To Our Middle School Families,

Calendar
October 19th- Curriculum Sharing

Announcements
Appropriate Shoes for PE! – Please remind your students to wear
athletic type shoes on PE days. Lyndsay has had several kids wearing
boots/sandals and unsafe footwear and some falls have occurred because
of wearing the wrong shoes with no traction.   Appropriate shoes would
be closed toe tennis shoes.

Upper-el Biking – The Upper-el Biking Unit with the City of Eugene
taught by Ridgeline parent Salmon Stroich, will take place the weeks
of October 17-21 and 24-28.

The North parking lot will not be available for parking these weeks.
Please plan accordingly and arrive early enough to park on the
surrounding streets, at Crossfire, etc.  Also, the 2 parking slots
closest to W. Amazon in the South lot will be coned off.

Academics
Math -
Assignments
At the end of each assignment, the students are required to do the
practice problems for the next assignment.  The answers are at the
bottom of the page, and the step by step explanation for how to
complete each problem is shown in the example adjacent to each
problem.  This is a very important component of each assignment. It
requires students to preview and attempt to tackle tomorrow’s
assignment material BEFORE they come to class.
The directions are for them to SHOW THEIR WORK STEP by STEP as it is
shown in the book.  They are required to read through and follow the
examples in the front matter of each section.
If after completing the practice problems, they still have questions
for us, we can go over them before they begin the Practice Exercises
that will be due the following day.   Taylor and I are checking math
journals each day for inclusion of these problems, and thorough
demonstration of the steps as demonstrated in the corresponding
frontmatter examples.
Volunteer Opportunity
Math class for Block I is from 9:30 am to 10:25 am.  For Block II it
is from 11:30 am to 12:25 am.  During this short period Taylor and I
are spread thin checking yesterday's assignment, and working with
students struggling with concepts. We would love to have more time to
do the latter.  Checking assignments just consists of reading off
answers from the key, checking for journal requirements, and writing
down percentages.  We would welcome a parent volunteer to come perform
this task with each of the four math groups in each Block.  This would
free up 15 to 20 minutes of each math period for Taylor and I to give
lessons to small groups and  individual students. Please contact me if
you are willing and available.

Science -
Using our presentation notes from last week, students are reflecting
on the similarities and differences between their Earth structure
region and the regions presented by their peers.  We have taken time
this week to really focus on this assignment.  It is a challenge for
them to find patterns, rather than state facts.  It is a challenge to
come up with questions that will lead to further investigations,
rather than questions that you can just answer with a fact.  This is
tough stuff, but very necessary for developing our emerging scientist
skills.

Electives -
Art Elective Update

This week we worked on creating three dimensional form  with shadow.
It may seem counterintuitive, but sometimes if you squint your eyes,
you see the light better.  Make of that what you will.  We are also
learning that it’s not so easy to draw what you see.  We tend to draw
what we think we see.  Hmmm.  art inspires philosophy once again.

Chaperone Needed!
Our art elective may have the opportunity to visit the Jordan
Schnitzer art museum on November 4th

We will need one chaperone to accompany us on this adventure! My car
can transport seven students, so our awesome volunteer must be able to
accommodate the remaining four students in his or her
vehicle.Chaperones are admitted for free and are expected to assist
with tour and studio activities.
Please contact me if you are interested.  Be our hero! Earn some
volunteer hours creating art with our amazing students!

Art Supplies Needed!
Can’t chaperone?  Have some old art supplies laying around needing a
home?  We could use donations of any number of the items listed below.
Ink Pads
Watercolor paint
Printing ink
Charcoal
Oil pastels
Sheer Curtain Fabric (silk screening)
Road  maps
Old white sheets (for batik)
Acrylic Paint
Please contact me if you would like to donate any of these items.

We appreciate each of our students for their precious unique
characters. We marvel and gush about it.
We are so thankful for the opportunity to be present for them, and
feel blessed to work with this age group.  We present challenges and
expectations, and are rewarded and inspired by how much they grow in
the two short years we have them!

Thank you,

Carrie and Taylor