent volunteer time be limited to work outside the classroom. We would like for the first two weeks of school to give the students an opportunity to form a tight-knit community with one another and allow us to form our own relationships with the children. We are excited to welcome parents in the classroom beginning with our third week of school, September 21st.
If you have time before the school year begins we would really appreciate volunteers for all sorts of reasons. Thanks, in advance, for your help.

Contact Information
Beth, Brian, and Whitney can be contacted by telephone or email for questions and concerns. Since drop-off and pick-up time are usually busy, please feel free to call or set up an appointment if you need a longer time to chat.

Beth Molenkamp 503.706.6742 email: beth@trilliumcharterschool.org
Blog: http://bethk-1-2.blogspot.com

Brian Porter 541-941-0515 email: brian@trilliumcharterschool.org
Blog: http:// brianskids.blogspot.com

Whitney Sweet 503-975-2246 email: whitney@trilliumcharterschool.org
Blog: http://whitneysclass.blogspot.com

Thank you for your dedication to our students and our school. We look forward to working with you.

*Beth, Brian, and Whitney

Spring Raffle Update

2010-04-12T12:03:00.000-07:00

Spring Raffle update-

Thank you all for donating generously to the fundraising raffle baskets last month, but, our job is not yet done. We now have to SELL the raffle tickets. Please visit us at Raffle Central in the front lobby Monday-Friday before and after school.

Trillium in Bloom Raffle is in lieu of an Auction at our school. Many schools hold an auction every year to raise funds to continue their programs. I have heard some make $40-$50,000!!! We are hoping to make $20,000. We CAN do it with your help.

There are 4 baskets this year-Cooking, Home and Garden, Best of Portland and Alternative Transportation. Tickets are $5. Buy them yourself or sell them to anyone you know. This is a great way to spread the word of our school. Every little bit helps.

For more information check the school site: http://trilliumcharterschool.org/celebrate/

Look forward to seeing you at Raffle Central.
Thanks

Formal Day

2010-03-20T09:42:00.000-07:00

Check out this beautiful class! Beth arranged for a high tea and lesson in manners too.

Spring Basket Raffle Donations-Please help

2010-02-11T17:59:00.001-08:00

Hello families-
Last year we had a very successful spring basket raffle fundraiser. We desperately need the funds raised from the raffles for our school! TFT gets to keep 15% of the money raised and the rest goes right to the school - and of course, that 15% of TFT funds goes back to the school in other ways via grants for teachers, social events, Senior project money, Outdoor School funds, etc.

The wonderful thing about Baskets is how creative people will be with their donations - a parent can donate a specific item, cash toward the purchase of an item or gift certificate, a donation of time or a skill, or they can go out to community to solicit donations. We had some amazing Baskets last year that were highly valued and creative and lovely! This year there will be 4 themed baskets, one from each school cohort. The K-1-2 has been asked to make donations toward a transportation themed basket (see below for ideas).

*Suggested donations from parents would be $10-15 in cash that can go toward purchasing a gift card or item for the Basket, or an item, or a donation of time or a skill. Parents can also solicit donations from the community. Donations are tax-deductible. The person making the donation can fill out the form that is available on the website. If parents go to a business, they should bring the tax-donations forms with them.

--The due date for all donations will be Wdnesday MARCH 10th.
--The Baskets will be photographed over Spring Break with brochures made, and
tickets printed and ready for sale when we all return from Spring Break so sales start MONDAY, APRIL 5th
--We will sell for about one month and DRAW the winning tickets on FRIDAY, MAY 7th

The theme is Alternative Transportation which can include, and is not limited to:

- an adult or child bike
- an Xtracycle
- trail-a-bike/tag-along bike
- bike gear (bike bags, rain clothes, etc)
- safety items (lights, helmets, safety vests, etc)
- equipment (locks, pumps, etc)
- gift cards to REI, The Bike Gallery, Revolver, etc etc etc (how many bike stores are there in Portland!?)
- Trimet passes
- something with Zipcar
- bike maintenance/repair from parents who know bikes :)
- bike riding lessons
- How about a biking Day Trip lead by an experienced cyclist for a group of 4-6 adults/kids?
- lessons on simple maintenance like how to fix a flat, etc
- a Sprockettes t-shirt!

We have a month to get this Basket done and I know we can do it!!!!!!
Please direct any questions to me or Marion. Oh, and if you have connections or contacts to solicit a "bigger" item from the larger community, please let me know how we can make that happen.
Thank you again for helping make our school AWESOME!

Juli
503 735 3040
mausjuli@gmail.com

Photos from Project Night

2010-02-11T17:45:00.001-08:00

Beautiful work!

Valentine's Day Plans

2010-02-09T20:12:00.001-08:00

We will be celebrating the holiday of friendship this Friday. We will make crafts, play games and share our appreciation of each other. If you would like to bring in a snack for the class to share that would be great, as long as it is not candy or too sweet! I emailed a class list of names, so check your recent emails.

Remember that next Monday is President's day and therefore there is no school.

Once again, thank you for all your help to make the class a better place and your children ready to learn each day. It's a great group of kids and I am lucky to spend each day with them.

One last pet photo!

Pet Day

2010-02-09T20:05:00.000-08:00

Pet day was fun with visits from dogs and rodents. They were loved by all and fun to have visit with us. From tiny hamsters to Phoenix's giant dog we had a great time seeing all the pets that we share our lives with. The pictures and stores helped us appreciate each other and our pets.

Thanks!

2010-02-09T19:40:00.000-08:00

The jumpropes and outside toys have been a boon to our recess times. We have a whole group of kids who jump every day now. Not only do kids from our class jump, but other first and second grade kids do, as well as kindergarteners and 3-4-5 students. The are getting more fit, having more fun and learning new skills. We have some great double Dutch jumpers even!

Class Gift, New Roster and Volunteer Positions

2009-12-02T10:09:00.001-08:00

Hello families-

I hope you are all enjoying the holiday season. As the holidays approach I was wondering if anyone would be interested in joining me in putting together a gift for the classroom as a whole. My daughter, Eleni, has mentioned that jump ropes are in much need. Have your children mentioned something they'd like in the classroom? Would you be willing to donate money to the gift? I was thinking in lieu of another mug for Beth, we can give something the whole class can enjoy. I am very much open to other ideas as well. Let me know your thoughts.

A bit ago we had 2 new families join our class. I am feeling that by now Avery and D'kojah are feeling comfortable in their new class. I'd love to get a new roster out to everyone so we can keep in touch and I am able to include them in our emails. Avery and D'kojah's family, please email or call me with your contact info.

Finally, I'd like to thank all of our classroom volunteers thus far in the year. Your commitment will end on the week of the11th. Beginning January all slots will be available. If you'd like to continue your role or move to a new spot, now is the time. You can email me directly or put your name on the NEW sign up sheet in front of the class. NOTE: Beth has mentioned that she'd appreciate the most help during the reading workshop Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 10:45-11:45.

Thank you all so much for helping to make the year wonderful.

--
Juli Maus
Mama to Eleni
503 735 3040

Scholastic Order

2009-11-18T20:58:00.001-08:00

Hello Families-

Wanted to let you all know that the most recent scholastic order is in. I will have orders packaged in paper bags in Beth's class tomorrow. I will also put the new catalogs in the take home folders. In order to get the next order by the Holiday break, we are ordering online by November 30 (Beth may move that to a later date maybe, she will let you know).

To order:
www.scholastic.com/parentordering

class name: bethk12
password: trillium

Thank you so much for supporting the classroom. We already got several of free books with this order.

SCRIP News

2009-11-11T10:26:00.000-08:00

There have been many communications via email about the SCRIP program at our school. I'd like to take a moment to explain to you why it so important for families to get involved. SCRIP is a national fund raising program. SCRIP is an easy and painless way to give money to Trillium. When you order SCRIP, you order gift cards from various local merchants who have discounted these cards to TFT. You pay face value for the cards, nothing more. TFT, then, gets to keep the profits. Percentages given back to the school aren't huge, but the more we order, they add up fast. More information can be found at

Our biggest sellers are New Seasons and Fred Meyer. At the moment we have New Seasons on hand every Monday and Friday morning. I am working on making that happen with Fred Meyer as well. I know it is difficult to budget and to have a check book available at the right times to get SCRIP that is why we also have a SILVER drop box in the front lobby on the glass case to the right. There are order forms there as well. You can drop your order anytime. If your order includes New Seasons or Fred Meyer, please include your contact info so I can get it to you sooner than the regular monthly order dates. All other gift cards are ordered and picked up from the SCRIP office once per month.

Sometimes budgeting is the hardest part. So, I am available via email or phone to make special arrangements like, take your SCRIP order or deliver your order to you. For example, if you know you spend $100 per week at Fred Meyer and $100 at New Seasons but don't necessarily have $800 to fork out once a month, I can make sure to have that $200 order available to you every Monday or Friday. Make sense?

For the upcoming holidays there will be additional SCRIP orders. The next one is due next MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18 for pick up before the Thanksgiving break. Get your SCRIP to buy holiday groceries, going out to eat or holiday gifts. You can also order SPIELWERKS gift certificates by writing them on the bottom of your SCRIP order form.

Please pass the word on about the importance of using SCRIP even if it is only for groceries. If you don't see a retailer on there that you frequent, get a prepaid VISA card to be used wherever VISA credit cards are accepted.

Order forms can be printed from

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or suggestions at mausjuli@gmail.com or call me at
503 735 3040

Thank you so much-

TFT Meeting October 12, 2009

2009-10-12T20:13:00.000-07:00

Tonight I went to the Together for Trillium or TFT meeting. I really haven't been that involved as a parent at Trillium so it was good to finally get to a meeting. Given that Juli and I are sharing the classroom liaison position sometimes you will hear from me about what transpired at the TFT meeting and sometimes Juli.

Stuff that was discussed:
Faculty Grants
Grants made to faculty and a follow up process for what is happening with those.
Next round of grants for faculty projects are due in November and we think some that were not funded this past round may come back in with more complete information in support of a positive vote for funding.

Trillium Sweatshirts
These are in the works and should be available in the next couple of months, hopefully before the holidays

There was discussion about the senior grant process and how TFT can support Ken the upper school advisor in this process.

Elections were held and the TFT positions were mostly filled. However, they are always looking for folks who want to become involved.

There was a great deal of discussion on improving communication across the faculty, parents and board. This is an ongoing challenge.

There was discussion on the huge financial challenges that the school is faced with this year. In general copy paper, copy paper and more copy paper would be much appreciated. In addition there was discussion about the letter that went out earlier in the year for cash donations. The letter generated about $3000.00 in cash contributions, the school is still working to raise $47,000.00.

If you have any questions about the TFT meeting, give me a shout at marionrice@me.com

Class Meeting Notes - October 2nd, 2009

2009-10-04T09:58:00.001-07:00

Class Meeting, October 2nd 2009
as recorded by Chuck Galford, Griffin's Dad

Atticus was the meeting facilitator
Beth went over the minutes from last week
Announcements:
Terra announced that today is Ice Cream Day.
Beth announced that reading homework was due today. Those who don't turn in their reading homework today will receive the same homework for next week. Also , the Personal Geography homework is due today.

Proposals:
Atticus and Sam proposed that Tuesday be Movie Day ( watch a movie in class)
Beth pointed out that all movies must be G rated.
Atticus took nominations for movies, Dazzle, Planet Earth, Magic School Bus, Rescuers, Madagascar and Madagascar II.
The top vote getters were Madagascar II and Magic School Bus
After discussion another vote was taken and Madagascar II received 6 votes and Magic School Bus received 10 votes. The proposal passed.

Atticus proposed that we have Opposite Day on Tuesday and Thursday. The class discussed whether that meant girls would dress as boys and boys would dress as girls. The sense of the discussion seemed to be that it did not. The class voted 9-8 in favor of the proposal.

Sam proposed that the class have Pet Day on Friday, October 16. Orin suggested that we find out what pets might be brought in and whether anyone is allergic to that type of pet. The propsoal passed by 11-3. Beth said everyone should check with their parents to see if they can bring in their pet to make sure the pet has all its shots. Beth reminded the class that a photo or movie of a pet is nice if you can't bring it into class. A poll of the class indicated that no one had any pet allergies.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.

2009-09-28T11:48:00.000-07:00

Do you like to knit, paint, sew, crochet, sculpt, draw, make jewelry, do mosaics, fuse glass?
Well, we would love to sell your arts and crafts during our Art Sale that will be happening both days of Trillium in Bloom!

Our Art Sale for Trillium in Bloom last school year earned over $4,000!
This year we are hoping to surpass that but we need your donations of high quality handmade arts and crafts items for the sale
on October 9th and 10th!!

Students, parents and friends of our Trillium community are encouraged to donate items as soon as you can :)

All donations are fully tax-deductible and proceeds will benefit the Trillium community.
Donation forms are available here:

Please bring donations and a copy of the donation form to the front desk by October 5th.
Contact Megan Klepp mklepp@yahoo.com with questions about donations or to make arrangements for larger items.

Thank you and we we'll see you at Trillium in Bloom!

ps Notice the lovely poster hanging on the front door of the school!

2009-09-28T10:41:00.000-07:00

Dear Parents,

Our year has started off great at our wonderful school! Trillium In Bloom is less than two weeks away! Campouts and sleep-unders are happening! There is beautiful new artwork hanging all over the school! Enthusiasm and energy are in the air!

Our community is also dealing with the day to day stresses of parenting (see more below) as well as a severe budget deficit this year that has affected us right down to the day to day basics, specifically Copy Paper. Our school uses 12-16 cases of Copy Paper per month and each case costs about $20-25.

Stephanie Hinkle, our Director, has asked the Liaisons to coordinate a monthly "Copy Paper Donation". Specifically, Stephanie has asked that each of our 16 advisings in our school donate ONE CASE of copy paper per month and would prefer that we donate the actual case of copy paper rather than the money.

We are asking each family in our class to donate one case of copy paper this school year or to chip in with another family to donate one case. We have October - June, which is 9 months, so we need to donate 9 cases
If you can donate, please just bring a case in and let Beth know you have donated.
If you want to do a chip-in with another family we can put a sign up sheet out to match folks or just match yourselves up and let us know who's gone in together when you drop off the paper. Thank you for helping with this very important daily need for our school!

Stephanie is also seeking information about what kind of support groups parents want and need to help them in their daily lives. What would help you? A support group about teenage angst? A support group to help girls build self-confidence? A support group to understand your sons? Whatever ideas you have about support groups our school could offer, again, please email me, your Liaison, or talk to me in person, and I will get this information back to Stephanie. If you prefer, you can also contact her directly stephanie@trilliumcharterschool.org and let her know your ideas!

Thank you so much for your support and help. Please let us know if we can answer any questions.
Best regards,
Marion and Juli

2009-09-25T09:21:00.001-07:00

Beth’s Class Meeting Friday, September 25, 2009

Here’s the scoop!

Billy and Clark came to visit, here he is with Liam

Atticus started the meeting as Beth reminded him about the class meeting protocol. This is his second time leading the meeting and after his 3rd time Lilly will take over.

Announcements:

Beth said that next week is the Sleep Under and Breakfast the next day, don't forget!

Proposals:

Atticus and Griffin proposed ice cream day. They really want it on next Friday after the Sleep Under. They would like to buy ice cream and bring it into school for everyone. They stopped to confer about the details of the proposal and submit them for review.

Discussion:

Orin, suggested that any flavor was o.k. with him he likes to try new flavors

Hunter requested clarification on which day ice cream day would be and suggested it might be too much sugar so he is inclined to vote "no"

Eleni, unfortunately won't be here that day she will be in California

Lilly, likes all flavors of ice cream

Restate the Proposal in advance of the vote:

Ice Cream day on the 2nd of October

Vote:

14 yes

4 no

The Ice Cream Day resolution passes now they need to decide on flavors

Nomination of Flavors:

Peppermint Stick and Mint Chocolate Chip are the flavors the class decided on

Other Issues:

Beth suggested they need to come with a way to decide when kids get to use the loft

There can only be five people in the loft at a time

Monday: Hayden, Arden, Liam, Lily, Terra

Tuesday: Elsie, Eleni, Annie, Hannah, Atticus

Wednesday: Griffin, Estelle, Huck, Phoenix

Thursday: Orin, Sam, Hunter, Enora

That's all folks!

2009-09-25T09:14:00.001-07:00

Breakfast with Ellie!

This morning was breakfast at school!

Ellie ( with Clark and Billy too!) is coming to visit and the class was sad that she would miss the sleep under and breakfast so it was decided that they would also have breakfast today so she could be there.

Breakfast was wonderful, scrambled eggs and cheese, toast and jam (marionberry and strawberry) and bacon!

It was also Lilly Menz's Birthday! Happy Birthday Lilly!!

Mary Elizabeth Drinkhouse, Christine Mooney and Beth hosted the breakfast for the kids- THANKS!

2009-09-24T11:57:00.000-07:00

Sleep Under and Breakfast October 1st and 2nd!
Don't forget the sleep under on Thursday October 1 from 6:00-8:30

For the class members only, not a family activity. A couple of parent volunteers per class would be great, please contact Juli.
Pizza dinner, talent show, crafts, games and dancing.

Come back for breakfast on Friday morning, 8:15 till done. Parent helper for breakfast is still needed!
Please let us know about food allergies; complete the form outside the classroom to let us know if your child has any allergies or foods to avoid

Highlights from Back To School Night

2009-09-22T19:43:00.000-07:00

It was great to see many of you at Back To School Night.
Beth, Brian and Whitney went over many aspects of the 1-2 shared curriculum.
If you are interested in exploring more about some of the underpinnings of the reading, writing and math curriculum here you go:
Reading: Growing Readers
Math: Investigations by TERC-
overview of 1st grade
overview of 2nd grade
Writing : About the Authors

A really great thing I learned was that Beth uses "The Silent Thumb". Instead of raising hands like we all probably did when we were in school. Beth said that research has shown that some kids give up on problem solving when other kids raise their hand first. So she uses the "silent thumb" technique, which is less intrusive and has been shown to keep kids problem solving longer. Who knew?

VOLUNTEER UPDATES:
We are setting up the volunteer schedule for those folks that signed up to help out on a regular basis THANK YOU!
Juli will confirm your volunteer time with you soon. Your commitment begins the week of October 5th through December 20th. Again thanks so much and contact Juli with any questions about volunteering!
Other volunteer opportunities:
A couple of parents are needed for the SLEEP UNDER on October 1st from 6:00-8:30 to help with games and overall fun. Please contact Juli to volunteer for that!

Class Meeting Minutes, September 18, 2009

2009-09-18T10:51:00.001-07:00

Every Friday Trillium holds an all school meeting. Rob Van Nood will post the minutes on the Trillium Parent Listserve.

After the all school meeting, Beth’s class holds their class meeting. We will be attending those meetings and posting the “minutes” here.

Class Meeting: Week One

Discussion of how class meetings work:

- Write your proposal and put it in the envelope for discussion items by Thursday.

- Discuss changing levels of responsibility

- Vote and make decisions

- Students run the meetings. Request from class to be the leader and class votes to decide who will lead meetings in 3 week increments.

Today’s meeting:

- Talk about class jobs to help class stay neat, organized and run smoothly.

- vote on future leaders

Jobs:

- Clean-sweep + partner for dustbin-suggested by Atticus

- Shoe organizer-suggested by Griffin

o Put boxes made out of tape on floor so everyone knows where their shoes belong. Possibly add kid’s names to the tape.

o Terra would like to be the first shoe organizer

- Wash tables-suggested by Annie

- Picking up around the room-suggested by Elsie

o We’ll call this position the “office manager” said Beth

o Duties include putting pens etc into white baskets. Make sure the pencils go in tip down.

- Librarian-suggested by Hannah

o Duties include:

§ putting books away

§ sorting reading workshop books –added Terrra

- Journal Shelf Organizer-suggested Beth

o We’ll call this the “organizer”

- Fisher feeder-suggested Hunter

- Chair stacker-suggested Beth

o 1 person for each of the 3 tables

o 2 stacks of 3 chairs each

o If you chose to lift the chairs onto the table ask for help

- Calendar-suggested Beth

o So we have a fair way of making sure everyone gets a turn

- Loft cleaner-suggested Beth

- Put toys away-suggested Atticus

Meeting Leader:

Atticus would like to be a meeting leader: “I did it last year and did it well and I know what’s going on.”

Lily would also like to be the leader: “because it would be good if everyone played.”

Class voted and Atticus will have the first 3 week session of being clad meeting leader. Lily will take the next 3 weeks and Atticus will help her if needed.

Announcements:

Beth: “Remind your parents that next Tuesday is back to school info night.. Learn how 1-2 will run this year and get your questions answered. Adults only please.”

Hello from Marion Rice

2009-09-17T14:43:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone, I look forward to working with Beth and Juli this year to support the 1-2 community.
It will be great to reconnect and meet new folks at Back to School night next week, Tuesday, September 22nd from 6:30-7:30 p.m. ( adults only).

Welcome from your Liaisons

2009-09-17T09:53:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Beth's 1-2 class!

I'd like to introduce you to your liaisons for the year-Juli Maus (mama to Eleni in 1st grade and Danica in preschool) and Marion Rice (mama to Griffin in 2nd grade).

We'll be your point people to coordinate class events, get TFT info to you and remind you of important happenings and volunteer opportunities. We are here to support Beth, our students and you. Our goal is to make this a fun filled year for our whole class community. We will do most of our communicating via emails and this blog, so please check back often.

We have put up sign up sheets for the following classroom volunteer positions:

Morning duty helper: We are looking for an 8 week commitment starting the week of September 28 through November 16. It involves getting to school a bit early and engaging with the kids in structured creative activities and building community with parents as kids arrive.

Math/Literacy and Reading Workshop helpers: Again we are hoping for an 8 week commitment starting the week of September 28 through November 16.

Please let us know if you are available and would like to help at least part of the time, but need to make some special arrangements.

Important upcoming events:

Tuesday, September 22 6:30-7:30 Back to School Info night. Bring your questions. Adults only please.

Halloween Potluck, October 30 4-7. Save the date. More info to follow.

We'd also like to put out a class roster with emails and phone numbers so as your children make friends, we can build our community through play dates and helping each other. Please contact us privately if you DO NOT want to be on the roster. If we do not hear from you, we will assume you consent. Rosters will be distributed on October 1.

Please feel free to contact, Juli at mausjuli@gmail.com or 503 735 3040 or Marion at marionrice@me.com or 503 708 0707 if you have any questions, concerns or would like to add to the classroom in anyway.

Thank you. We look forward to meeting you all and sharing the year with you.

2009 - 2010 First and Second Grade Handbook

2009-09-14T19:10:00.000-07:00

Trillium Charter School

First & Second Grade
Handbook
2009-2010

First & Second Grade Handbook
2009-10

Dear Families,

Thank you for taking the time to read through some important information that will help you, your child and us have an exciting year. Keep this handbook for future use.
Beth, Brian, and Whitney are all excited to be back at school this year. We love working as a team to provide your child with the best personal education we can. This year’s theme is “The Seven Continents.” We will be learning about our world. We will frame our studies through thematic questions about community, caring for our world, the animals that are there and more. Once again we have a winter performance night planned and an end of the year feast. You will find those dates and more information in the following pages noted below. Thanks for reading this and remember to ask any questions you might have!

Contact Information
Beth, Brian, and Whitney can be contacted by telephone or email for questions and concerns. Since drop-off and pick-up time are usually busy, please feel free to call or set up an appointment if you need a longer time to chat.
Beth Molenkamp 503.706.6742 email: beth@trilliumcharterschool.org
Blog: http://bethk-1-2.blogspot.com
Brian Porter 541-941-0515 email: brian@trilliumcharterschool.org
Blog: http://briansclasstrillium.blogspot.com
Whitney Sweet 503-975-2246 email: whitney@trilliumcharterschool.org
Blog: http://whitneysclass.blogspot.com
Thank you for your dedication to our students and our school. We look forward to working with you.

*Beth, Brian, and Whitney

Monday through Thrusday Schedule
Our typical schedule for the beginning of the year looks as follows, things change as the year progresses and special topics are developed and classes planned. Note that there is a different schedule for Fridays as Friday dismissal is at noon.
Monday through Thursday
8:30 Class begins – Please be on time – Check in, Morning Brain Teasers, Morning Message, calendar, and announcements.
9:00-10:05 Math and Literacy Menus
10:05-10:20 Snack
10:20-10:45 Recess
10:45-11:45 Reading Workshop
11:45-12:45 Lunch – lunch recess
12:45–1:55 Writing Workshop
1:45-3:15 Monday & Wednesday Art Block
Tuesday & Thursday Thematic Instruction & ILP Time
3:15 Dismissal – Please be on time.

Friday Schedule
8:30 Class begins – Please be on time – Check in, Morning Brain Teasers, Morning Message, calendar, and announcements.
8:45-9:15 Buddies, story, group activity, or presentations
9:15-9:45 Class meeting
9:45-10:00 Sharing
10:00-10:10 Snack
10:10-10:30 Recess
10:30-11:30 Science or Cooking Friday
11:30-11:45 Clean up
11:45-12:00 Class sharing time
12:00 Dismissal - Please be on time

Supplies
We are including a supply fee in the activity fees this year. You do not need to bring in regular supplies. We may ask for special items to be brought during projects, but they should be things you find around the house.
First Week Things to Bring:
• Extra clothes in a Marked Zip-loc bag (Mark with child’s name on clothes)
• Emergency Contact Information, and all other paperwork.
• Activity fee and other forms from website
• Old T-shirt to be used as a paint shirt by the class community
• Slippers for in-class wearing
• Leak proof water bottle

Sharing
We love to be able to give the opportunity for all students to share each week. In order to make sharing an interesting and valuable part of our day, each class will have a sharing schedule that will be posted in the class. Sharing is not a time to share toys one may own. DO NOT SEND TOYS. We will have a schedule with a theme for sharing. Please make sure the item or story they share is related to the topic for the week. Check newsletters or calendars for the current themes.

Volunteers
We are looking forward to a year of partnering with all of the adults in the lives of our students. We hope to be able to learn from your experience with your child so that together we can make his/her experience at Trillium a great one. We have a wide range of opportunities to volunteer in and out of the classroom. Please sign up with your child’s teacher to help or talk to the classroom liaison to help. Each class needs volunteers for a few ongoing projects:
• Photographer – Takes pictures on field trips, during presentations and project nights. Teachers are frequently too busy to do this, but we really like the pictures. Print those out for us or email them to us for use in newsletter or blogs.
• Dictation – Either takes dictation from students in class or types up recorded dictation that students have made in class.
• Portfolio Assistant – Scans and assists in getting work into electronic portfolio system.
• Reading Group Facilitators – Help work with small groups of students in reading groups with guided, leveled oral reading.
• Menu Time/Project Time Helper – Help with math and literacy menus so that children have adult support in their small group learning.
• Before School, Lunch and Recess Duty Helpers – Help assure safety of children during these times and supervise games.
• Project helpers – Help students work on ILP projects.
Please contact your child’s teacher if you would be willing to work on one of these projects. Your help is incredibly appreciated.
Trillium and PPS have a policy to help ensure the safety of our children and community. If you are planning to help in any way that gives you access to other people’s children we are required to complete a criminal background check. Those forms are available through the school and help us all to feel better about who is working with our kids. Thanks for your cooperation in completing these quickly so that we can all be involved.
When we go on field trips and you choose to chaperone, remember you are there to help and it is okay to reinforce positive behaviors of children as well as remind them of appropriate limits. Check with any of us if you have questions. Remember that if you volunteer to chaperone we are expecting that you make that your priority and that you take care of all children in your charge just as carefully as you would your own.
While we generally have an open door policy when it comes to parent involvement in the classroom, we are requesting that for the first two weeks of school parent volunteer time be limited to work outside the classroom. We would like for the first two weeks of school to give the students an opportunity to form a tight-knit community with one another and allow us to form our own relationships with the children. We are excited to welcome parents in the classroom beginning with our third week of school, September 21st.
If you have time before the school year begins we would really appreciate volunteers for all sorts of reasons. Thanks, in advance, for your help.

Parent Meeting and Project Nights
We will have a back to school parent meeting night on Tues, Sept. 22nd. We have two project nights, Dec. 11th and June 4th. The parent meeting nights are for parents only. We will focus on classroom support and we will answer questions you have. Project nights are for sharing work!

Communication
All newsletters and important class and school information will be distributed through three avenues: the home files located in/outside each classroom, through electronic emails, and on our blog through the main Trillium Website. Please check your file daily to keep up with all of the new and exciting activities in the primary classes and at Trillium. Talk to your child’s teacher if your family needs more than one home file. Make sure we have the correct email information for your family.

Recess, Park and Garden Activities
We would love to be able to go outside daily throughout the year to play, work in the Trillium garden and play at the park. Please send your child to school with appropriate outerwear/raingear for the beautiful wet Oregon days.

Birthdays
We would love to celebrate your child’s birthday in class. Students with summer birthdays can celebrate their birthday on their half birthday or at another time that we can arrange during the year. Please let us know in advance if you are planning on bringing a snack at 10:00 for the class. Snacks should be healthy and not sugar laden. Advance notice is necessary so we can address food allergies.

SleepUnder
We have a SleepUnder on October 1st, beginning at 6:00 with pizza dinner and fun activities and games to be enjoyed by all. Parents are invited to come and play and stay if they want or leave their children in our care for the evening. Children should be picked up by 8:30 and go home to sleep and return for a group breakfast with us the next morning. It will be a lot of safe fun for all.

Campout
We will be having a primary campout on May 20th & 21st. We will go to Cape Lookout State Park at the Oregon Coast, 12 miles southwest of Tillamook. We leave in the morning of the first day and return on the second at about 3:00. A parent is strongly encouraged to come, as this is a community activity and a chance to meet the community members and welcome new families. Between the classes there are 13 yurts. Each yurt sleeps a maximum of 8 people. Tent sites are also reserved. If you are planning to bring a whole family you might want to make your own campsite reservations since we will not have room for everyone’s families. The cost of the campout and food is included in your child’s activity fee for your child; any additional family members attending will need to pay an additional fee of $25.00 or $10.00 for those 4 or younger.

Snack
We encourage you to pack a healthful snack for your child each day. We will have basic snacks available, but we have found that the children prefer their own snacks better. Please make it something nutritious and fast to eat with no preparation needed.

Lunch
Lunch is eaten in the classrooms. Lunch should be sent with your child daily or hot lunch may be purchased. Please try not to send food that your child cannot prepare by her/himself. Please remember to send utensils and food that does not require refrigeration or heating. School lunches are available this year from Organic Fresh Fingers. The cost is $3.00. These lunches are also available at free and reduced cost. Please complete the PPS form for eligibility to receive a free or reduced lunch. Even if your child chooses to bring their own lunch, if you qualify for free lunch please complete the form as it qualifies Trillium for additional funding for special programs. Check the Trillium website, http://www.trilliumcharterschool.org/index.php?page=home-visit-packets , for the link.

Field Trips
We will be planning our field trips differently this year. We are using an inquiry based approach to our thematic lessons and we will let the children have input and planning for our field trips. We have some dates set already, as you can see below, but many will be planned during the year as part of the curriculum. We will notify you two weeks in advance to plan for them. We will try to use public transportation as much as possible. Some of the ideas we have so far are: Tears of Joy Puppet Theater, NW Children’s theater, Art museums, OMSI, Zoo, Washington park, art schools, Chinese Garden and ethnic restaurants. We need chaperones for all of these field trips. Date Location
Sept. 22nd Back to school Parent Meeting
Oct 1st SleepUnder- Games & Fun!
6:00 to 8:30
Oct 2nd Group Breakfast
Mid October Forestry Center
Dec. 11 Performance Night
Dec. 14 -17 Intensives
Jan. 29th All-School Project Night
Feb. 4 Little One Inch, TOJ Puppets
April 7 Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus
Later April Chinese Garden
*May 20/21 Campout, Cape Lookout
June 4 World’s Fair Project Night - FEAST! 5:30 – 8:00
June 7-10 Intensives

Activity Fee
There is an activity fee that is all-inclusive this year. It covers all field trips, a campout, supplies and cooking activities and art fees for your child. The cost is $150.00. We should not have to ask for any additional money for our class this year. The only other charge could be an intensive your child chooses. Please make the arrangements for payment or work out a payment schedule with the front office. Please give all payments to your child’s teacher. If you qualify for free and reduced lunch you can receive a scholarship from TFT by filling out the scholarship request form in the home visit packet. You must fill out the scholarship form however. TFT cannot access free and reduced lunch information so you must request the scholarship. These fees make field trips possible. Additional siblings or family members that attend must be paid for separately and in advance.

TFT
TFT or Together For Trillium is a parent organization that supports the school. It sponsors Trillium in Bloom various social activities to enrich the Trillium community. Please consider participating and or attending the Potluck, skating party, swimming party, and Auction. It’s your chance to help the school, be involved and meet new friends.

Conflict Resolution

We use peer mediations as a form of nonviolent conflict resolution at Trillium. We want to give students the tools to solve their own problems. They do so with the support of their teacher and other staff. Please familiarize yourself and your child with our constitution bill of rights and responsibilities. This serves as a foundation for our mediation process and how we frame our responsibilities as members of the community. Mediations are not punitive, but rather a way to fully understand and solve issues.

If the same behavior keeps occurring over and over, then the issue can be taken to Judicial Committee. This is a group of students who ask questions and help to come up with solutions to the ongoing issue. It is much like a multi-mediator mediation. Once again, the goal is to solve issues nonviolently and in a way that works for all members involved. If you have questions about this process, please ask. Please support your child in developing nonviolent conflict resolution skills.

Back To School

2009-09-06T18:09:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's almost here! I had such a nice time visiting with all of you a couple of weeks ago. I have a few visits left to do and I am really excited about having a great year with great kids. I know the children in my class last year will welcome our friends from Billy's class that will be joining us as well as the three students new to Trillium.

We have a theme of the Seven Continents this year. We will use an inquiry-based focus with lots of student generated questions and projects stemming from those questions. We also have electives continuing this year and hope you have had a chance to look at those choices. Look at the list of choices and then use the worksheet to help your child select their first three choices. Please email those choices to me. You can find those choices and all the beginning of the year paperwork on the trillium website:
http://www.trilliumcharterschool.org/index.php?page=home-visit-packets

Also we are doing supplies differently this year. You do not have to purchase supplies. We will provide those from a small portion of your activity fee. We do ask that you still bring the following items:
• Extra clothes in a Marked Zip-loc bag (Mark with child’s name on clothes)
• Emergency Contact Information, and all other paperwork.
• Activity fee and other forms from website
• Old T-shirt to be used as a paint shirt by the class community
• Slippers for in-class wearing
** Leak proof water bottle

Also, because the kids preferred snack from home, we will provide only minimal snacks. Please pack your child a nutritious, quick snack that does not require preparation. We found that too much was thrown away last year and kids often ate out of their lunches anyway. We'll have things like cereal or pretzels if they forget or want that, but not big snacks.

If you can help finish set-up in the class I would love it. I would really like to have a work party of sorts on Thursday afternoon or Friday any time. I get released by my doctor for work on Thursday, I'm sure. I have a list of chores to finish and some of them require lifting that I still have to be careful of. I really appreciate the help of Mary and Melissa already, who helped earlier. I have room for anyone else who would like to join in and a specific list of tasks for you to chose from.

The complete handbook will be out early this week once I have confirmation on a couple of dates.

Thank you to Marion and Juli who have offered to be the classroom liasons for the year! Yay! They have some great ideas for organization and I look forward to working with them as I'm sure you will too. They'll probably be contacting you soon.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions! beth@trilliumcharterschool.org or 503.706.6742! Thanks.
See you soon! Beth

Hello Summer

2009-06-28T09:35:00.000-07:00

I hope you all have a great summer ahead. I plan to see some of you over the summer and hope that everyone has plans for some summer reading and maybe a great summer project. I would love to see what you work on when we come back to school in September. Check the calendar on the Trillium website for the most current calendar information.

Last Week of School Notes

2009-06-05T22:59:00.000-07:00

This is the last week of school coming up and it is full of activity. We have intensives in the mornings. Your child's name is listed below with what they will need to bring. We meet at 8:30 in the morning, our regular start time, and then they go to their intensive choice at 9:00.
Eleni - Young cyclist, bring bike, backpack, water bottle, tennis shoes and helmet
Terra, Enora, Anni - Jewelry making
Lyric - Cooking and Crafts
Meadow - Yoga ad Movement, bring comfy clothes and water bottle
Leah - Mosaic
Atticus, Dahlia, Sam, and Hanna - Hiking and drawing, wear hiking shoes, bring jacket small pack and water bottle
Devon - Tinkering and building
Zoe, Nokio, and Ellie - Swimming, bring swimsuit, towel, toiletries, swimming stuff, plastic bag to put wet stuff in & big bag
Griffing & Max - Chess
Huck, Pi, Aidan and Phoenix - Games at the Park, bring good running shoes and water bottle

We will have a small publishing party in the afternoon of Wednesday. It will be at 1:00. The kids have been busy authors all this week and we look forward to some great stories to share. This is more for the kids, but you are welcome to attend if you would like. Of course, kindergarten students are invited to stay. In fact they can stay all day every day this week if they would like.

Friday is the all-important moving up ceremony. Ours will be at 9:00 in the morning as will Whitney's. Billy's and Brian's will be at 10:45. We have families with kids in more than one class so we tried to stagger them to allow for you to attend all of your children's ceremonies. Hope this helps.

Ancient Greek Performance Night

2009-05-30T08:03:00.000-07:00

Our study of ancient Greece ended in a performance night like no other. The food was amazing, thanks to all families who brought tasty Greek dishes. If you enjoyed the Baklava or the Milopita (cheesecake with sesame crust) you had food that the kids made. Good cooks, aren't they? The performances were outstanding with a variety of seriousness and levity just as the ancient Greeks would have done on an evening of theater. We celebrated the athletic accomplishments of the kids as well with our Olympic awards ceremony and learned so much that its hard to pack it all into one night. I think everyone who entered Temple Trillium must have felt that it was a special place and time. Thank you to everyone who helped make this possible - Jen Brusewitz, Katy Molenkamp, and Virginia Burgess who helped sew chitons, the ancient Greek clothing. Juli Maus, Hannah Peterson, parents from Billy's and Whitney's and Brian's classes who helped us set up. Countless people that helped clean up and keep things rolling when it got busy. And thanks to each and every one of you that helped make this special for your kids and helped them learn the most they could from this experience. Enjoy some photos and highlights of the evening.

Invention Project

2009-04-14T20:27:00.000-07:00

Our kids are doing a great job thinking about their projects. We have learned about simple and complex machines. We are also learning about inventors. You can use these sheets to help you with your planning. Hope it helps and thanks ahead of time for the assistance with the writing.
If you double click on the pictures I believe they will expand and be easier to read.

Inventor Project

2009-04-14T20:25:00.000-07:00

Here are the guidelines for the inventor's project.

Maya Project Fair

2009-03-26T07:52:00.000-07:00

Our Maya project fair was a great success and a great way to share our learning. There was so much going on that it is hard to include it all her in this post. We had glyph carving, bug investigation, architecture, food, games, pottery, clothing and much more. The kids were all so engaged and really learned a lot about the Maya. The ball game was great, though they took out a light bulb! It was amazing - they are amazing. As you enjoy your spring break, keep in mind how engaged your kids are in their learning and share these pictures with them. I'll try and get more accessible to you as well. Have a great time off. Beth

Pie/Pi Day

2009-03-14T13:53:00.000-07:00

We had a great time making our pies Friday. We made a choice of three different flavors; apple, cherry or chocolate. The kids made all of it and had a yummy treat. We also investigated circles. We learned about diameter, radius, circumference and a bit about Pi and how it helps.

We have been so busy with our Mayan projects. We have about 25 kids making huipils that look awesome. We also have kids playing pokatok. They are doing great, and very relieved that anyone who loses does not have to experience the Mayan consequence.

Thank you to all the parents who have been helping. Without your help don't now how we would have been able to get it accomplished.

Remember that we will have a project fair for our Mayan unit on this Friday, March 20. It will be from 10:30 to 12:00.
Hope to see you there!

Remember that there is no school from the 23rd of march to April 3rd for spring break. Enjoy!

Thanks to everyone who has come to their conference so far. They have been great and I really appreciate that we get time to meet. We have some nice plans and goals for the rest of the year for the children. I look forward to meeting with the rest of you soon!

Spirit Week

2009-03-09T19:23:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note, spirit week is next week March 16 to the 20th. Days are the same as listed below; Monday - pajama day, Tuesday - gender switch day, Wednesday - Superhero day, Thursday - Formal day, and Friday - School Spirit day. Friday is also our Mayan project fair so we'll have special things going on for that!

News

2009-03-07T11:39:00.000-08:00

While pet day is lots of fun, there is also news to share. The All School Meeting met on Friday and passed a proposal that will interest our class. We missed the meeting because of pet day. A proposal making next week spirit week passed and the following dress-up days were decided upon: Monday-PJ Day, Tuesday-Gender Switch Day, Wednesday-Superhero Day, Thursday-Formal Day, Friday-School Spirit day..

We also have Pie/Pi day scheduled for next Friday. We will make pies and investigate circles. Should be lots of fun.

Proposals that passed in our class meeting were that we will schedule bring your favorite book day, you can't drop things from the loft or throw them up there, everyone should bring their own water bottle to school, we can't blurt out things when it's not your turn, and that we will schedule wheel day and bring your stuffed animal day (that's one day, both things come) for later in the year.

Mayan projects are going great. Please help your child do the paper homework/research at home. We are working in class to make things great! Remember to put the 20th from 10:30 to 12:00 down on your calendar as time to come see our projects in action.

Remember that reading a-z or RAZ-kids is available to you at home if you have internet access. The kids are loving it and doing great. the website is www.RAZ-kids.com. Log in to my username: bethmolenkamp and then their icons come up and they sign in. They now have a feature where they can read a book out loud and the computer will record and store it. Please encourage them to do this so we can have it on file for portfolios!

Speaking of such, if you would like to learn how to load things into the e-portfolio system that would be greatly appreciated. It's hard to get our kids to do it on their own, but we would love to have their work archived and shared with you. Just drop me a line!

More Pet Day Pictures

2009-03-07T11:34:00.000-08:00

Here is Phoenix with his rabbit, Leah with her two bunnies, Devon with his mice, Nokio with her Hamster and Lyric with her Hamster, Mr. Bojangles who is dancing!

Pet Day

2009-03-07T11:23:00.001-08:00

Pet day was a great success. The pets were well behaved and the kids were very excited. Here is Wembly, Griffin's Old English Sheepdog and Abram, Aidan's big beautiful dog. Pi has Rosie his corn snake and Dahlia brought Pushkin her little mixed breed friend that does tricks!

Wheel Day!

2009-02-28T15:04:00.001-08:00

The kids have been passing interesting proposals. This week was wheel day. Many of the kids brought things to ride on that had wheels and then some brought toys with wheels. The weather must have heard about our special proposal because it cooperated to perfection. Enjoy some of the great pictures. It was awesome.

We are working on our projects about the Maya culture. They are amazing and the kids have been doing great work. Thanks for your help with the research. It makes the learning more complete and we love to have you involve.

More Project Fair Photos

2009-02-07T19:40:00.000-08:00

Just had to share these too!

2009-02-07T19:03:00.000-08:00

Our mini project fair was a wonderful success. Children had art projects with life-sized pictures of themselves painted in Egyptian Frontalism style. They also had science projects of mummified apples that were placed in colorful burial barges. We also shared our early human's pinch pots that were fired and wonderful examples of clay work. We made bread, something that was so significant for Ancient Egyptians. We even ground our own wheat to make the bread! Some children had their own individual projects as well. Thanks for coming and sharing with us. Take a look at some of the photos here!

Remember that we have a field trip next Friday, the 13th. We will have a Valentine's celebration on Thrusday. Check your emails for class lists.

Remember, there is no school on Monday, February 16th for President's day.

Enjoy the pictures!

Ancient Egypt Celebrations

2009-02-04T19:30:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of our special guest, Madigah, who performed Egyptian Belly Dancing for our class. She shared the music, moves and traditions of Egypt while we studied the customs and beliefs of ancient Egyptian culture.

You are invited to join us for a mini-project fair this Friday, February 6th. We will have projects celebrating our study of Egypt on display as well as some of those that students have completed in areas of personal interest. Come ready to be awed by our work and explanations. We will be having viewing times from 11:00 to 1:00 on Friday. Stop by and see our work.

Look for our new DVD that should be out soon. (Maybe even posted here if I can work it out!) We will have our groups performing their reader's theater plays, as well as three guest critics reviewing their favorite books.

There is a field trip to Tears of Joy Puppet Theater next Friday, February 13th! We leave at 9:00 and ride the MAX downtown. We'll be back for noon dismissal. Join us if you have the time to chaperone.

2008-09-13T13:12:00.000-07:00

We had a great first week. The class is an amazing group of kids. We spent a lot of time getting familiar with our school's constitution, our new friends, our new room and working on mediation strategies. Next week we start our regularly scheduled math and literacy menu groups and begin our space unit.

Thank you to everyone who brought in all your paperwork. I'd love to start taking some neighborhood walks to familiarize us with field trip expectations.

If you have any questions about how the new lunch program is working you can ask Ramona about the specifics. So far the food looks good, and very nutritious. It's nice to have real plates and less waste and mess.

Remember if you have any questions your can email me at beth@rilliumcharterschool.org or call me at 503.706.6742 if you need more immediate info. Please call before 9:30 or so.

Thanks to all!

2008-08-16T17:46:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos of our awesome work crew in action. Last weekend, Daniel Fleisher, Cris Moss, Melissa and Travis Crenshaw, Michael Klopfenstein and my husband Jon Molenkamp built an amazing loft in our room. It is really quite impressive. All of this was made possible by the efforts of Mariah McNeice, who was able to arrange a generous donation of lumber by Shur Way lumber in St. John's. Thanks everyone, and thanks Shur Way!

2008-08-16T16:21:00.000-07:00

Also, a big reminder for many people who have asked. The first day of school is Monday, September 8th! See you in our newly decorated room!

2008-08-16T16:19:00.000-07:00

Check out our beginning of the school year newsletter/handbook. It is full of information that will help you throughout the year. We have a great year planned with the theme of "Through Time and Space." Get ready to blast off into a year of learning and fun!

Expect a call soon about home visits or contact me on my Trillium email to let me know of good times for you beth@trilliumcharterschool.org