Ms. Bonzo's PPSEL 5-6 Crew: August 2010

School Year 2010-2011...Be sure to scroll down past the post for lots of pics!

Morning Meeting! The kids are doing a great job leading!

They are responsible for a proper greeting, sharing/reading, activity, and announcements. This routine and ritual they are all familiar. We meet daily 8:30-9:10. The importance of these gatherings is evident in the ways the kids treat each other and the content we study. Last year each led a Morning Meeting, yet this year, the expectations are much higher as they know completely the process and why it is important. They have been given a schedule so they can be prepared and successful for this leadership endeavor.

The kids are using the 10 Design Principles very well and continuing their good CREW behavior to our school which is courage, responsibility, empathy, and welcoming.

Each designed a t-shirt that gives an example of each trait and these lamenated shirts reside on the lockers to remind them each day of what they all can do.

We added a cartoon quail to the lockers after each filled it out with comments that they like, know, and learn from each other. These will be keepsakes for years to come as they look back and realize how much character already shows and hopefully remind them of their strengths. Each crew wrote sincerely to the others.

Newest Chant for Closing Crew: Kowabunga, I love being among ya, We soar all the more because we're one score!!

Make sure to have your child read 40 minutes per night. That is homework. On Feb. 7, we spend time talking about when the kids read and most read right after school, on the bus and before bed. Good they are all finding a particular time and making the reading happen!

Practice multiplication and division, 1-12 times table. Make sure that your kid knows the United States too!! They have a map... Memorization is our tool for bigger problem solving.

Educational Goals were created and each child has them now in their Student Led Conference binder. These goals are things that the kids think about being when they grow up. Remember when you were almost 11...?

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Go see great info about Paradise Ridge Challenge Ropes Course

There are all kinds of pictures of people of all ages learning about each other in the beautiful environment of the Palouse. Take a tour through his website: http://paradiseridgechallenge.com

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Clarissssa gets new water bowl and coconut bedding

Today I went to Barnacle Bill's in Pullman and learned the more pro way to add humidity to Clarissssa's environment. I really have figured out a lot, but so nice to talk to the knowledgeable people there. All three employees had snakes of various types and the one guy that helped me at the store has had his ball python for nine years. It's 41/2 feet long and 1 inch thick. Clarissssa is 3 feet and 5 years old. Also talked about feeding as she ate two mice yesterday. Looks like two is becoming the norm. She eats every 7 days.
Also added a new soaking dish and some moss. The coolest thing about the coconut fiber for the bottom of the tank is that you can mist it. It doesn't grow mold. That has been a big concern with the aspen shavings even though they are changed out often.
I am really looking forward to the kids handling our snake more and taking care of her too.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Our Snake, Clarissssa, 5 year old Ball Python

Last summer this snake fit into the palm of my hand.

Now she is just shy of 3 feet. She eats a mouse every 7 days and has shed three times so far. Keeping her environment filled with plenty of humidity is important so it is like what she would have in the wild--sleeping in rodent holes.

The kids have been able to handle her twice and this past year will get to be with her more. She likes slow movement and climbs very well.

We have all learned a lot by watching her. She is my very first snake and I read books and watched you tube videos to learn to handle her correctly and keep her healthy.

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Poems this Crew likes or has written. Ideas that make them go,"Hmmmm."

The Best way to predict the future is to help create it.

~Emma Lee, Jan 3, 2011

~Sunflakes by Frank Asch--this poem was found and added by Semolina, Dec. 8, 2010

Snowflakes by Henry W. Longfellow

~Emma Lee shared this one.

Out of the bosom of the Air,

Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken,
Over the woodlands brown and bare,
Over the harvest-fields forsaken,
Silent, and soft, and slow
Descends the snow.

ME! by Tatum

I am something rare, I am Something that no one else is,

I am something unique and special. I am something nobody wants or needs, I am just plain old me!

Jacob chose a poem by Wendell Berry

I am not bound for any public place

But for ground of my own where I have planted the vines

and orchard trees,

and in the heat of the day climbed up into the healing shadows of the woods.

5/6 Crew Jobs

There are 20 kids in our crew. Each one has a weekly job. Ask your child to tell you what they did this week. They do everything from being a Plant Parent to Clarissssa Handler, Writing Table Tabulator to P.E. Warm Up Leader.

A bit about being P.E. Warm Up Leader-- Starting in September, the kids led each other through a regular routine to get stronger, have better balance, and become more flexible. Each has brought their own ideas to the warm ups. We have had lots of different ways of doing these exercises. Their leadership skills are improving and each has become more aware of their own behavior--hopefully more empathetic to the leader, and more responsible for their own fitness. We talk about effort and cooperation weekly to keep those expectations clear.

New PPSEL song...think 1966 Yellow Submarine Melody

More songs:

Bob Marley's One Heart, One Love we are singing a lot.

And we are working on the original words to Somewhere in Idaho, Moscow... check the planners!!!

Here's a song I thought up for helping the 1/2 learn to spell Palouse Prairie. The tune is original. The is simple and easy to follow.

P-A-L- ou-S E spells Palouse

P-R-A-ir-I E spells Prairie

Palouse Prairie, Palouse Prairie

Our school of learning

Ex-ped-i-tion-ary.

Here's a new song I thought up over the summer for this school year. Last year we started with the song Palouse Prairie School is ready to go! to the tune of Mary had a little lamb and each grade added a verse. That song turned out great!

I am hoping that this year we can add verses to this song too.

Here is it is:

At a school

in Idaho

There's a place

you need to know

The kids all think

and write and draw

Taking care

of one and all

The parents help

The teachers beam

with all our projects

we are a team

Now for the chorus:

We all go to Palouse Prairie School

Palouse Prairie School

We all go to Palouse Prairie School

Palouse Prairie School

E...L (when you say E...L, we do the sign for those letters for the American Sign Language Alphabet)

Hope you are humming it!

Quotes from the Crew

One of the jobs is Class Quoter. This person finds or creates a quote for us to think about during the week.

"Roses are red, violets are blue, I like cheese and so should you." Wil gave us this one to giggle to.

"Do your best the best you can do."

Grace liked these words of Tatum.

"We have two ears and one mouth."

"Envy rots the bones"

"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve." ~Isoroku Yamamoto

Good, got it, great, check the gate, movin' on!

To be or not to be... from Hamlet

Clarisssa Update

Wow! Oct. 5. She shed yesterday and so the new Clarisssa Handlers had a chance to get her out of the tank and we found her skin. It was completely whole and in a circle as she just slithered out of it. Now it will be time to feed.

Saturday, Oct. 9. Back on the eating schedule. She ate one mouse after stalking it for 25 minutes.

Saturday, Oct. 16. The room is cooling down and so Clarisssa stays burrowed in the coconut hulls below the light. When I awakened her in the afternoon, she actually yawned. Very funny to see. Then she smelled the two mice that were waiting in her feeding box, and her tongue was busy smelling prey. She ate in about 10 minutes flat. Shedding must be a hard job because the first couple weeks right after, she is really hungry. Having the kids handle her is terrific. It keeps her more comfortable with sounds and touch.

Saturday, Oct. 30. Waking up late in the afternoon for a feeding took quite a while. She finally decided to hunt. The two Handlers this week, Tatum and Semolina did a fine job of misting and cleaning the tank. They both helped each other with filling the water and being careful with our snake. The kids have really learned a lot about snakes from having this class pet.

Saturday, Nov. 13 Clarissssa is getting handled a couple of times weekly and very comfortable with it. The kids are keeping her tank misted and cleaned. It's been two weeks since she has eaten. I think the temperature change is slowing her down as the room is much cooler. She is looking good and I hope she eats before Thanksgiving break.

January 3, 2011 Clarissssa has endured the cold building-55* over break. I checked on her, bought her new lights as they quit rather quickly to keep her tank warmer, yet when run 24/7 and in the humid environment, they go out quickly. This was confirmed by the owner of the pet store when I went in to ask about 'better' lights. She still hasn't shed yet and not eaten. She looks good, a bit dry, so trying to mist more. The kids will get her out this week. The handling is good for her and the kids.

Dec. 11, 2010. We haven't seen Clarissssa out in quite awhile. The colder temps and dark has sent her into hibernation. Her eyes have started to change we noticed week before last and presume she is on the way to a shed. Each Clarissssa does spray the tank with water, change the water and clean the glass. She is well taken care of.

Jan. 30, 2011

I brought in a mouse, but she was all balled up and not interested. When we saw her out last week, Emma did a great job handling her and introduced her to our 3 newest students.

February 9, 2011. Last week the kids in charge of Clarissssa handled her and wiped down the class and misted the tank. Our snake looks great. Claire, Noah, and Kieren had their first interactions with her.

April 22, For the past two weeks she has eaten and she shed the week the 5/6 went to MOSS