Nightingale Notes

We Give Thanks for Donations Pouring In!

We are an ambitious small school trying to do mighty big projects with stead-fast true believers contributing in so many unique ways. Marvin's Organic Gardens, known for their knowledge of native and edible plants, donated 30 cubic yards of premium compost. An enormous dump truck poured the $700.00 prized dirt in front of the greenhouse. Our eager student gardeners got to work transferring by bucket the "food" to many "vegetable gardens - to - be " near the greenhouse. In addition, Marvin Duran is donating two stainless steel work tables for the greenhouse worth several thousand dollars to get us started! Jared Martin, NM’s own organic farm expert was demonstrably delighted at the sight of the "black gold"! Since it was only the Friday before Thanksgiving , it seemed to him (and to the high schoolers who were visibly aghast at the height of the dumping truck) that Christmas had come early this year!

This realization was even more evident when the office announced it received

an anonymous donation of $50,000! That will allow us to turn the lights on for sure! More donations followed from Nightingale Montessori Go Fund Me this month from Mary Bullwinkle, Chickadee River's grandmother, Barb Coleman, Wing Kyle Taylor's great aunt, and alumnae Erin Brown and Stephanie Mueller! MORE An NM alum parent, Andy Cason, had fixed the roof covering 17 broken rafters which had been caused by an undisclosed water drainage problem at the new building. While working there he had seen the sizable drywall pile that had resulted from months of dedicated 'supervised - student' demolition of many former office walls. He was able to arrange for a free dumpster from his friend Tony Smith of Springfield Landfill and decided to load it himself! Following the enthusiasm shown this month, Nightingale Montessori has its own creative unique early Christmas offer. We want to raise funds needed for a loan to fund a new HVAC and an Insulated roof. We would offer any person $500 who would be able to recommend a student leading to an acceptance of a tuition paid ( $7700 ) enrollment . This offer is only good for the first 12 students that could fill our open seats as follows: 7 Chickadees, 3 Owls, and 2 Falcons.

November 2017

December

4-8 Holiday Gift Shop 21-31 NO SCHOOL—Winter Break

January

1 NO SCHOOL—Winter Break 2 Staff Day 3 Classes Resume 11 Science Fair 12 End of Quarter 2 15 NO SCHOOL—MLK Jr. Day

In awe of the dump! Our black gold!

shy. In addition, this NM Owl group has a lot of outgoing kids. Cristina was in charge of the fire pokers which was great because they really enjoyed that. I took a few up to spend more time with animals, then gradually others joined. Jeremy had a great time feeding Bob, the goat, hands full of grass. Kyle and Zeph took their host status pretty seriously and showed everyone around. Overall it was a great day.

Falcons: It was a pretty good day. It was raining a bit at first as we did chores and fed animals. The Falcons had mostly been here before so they took the lead. Mariana was the brave volun-teer who fed Bob, the goat. We fed and watched the chickens, then went on a short walk. We went down to the creek, but it was too high to cross safely, and too cold to be completely wet after crossing so we did some work on the home side. A group dug potatoes under Jayne's supervision and got a pretty good haul. A group debarked, split and stacked wood, and a group got a fire going in the metal fire pit. It wasn't quite as nice as being across the creek but they still had fun. Malaki wanted to split wood and I got him started, but Jayla finished if for him, which impressed every-one. Malaki pitched in later and split a lot of wood. Some went inside with Jayne to scrub and prep potatoes which they cooked on their fire. These turned out delicious. Zachary settled in and debarked piece after piece of wood. We cooked hot dogs and marshmallows too, of course. They got their tree climbing fix in getting marshmallow sticks. This group took longer to mingle than oth-ers. I guess the self consciousness of adolescence really kicks in at this age. Journie made friends with a girl named Jude, and they spent a lot of time poking the fire together. The boys blended faster, with Javion being the most outgoing. I was so proud of him. The others slowly got comforta-ble, and were really socializing together by the last hour. They want to come back together sometime. It was a beginning of new friendships.

Farm Days in Partnership with the Dayton Islamic School (DIS)

The Eagles, Owls and Falcons were part of a new experiment at Heron Berry Hill Farm. We invited each class from the Dayton Islamic School to participate in a farm day. The goal was simply for the kids to get to know some people with whom they might not otherwise come into contact, thus reaffirming our NM value of diversity. The students from both schools worked together to feed the animals, and the NM students showed their new friends some of their favor-ite spots on the farm. We shared a communal lunch of hotdogs and marshmallows that the students toasted over the fire. Sharing a meal often seems to bring people togeth-er, and indeed by the end of lunch each day the students were mingling and socializing together. On warm days they explored the creek, on cooler ones they stuck to the woods and the fire, but each day they had a wonderful time and left with new friends. We are hoping to continue the relationship with Dayton Islamic School into the future.

Eagles: After the confusion and fog of the morning it turned out to be a pretty great day for the Eagles. Sheila and I each took our own groups for a hike around the farm, then met back up at the bonfire site. The kids ate, cooked food on the fire, played in the creek and in the hollow tree and had a great time. On our walk Max found a sycamore leaf, identi-fied it and pointed out the tree it came from. He then said that sycamore trees like to grow near water and it was there because of the creek. It was neat to see how proud he was to share this knowledge with others. Ladainian, Nicholas and two boys from DIS poked at the fire for a lot of the time. They were really cooperating with each other and collabo-rating with the experimentation about how for fire works, which seemed equally new for all of them. Owls: It was a lovely crisp fall day. The Owls arrived quite a bit later than usual so the other kids fed the animals who were getting antsy. When the Owls arrived they helped give the tour of the farm and shared their favorite places like the swinging vine and the hollow tree. They were cold and hun-gry after that so we made our fire and toasted hot dogs and marshmallows. The kids played really well together. They actually mingled faster than the Eagle groups. Many of the kids from DIS have siblings in the younger groups that al-ready came so they knew what to expect and weren't at all

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All students and families are invited to join NM Ski Club at Mad River Mountain. Everyone is eligible. However, if the student is an Eagle or Chickadee, a parent or chaperone must accompany them on every trip. Owl, Falcon and Wing stu-dents will travel by NM transportation, teachers and adult volunteer chaperones to Mad River Mountain on Thursdays during the ski season. Ski season for NM will end when Mad River Mountain announces their end of season. NM Ski Club will leave school at 3:00 and return to NM at 8:30pm. The first day of Ski Club will be January 4, 2018 and it will be during the day. Students will leave NM at 10:00 AM and return by 3:00 PM. (If Mad River Mountain has opened their sea-son). Students wishing to ski on this day and not join for the entire season are welcome to attend with a daily pass. All registration and information can be found on the web at www.skimadriver.com

Go to the link Ski Club Login · Our School Name for Login is: nightingale · Our Password for Login is: skibirds

Once you receive confirmation, let the NM office know and we will send Mad River a photo of your student so that the pass can be created. Helmet rental is $10 each visit. Consider buying a helmet or including it in your rental package for a cheaper price. ___________________________________________________

Facebook Fundraiser: Beginning at 8am EST on “Giving Tuesday” (11/28/2017), all donations made on the Facebook fundraiser platform will be matched by Facebook and the Bill and Melinda Gates Founda-tion. This matching donation time will continue until the $2 million dollar mark across all of Facebook’s non-profit fund-raisers is reached. They will double up to $1000 for each fund-raiser for a non profit and up to $50,000 per non profit. So technically up to 50 fundraisers for Nightingale could be start-ed by 50 different Facebook accounts and raise up to $50,000 dollars. We are starting small with one fundraiser. Facebook is also waiving their small percentage processing fees for Giving Tuesday. To ensure that you double your gift to Nightingale’s Capital Campaign you will want to donate right at or immedi-ately after 8 am EST on Tuesday 11/28 via the Facebook Fund-raiser for Nightingale Montessori. The fundraiser can be found at http://tinyurl.com/y7tcrdrk or shared multiple times across Facebook.

The Holiday Gift Shop is a shopping experience your child can have where they can independently pick out a gift for someone special in their lives. You will be given an envelope where you can indicate on the form who they will be shopping for and a budget amount for each person. Students will help your child shop, wrap the gifts and label the tags. Your child can practice independence while shopping, surprise their loved ones with their special choices, and gain experience with the joy of giving. The Falcons will run the Holiday Gift Shop for all students wish-ing to participate. The Holiday Gift Shop will be available to students during the week of December 4th. The order of shop-pers will depend on the receipt of their envelope and their availability due to academic schedules. An envelope will be sent home with your child and you will have a chance to decide which friends and family members your child will be shopping for and indicate a price range for the gifts. The Falcon students will help your child shop, wrap and label these gifts. They will be sent home with your child the day they visit the shop. The Holiday Gift Shop will be selling only Fair Trade and Locally Made items. Fair Trade is a system of exchange that honors producers, communities, consumers, and the environment. It is a model for the global economy rooted in people-to-people connections, justice, and sustainability. When you make a Fair Trade purchase you are supporting: A Fair Price for Products, Investment in People and Communities, Environmental Sustain-ability, and Economic Empowerment of Small Scale Producers. ____________________________________________________

NM Ski Club 2018 at Mad River Mountain

Students are invited to join the NM Ski Club with their online program. If you do not have internet access or would like NM to sign up your child for you, please contact the office. Please join before January 1st, 2018

The possibility of a school delay or closing increases with cold weather. NM will make the decision to close/delay by 7:00 am. We have students and staff that come from as far and wide as Clark County, Logan County, Champaign County, Greene Coun-ty, Clinton County, Montgomery County, Madison County and Franklin County. Our delay/closing decision will be based on our school location, Springfield City. We will follow the Spring-field City School closing announcement with the following exception: WE WILL DECIDE IF WE ARE DELAYED OR CLOSED BY 7:00 AM AND THIS DECISION WILL NOT CHANGE REGARD-LESS OF A CHANGE MADE BY THE SPRINGFIELD CITY SCHOOL SYSTEM. Often, the Springfield City School System will delay to gauge a later weather situation and then change to a closing. Many families find it very difficult to make an arrangement for a delay and then make another arrangement when the delay changes to a closing. If Springfield City delays and we feel the visibility, road conditions, dangerously low temperatures or ice conditions warrant concern, we will announce a closing. Other-wise, as Springfield City delays, we will delay and remain de-layed even if Springfield City changes their status to a closing. Families that travel to NM need to make their own decision as to the safety of the weather and road conditions. If your area is delayed/closed and you decide to remain home, please notify the office. The attendance will be excused due to inclement weather. Our Rapid Fire email and Call One notification will be sent to all emails and cellphone numbers your family has on file in the office, followed by a notification to the following television stations for morning school announcements.

WHIO (Channel 7) WKEF (Channel 22 and Channel 45)

WDTN (Channel 2)

This information will also be given to the radio stations WONE (AM), 106.5 WDSJ, WIZE, B 94.5, WXEG, 103.9, Channel 99.9, WTUE, Mix 107.7, K99.1 FM, and 95.3 Eagle. MAKE SURE YOUR EMAIL and Cellphone Numbers ARE UP-DATED AT THE NM OFFICE Please send an email from the email address to which you would like this message sent to:

Science Fair Judges Needed!

The NM Science Fair will be at school on January 11, 2018 from 6:30 – 8:30 pm. We hope to have 60 students presenting. In order to get all of the judging of projects completed in a reasonable time frame we need about 20 judges.

The projects are judged by a team (2) of judges. Please let us know if you can volunteer to be a Science Fair judge. First time judges, never fear, there will be a judges meeting before the fair (while the students are setting up their projects) and you can find out how to judge a project. The fair will be closed to all parents and visitors during judging. Please drop off your student at 6:30 (they will not be able to enter earlier). Students that are accompanied by a Science Fair Judge will be allowed to enter at 6:15 so that our judges meeting can start on time. You may then come back to view the projects and/or pick up your student at 8:30. If you have any questions, please contact the office. 6:30 drop off Student to set up project 6:45-8:30 Judging – all projects closed to parents and visitors 8:30-9:15 Projects viewed by guests Volunteers can notify the NM office or email to Cristina at chipp@nightingaleschool.org or Jayne at jwood-ward@nightingaleschool.org Please consider this opportunity! We need volunteers!

Congratulations!

Nightingale Montessori School has been selected as a finalist for the Security 101 – Ohio Gift of Security.

The final winner will be selected by an online vote. The link below will send you to our website to cast your vote. We encourage all finalists to share this link to help obtain as many votes as possible. www.security101.com/columbus/gift-of-security

Good Luck!!! Tim Cook, MBA Managing Partner Security 101 – Ohio Tel: 855.415.2101 Mob: 937.631.8563

Chickadees are shown mulching in our fruit tree guild and collecting leaves for compost

Owl Kylynn helps serve and operate our citrus juicer to accompany lunch.

Hummingbird ‘s even have the opportunity to help! Marie was so happy to help count the bananas for breakfast and try to learn new sign language for fruit, more, banana and thank you!! She came into the kitchen, wiped off the counter, grabbed her own stool and got to work! Thank you Marie!!!

Community Outreach

Nightingale Community Garden Outreach Team spoke at Clark County’s 2017 Food Summit regarding our Summer Feeding Program results, findings, and plans for expansion and collaboration in the 2018 year. The Outreach Team, sits on the Education Committee of the Food Council, whose goal is to expand nutrition and food systems education to greater Clark County. We are excited to share our Program with The Clark County Health District and Clark State University specifically interest-ed in helping us to expand and reach more members of our community!

Gourmet Grub Work! The Chickadees have been busy in the kitchen this month arriving early to prepare many delicious herbal and spice blends to use in the days lunch or bread recipes. We have begun to use some of our dehydrated spices from our school gardens! With the mild weather students are still happily collecting lettuce, garlic scapes, onion and chard from our outdoor gardens daily! We have harvested the last of our cabbages grown here at 2525 for our coleslaws and chutneys! Students have started with the basics of how to set up and prepare a work station, select tools and utensils to complete task, and collect our organic waste to compost here on site.

Vivian and Julian are shown working with the aromatic ginger and garlic to use in the days chicken stir- fry meal.

Wing Aiden Riley and Owl Zane have been uti-lizing their time in aftercare learning how to grind wheat berries and produce our own 100% whole wheat flour. We then use the flour in our breakfast breads.

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Development of Gross Motor Skills “Watching a child makes it obvious that the development of his mind comes through his movements.” –Maria Montessori The Hummingbirds enjoy crawling, walking, running, jump-ing, climbing, dancing, and many other physical activities. Infants and toddlers need time to focus on their individual gross motor skills before they can combine movements effectively. Mastering individual gross motor skills allows the child to use them together for more complex activities. Strong gross motor skills promote coordination, physical competence, independence, and confidence. One way that the Hummingbirds strengthen their gross motor skills is by utilizing our outdoor environment. As the weather continues to get colder, we will still be having our daily outdoor time whenever possible. Please make sure your child has weather appropriate clothing labeled with their name. Now is a good time to exchange the extra cloth-ing they have in their bins with warmer options. Once warmer clothing has been provided for your child, we will send home any items they cur-rently have that are out of sea-son.

November: A Month of Change November has been a month of change for the Hummingbirds. We are welcoming our new friend Leilani Shinn, granddaughter of our Lead Office Administrator, Guiya Wilson. We will also say goodbye to Ella, daughter of Leslie Leibold, Assistant Office Ad-ministrator. Ella will be moving on to the Chickadees. The older Hummingbirds have been fascinated with the con-struction work being done outside our window. To satisfy their curiosity we spent a couple of days in the forest excitingly look-ing at the large ma-chinery and watching the construction work-ers. We are looking to snowy days and the adventures it brings.

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Leilani Cooper

Lynette

Simeon Brooks Marie Leo P

Leo P & Skye

Fall Themed Activities The Chicks have enjoyed exploring fall themed activities over the last month. The children have enjoyed shelling corn, scrubbing pumpkins and finding and matching realistic creepy crawl-ies. They children also opened pumpkins to discover what was inside. You may have noticed that your child knows more about the skeleton because it was featured in their study of the human body this month. To go along with this theme River’s mom, Sa-rah, shared a fun app that allows children to continue exploring the human body: Human Body by Tiny Bop.

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Kayla washes a pumpkin. Dashayla washes

pumpkin seeds.

Daniel matches the

pumpkins.

Maddox build the body.

Julian works with the skeleton puzzle.

Shannin and Lily learn

about the heart.

Marcel works on his

hammering skills.

Wesley matches the

spiders.

Duncan carefully gets the

spider through the web.

Chickadee Parent Information Corner Conferences changes - more frequent with demonstrations of materials and personal trait descriptions

In order to provide more frequency of meaningful com-munication, the Chickadee staff will offer each parent a conference in each of the 4 quarters instead of hosting the quarterly parent discussion meetings.

If you have not yet been contacted about your child's second quarter conference, you will receive an email from Mandy two weeks prior to your conference date.

The email will invite you to a conference and give you the opportunity to respond with questions for your child's teachers.

The form you receive at the conference will replace the mid-term report.

If a parent is unable to attend the quarterly conference, the report will be sent home with a new conference set for the next quarter.

Since there will be four conferences a week attended by staff, additional conferences will be kept to a minimum.

We look forward to a more timely update as well as a discussion on how our Montessori Method is working with your child.

Coats & Gloves & Hats: Please return borrowed coats, gloves, and hats that your child may have brought home from school! We would appreciate it if you might label all your outerwear to help us return your items home, too. Sweatshirt Order: A form went home with your child that you may want to fill out to purchase a perfect gift for the holidays! All proceeds will go toward our capital campaign!

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Year-in-Review Flash Drive Pre-Order Opportunity The Chickadee staff is offering families the opportunity to pur-chase a flash drive filled with pictures from your child's 2017-18 Chickadee year. Our talented photographer, Katrina, cap-tures stunning candids of the children throughout the year, and we want to give you the opportunity to have these pic-tures! A pre-order form stating your interest in a personal flash drive for $25.00 to be paid before Spring Break will come home with your child after the Thanksgiving Holiday. The $25 non-refundable fee must be paid at the time of your request to receive the flash drive. All proceeds from the flash drive sales will go toward helping us move into the new school! Fill the appropriate box If you do not want your child's image to ap-pear in groups or with friends on the flash drives of class-mates.

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Best friends Lola and Sevynn celebrating a

Chickadee birthday and Dashayla pounds a

pumpkin

Best

friends Lola

and Sevynn

celebrating

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Dashayla

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Technology Crisis

In a world and time where technology is so present and at a rapidly growing rate, should we stop and analyze the potential outcomes that it could have on our children? This Montessorian on her website, “I Heart Montessori,” discussed five barriers that excessive use of technology can impose on students and young children.

1. Language Development.

Kids, especially young children, learn by actively communicating with others. Studies prove that listening to spoken language on an electronic device does not substitute for the real thing. Just like I can’t become an accomplished chef by watching cooking shows, children cannot master language by hearing it on TV or manipulating a computer program. The family is the main source and model for language development. It is through eve-ryday interactions and activities the child absorbs the language and dialect that is spoken. If real interactions and experiences are replaced with time in front of a TV or other gadget, the rate of absorption and language development will be adversely affected or diminished.

“We had been justifying the use of a TV show with hopes that it would help reinforce or accelerate learn-ing of Spanish vocabulary. We were just fooling our-selves. TV programs are not equivalent to, or even a supplement for, face-to-face experiences with a Span-ish speaker.”

2. The Narcotic Effect.

TV and other electronic devices have an addictive quality. The state of mind of a child when watch-ing TV, regardless of content, has been compared to a drugged state. A child observed in front of the TV might have a glazed or vacant look, a trance-like expression, a slightly open mouth. The child seems to have shut down. There is very little indication that the mind is alert.

This perceived “peace and quiet” has a di-rect impact on a child’s developing mind.

The rapid-fire imagery is linked to development of short attention spans in young children. It often leads to older kids equating learning with entertainment. When the device is turned off, some children have issues with “re-entry” back into the ‘real’ world. This could include cranki-ness, an inability to control themselves, or an inability to know what to do next. The time spent in front of the TV expends no energy and does not encourage freedom of thought or movement. When the child re-enters, they have a store of excess energy that has to be expelled.

3. No opportunity for non-verbal cognition.

Young children learn through exploration, manip-ulation, logical thinking and repetition. This is called non-verbal cognition. Through hands-on

experiences children learn about and develop their own thoughts and feelings about their world. Adults can use TV and computers as a method of relaxation because “we’ve already had plenty of real-world experiences.” Children are still experi-encing and learning about the world around them. They don’t, and can’t, use electronic devices in the same way an adult does.

Children have a need for constant mental activity. It’s how their brains and bodies develop. Kids need opportunities to experience their environment and to learn about the world through activity and repetition. TV and other devices do not allow children to form thoughts and feelings or to experience anything tangible. Thoughts and feelings are spelled out to them. Experiences are played out for them, in rapid-fire, with no opportunities for free choice, exploration, or thought. All of this is absorbed by the young child and becomes a part of their definition of the world.

“Very young children cannot yet tell the difference between what’s real and what’s made-up. They believe everything is real. As parents, we must be very aware of the impact TV has on our children, no matter how ‘educational’.

4. TV or educational “apps” are not a substitute for educa-tion.

It is true that some content is intended to be educational and that some programs can support learning. Parents tend to fool themselves into thinking that if their child is using an educa-tional computer program, or watching an educational program on TV that it’s going to make their child more intelligent. Or at a more basic level that an educational program is at least better than a non-educational alternative. Kids may learn something from an educational program, but the truth is that the TV and computers are not a substitute for real experiences. They are not a substitute for actively discussing a subject, ana-lyzing what is read or heard, understanding the causes and effects, or participating in hands-on learning activities.

5. No control over content.

TV is full of violent, commercially driven content. Parents have no control over content, over commercial messaging, over vio-lent content, or stereotyping. We know that ratings and ad-vertising determines content, not quality.

We try very hard to limit the amount of advertising our chil-dren are exposed to. However, we don’t have time to pre-screen every show or every app our child will want to watch or use. Even if we limit the number of programs, we have no con-trol over the messaging, messages about gender or race, or level of violence however benignly presented. When we invite our kids to do things with us, we get a level of control that the TV does not offer. We can seize opportunities to discuss issues of gender, race, ethics, violence and morality.

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met.” The teacher still just listened, “He did not even have a shirt on and he was waving at us.” The student seemed ap-palled. Just then, another boy came rushing over after the teacher had heard the first student’s report. “Did you see that? Wasn’t that so cool?” He came over so excited to have wit-nessed such an event. The first student pondered for a mo-ment, and then began to discuss with the other boy her take on the events. She shared the dangers that the rider was placing himself in and the other student listened. He pondered her observations and thought about the natural consequence that could occur to the man (falling, injuring himself, etc.) This is one of the many spontaneous conversations that come up within the walls of Nightingale Montessori. These events are not planned by teachers as to, “what would make a good mo-ment,” but rather lent by the natural world and the choices others make.

Student Insight These are tidbits dedicated to students who show moments of great maturity and have a deeper sense of wisdom. It was a recess day like any other in the Eagles, children scattered about the front yard spending their time in various ways. All of a sudden, a roaring thunder sound came whizzing by on the street. This was not like the typical “street” noise that the students were used to tuning out, so many heads turned. There appeared to be a man- shirtless, without a helmet, riding a motorcycle with one wheel on the ground and one in the air. After he passed, students went about their outdoor work. Mo-ments later, the same man came whizzing by in the opposite direction, only this time he was waving at the children. The outdoor teacher observed this, noticed most children had gone on playing. One student came rushing . “Did you see that man?” the stu-dent asked in awe. The teacher listened for the insight the stu-dent would share, instead of rushing to share her own interpre-tation of the events. This is a key quality in Montessori teach-ers, to allow students to think matters through and allow them to deepen their insights and how they interpret the world around them. The student went to share her observations about the event, “How dangerous! He did not even have a hel-

Jaden, Braeden, and Noah engineer an intricate

ornamental wall.

Thor systematically explores the cubing chain of six.

Explore Week Explore Week allows us to deviate from the regular schedule. We utilize this opportunity to delve in deeper to large blocks of learning and project time and to learn that the world is our classroom. The Owls had a fully packed Explore Week schedule after session one, visiting places such as The Columbus Zoo, Kirkmont Nature Center and Young’s Jersey Dairy in Yellow Springs. Our last stop, National Trails Park and Recreation afforded us the chance to explore how we can affect the world around us by choosing to reduce, reuse and recycle the materi-als we use everyday. It gave us a chance to discover our respon-sibility to this beautiful but fragile planet. We examined how we affect the physical earth and all of the symbiotic creatures who dwell on it. A few students made an unexpected discovery while doing our nature scavenger hunt and found painted rocks! The Owls came upon quite a few of these rocks and this resulted in a teachable moment. We talked about the goodwill and curiosity of those in our neighborhood community who chose to place them there for us to discover. All in all, we had a blast!

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Young’s Hayride.

Alyssa practicing archery. caption

GeMiah comparing her handprint to primates handprints.

Collaboration on skis Jeremy diligently

navigating the ropes.

Cole relying on a little

help from his friends

Iris figuring out how to

balance.

Kylynn figuring out how

to balance.

Sterling contemplating the plight of the primates.

Science Fair Work

The Owls are in the full swing of Science Fair! Some have begun experiments while others are working on the finishing touches on their procedure and research in order to begin. We are ramping up for the Fair which is January 11th, 2018. There is no time to waste because there are only a few full weeks be-fore winter break….

Damirah works on her

experiment.

Allie and her painted rock.

Willie adds weight in his

science fair experiment. Aaron builds a parachute.

Ethan measures water

temperatures.

Sanaa sets up her

experiment.

Gemiah helps Jacob build a

magnetic train.

Alyssa conquering the team

building activity at Kirkmont.

Painted rocks.

Carson works on his project. Cole measures mass.

Zane, Kyle and Joseph with their painted rocks.

Every Day is Christmas

By Natalie Espinosa Natalie,

waking up on a Christmas morning in my reindeer onesie. I walk down the stairs,

the railing is decorated with beautiful lights. I go outside

and the scenery is a nice freezing blizzard.

Just what I expected! Walk inside my cabin,

every single decoration shines bright like a diamond.

I walk to the tree and I see a empty plate.

Santa must have liked my cooking. It seemed I was not ready to open my gifts yet.

I was waiting for friends and family to come over. I make myself two cups of hot chocolate,

grab my book, get a wooden tray out,

put everything in the tray. I walk over to the living room.

I turn the TV on. I watch netflix and sip my hot chocolate.

soon enough they arrive to my cabin. Everyone opens up gifts.

Then I figure out what my name means: it means Christmas Day

Description: “Natalie is a girl’s name derived from the late

Latin name Natalia meaning Christmas Day.”

My Name is Penelope

By Penelope Derr My name is Penelope. P-E-N-E-L-O-P-E; I'm showing you how to spell it because most people have a hard time spelling it at first. I know what you're thinking, “Don't you have a nickname like Penny or Poppy?” and the answer is NO. I don't like nicknames at all unless it's a nickname that involves my personality or ac-tions, and not the letters in my name. For example, one of my teachers calls me “Alfredo”, but you wouldn't call me that un-less you knew me; but people who don't know me might want to call me Penny or Poppy.

Now you probably want to know what my name means. In English, my name means “white shoul-der”, which to me makes no sense. If you could-n't tell, my name is Greek. In Greek, my name refers to Odysseus's wife (Penelope) in Homer's Odyssey. Penelope waited more than twenty years for Odysseus to come home to her from the Trojan war. To me that means patience and persistence.

Bestfriendzzes

By Javion Roger My name is Javion and it's from Greek It used to be common but now it’s unique It was never used in the 60s, 70s, 80, or 90s but when it turned 2000 it started shining My name means a lot of things but not too many If you ever have a son named just like me, we may be bestfriendzzes I like basketball maybe he will too I'll teach him some moves, but don't say you can beat us, you might regret it fool My name isn’t big nor small Just know us Javions like to ball.

What’s in a Name?

The Falcon class is exploring the art of narrative writing through Linda Christensen’s Reading, Writing, and Rising Up. In our initial assignment we learned about each other through sharing our writing about the various forms of meaning our personal names have; from historical, to cultural, to personal. Here are a few highlights.

The Meaning of Me

By Arden McHugh-Braham My name, Arden, is Celtic; it means eager to learn, to love, to look at what I have not what’s missing, and to have a family that supports me. My parents decided to name me this because it is my grandmother's name and my mother has loved the name since she was able to understand it. I think that this name suits me because I feel like I have always had a deep desire for harmony, balance, and love in my life, whether I am giving or receiving it. My name has many meanings, it means valley of the eagle, or it is a forest in Shakespeare's As You Like It. To me and people who know me my name just means me and although others might have the same name, it doesn't have the same meaning, Arden is just me.

Roy Boy

By Roy A. Wood I am Roy Alan Wood. I got my first name from my great grandfa-ther of my Dad’s Dad’s side (William Roy Wood). My grandpa from my Mom’s side gave me my middle name, he gave me that name so that my initials would spell R.A.W. My great grandpa of my Dad’s Mom’s side met Roy Rogers at a gun show. The name Roy means king, which is very powerful! I know only one Roy besides myself. He used to be my barber and friend. When I knew him he was in his fifties. There are multiple people in history named Roy, including, Roy Acuff, Roy Bates, Roy Jones Jr., Roy Campanella, Roy Scheider, Roy DeMeo, Roy DeCarava, Roy Fontaine, and Roy Rogers. I am a Wood not a tree or a chair or a table but a boy with the name of Wood.

My Name

By Journie Hall I asked my grandma who named me and she said that she named me. I asked my grandma “Why did you name me Jour-nie?” She said she named me Journie because she was having a journey that day. I was born and she named me Journie be-cause her favorite band is journey. I looked up my name and it said my name means I am “honest, benevolent, brilliant, and often inventive.”

Google Search: What is the Definition of Jayla?

By Jayla Thompson According to www.JaylaThompson.com it means:

“Be quiet.” When my teachers say it, or “Stay focused.” “Geez calm down.” When I’m laughing uncontrollably. “Creative.” When I write my name after I finish a drawing. “I love you.” When my mom says it. “One of a kind.” To me. (More definitions) J= Joy A= Amazing Y= Yahoo! L= Loving A= Awesome

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Sarah inspects her rocks

Owl using “rock-chalk” to create pcitures

Falcon Science Fair Questions

Physics

Ja’Marcus Guyton Which voltaic battery produces the highest electrical current?

Malaki Searcy Which fabric will reduce ultraviolet radiation?

Javion Rogers Will changing ocean salinity affect buoyancy?

Bo McClain Which color filter will affect the strength of laser light?

Teddy McClain Which material will affect the strength of a laser light?

Engineering

Silas Brooks Hedstrom Does the mass of the coaster car affect the speed on the track?

Draiden Elliot Does the diameter of pipe effect the speed of the marble?

Technology

Zachary Weaver Which programing language is the fastest?

Aidan Schindler Which material affects WIFI transmission?

Chemistry

Brandon Cornetet Can ocean water be made drinkable through distillation?

Devin Adams Does aluminum corrode differently in different acids?

Roy Wood Does the presence of electrolytes affect conductivity?

Penelope Derr Can the freezing point of water be altered?

Arianna Jackson How do different metals resist corrosion from acid rain?

Natalie Espinosa Does the composition of slime affect the viscosity?

Jayla Thompson How does a liquid's density affect its heat retention?

Geology

Briniya Wilson Does the temperature of a liquid affect its viscosity?

Environmental Science

Serena Temple Which surface retains more heat from the sun?

Arden McHugh Can pH indicate the presence of fertilizer residue in water?

Journie Hall Which color absorbs more radiant energy?

Leighannah Salvage Which substances affect the surface tension of water?

Sarah Withers Which faucet aerator reduces the water flow best?

Braylin Fox Is there measurable amounts of copper in our drinking water?

Emily Combs Which substances mixed in water affect the evaporation rate?

Kateri Metzner Which environment has more particulate pollution in the air?

Anatomy and Physiology

Emma Wassinger Does the position of the body affect vital signs?

Microbiology

Josh Taylor Does antibacterials soap actually kill more germs?

Mariana Coleman Does dog saliva actually kill germs?

Emily e-mailing faculty at Elmhurst College to gain infor-

mation about citations for Science Fair.

Falcons speed writing about their childhoods. Siblings Ja'Marcus and Arianna working on math skills together.

Falcons work on their narrative writing assignments.

Brandon working on Science Fair.

Simple and Not-So-Simple Machines Recently, the Wings’ physical science students completed a unit on simple machines. After learning about levers, wheels and axles, pulleys, inclined planes, wedges and more in the classroom, we took a field trip to the parking lot across the street where students were able to interact with simple ma-chines in the form of tools. They all had the chance to cut nails using small wire cutters and large bolt cutters. They tried pick-ing up a tire to lift it, then using an inclined plane to lift it. They tried pushing a truck in neutral with and without wedges un-der the tires. They each had a chance to single-handedly move a vehicle using a jack and a come along winch. Everyone came away much dirtier, but with concrete understandings of all of the ways simple machines help humans to perform difficult tasks. Xavier Pearson said he found it very educational. He was surprised that a tiny wedge was enough to keep a large truck from rolling, among other things. After this experience, students were invited to build a “not-so-simple” machine to complete a simple task. Each student de-signed, tested, and presented a machine made of everyday objects–an idea inspired by early twentieth century cartoonist Rube Goldberg. They used the various types of simple ma-chines they had learned about in very innovative ways. Some of the tasks that were accomplished by these machines includ-ed turning on a fan, blowing bubbles, making a cup of tea, and displaying a picture. Students learned a lot from their research of others’ Rube-Goldberg machines on Youtube, from observ-ing the work of their classmates, and from their own trials, errors, and successes. Xavier’s experience of this project was that it was a lot harder than expected, since he wanted a ma-chine that was different in some way from those he had ob-served. According to him, “coming up with the idea and actual-ly doing it were two completely different things.” His words can help us remember how important is it for students to learn

by doing, rather than just reading about the topics they are studying.

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Jahvon carefully places dominoes while setting

up his and Xavier’s machine.

Lilli explains the science behind her and Elijah’s machine.

Nathan & Kiki observe Rodnesha’s bubble blowing machine in action.

Aidan proudly demonstrates the fishing rod he built from Tinker Toys during solo time.