Weekly Update 9/28/2012

Upcoming Events: 

Monday- Oct. 1– Students will visit the Tacoma Public Library’s Northwest room to being researching their topics for the book, “Lessons learned from the Disasters and Defeats in the City of Destiny.” Students need to bring their Tacoma Public Library Card!

Wednesday, Oct. 3– Divergent study guides due.

Thursday, Oct. 4– Washington State History Museum. We will skip the Farmer’s Market and eat at a few of the places close to UWT as we talk about the history of the buildings of that area.

Monday, Oct. 8th- Tour the Job Carr Cabin Museum and get a historical walking tour of Old Town, including St. Peter’s Church. Ask your student about the interesting tidbit about its bell tower.

Friday, Oct. 19 – No school.  Teachers at WAETAG (Washington Association for the Talented and Gifted) conference.

Thanks to the families who made it to Curriculum Night. Check Friday Folders for a detailed plan of this year’s curriculum.

Enjoy these photos from PE and the Farmer’s Market. They have been doing fitness tests with R.C.

 

Camp Colman

We had an incredible time at Camp Colman. It was a beautiful facility, the staff was excellent, the classes and activities amazing and the weather was perfect! Each student had a chance to overcome obstacles, work as a team and learn something about his/herself and each other.

Weekly Update 9/12/2012

It’s been a busy second week of school! We have begun our Tacoma History study with a meeting with Deb Freedman from the Tacoma Historical Society. Ms. Freedman is the author of the book, Tacoma’s Twenty-One Tales Every Student Should be Able to Tell.

The exciting news is that she is going to collaborate with our students to write a companion book. The working title is Lessons Learned From the Disasters and Defeats in the City of Destiny. Each student will write a chapter in this book! We’ll begin selecting topics and researching when we return from camp.

and speaking of camp…. We’re leaving Monday morning!  Each student has been sent home with a packing list and more information about our stay at Camp Colman. Since the trip is just two nights- the packing list can be reduced.  Use your best judgement. For example, just one pair of comfortable walking shoes will be fine. Sending layers will help your student through these chilly nights/mornings and warm days.  We are asking that students do not bring any Ipods, DSs, Gameboys or anything of that nature.

Please remember to bring all medication with the appropriate forms to school on Monday. Mrs. Ritchie will be the contact person for medications on this trip.

We will leave Monday, Sept. 17 at 9:00 am and return to school in time for pick-up Wednesday, Sept. 19 in the afternoon. 

In other news, students have been collaborating making bridges out of pasta! To begin our study of architecture and engineering, students are working on building the strongest model bridges they can, identifying weak points and taking into account how the weight and stress will be dissipated or transferred throughout the bridge.

They are also learning French,  beginning work in their math courses, blasting through the novel Divergent by Veronica Roth,  beginning vocabulary study, reviewing study skills,  learning new programs such as Edmodo in Tech and deciding on their first independent study project with Adam.

We also had a great time celebrating M.B’s birthday as we put her in the “hotseat” (where we all say something we like about her). We all  enjoyed her delicious Owl cupcakes!

Tomorrow is the Farmer’s Market for lunch and P.E.

Weekly Update 9/7/12

Welcome Back! We had a fabulous first week. What a cool group of kids!

Important Announcements: 

Camp Colman date change: We will be going just Sept. 17-19. (we have cancelled the 20th- see email regarding this) Look for more information coming home next week.

The kitchen will be open for business on Monday for students who have passed the Food Handler’s  Card test.  This means students are welcome to bring microwavable lunches or lunches that require quick cooking (soup, mac and cheese, toasted things etc..) The deal is that the students must be able to keep a clean and sanitary kitchen to keep it open.

Your student can go to: https://www.foodworkercard.wa.gov/language.html to complete the test if they haven’t had a chance yet. Seabury will pay the $10 for the card.

Our tech volunteer, Dan Taylor will be in next Wednesday morning. If you received an email from Mr. G about your student’s computer this week then  the computer has Windows 7 Home on it rather than Windows 7 Pro. We need Pro on the computer in order to have it connected to the server, to Seabury email (which is required) and to be able to print.  Please have Pro installed by next Wednesday.  Let us know if you have any questions and we can direct you to Dan.

We’ll be diving right into our core academics next week. They have been placed into math groups. Contact Mr. G if you have any questions.  They will have more regular homework.

We’re looking forward to great year with these fabulous kids!