Budding Authors

For all of our budding readers and authors, here's an event at Northrup over Spring Break. See attached.

Just a reminder that our Communal Birthday Celebration is Friday morning. If someone will not be present for school on Friday, they may substitute Thursday!

Let me know if you have any questions.

Little Elk Update (March 26, 2018)

Little Elk River News 

A quick update about this week. It's a full 5 days before Spring Break starts:

• Monday, March 26: Timeline of Life Open House in Little Elk, 10:15 - 11:00 a.m., for other students in Elementary. We will be displaying our dioramas and reports, and answering questions.
• Wednesday, March 28: iRace, a school-wide discussion about ethnicity, race and racism led by adolescents.
• Thursday, March 29, Poetry Read Aloud: We will be putting on a Poetry Read with Shingobee River in the afternoon. It's our second effort performing and reading poetry. This time, children are encouraged to read/perform one of their own poems, but they may also read another author's published poem if they choose. We've been throwing a variety of poetic forms against the wall in order to see which ones stick.
• Friday, March 30: On Friday morning we will be celebrating our birthdays collectively. Earlier this year the Little Elk Council decided on dedicating an entire week to each person's birthday. You may remember this from the Nov 16 newsletter:

Mini-Me Monday: Bring in 2-3 photos (or a small album) of your childhood to share with the class 

Treat Tuesday: Bring a healthy treat to share with the class

Wild Wednesday: Choose a song to sing with the class

Throwback Thursday: Bring an object to share with the class (Show & Tell)

Freedom Friday: Sit where you want at Lunch.

However, the first five people on the schedule did not participate. So instead of not celebrating anyone's birthday all year—which is where we were headed— we've decided to honor all of us on one day. That will happen this Friday. So your child may do any or all of the following: Bring in 2-3 photos (or a small album) of your childhood; bring a healthy treat to share; bring an object for Show & Tell. 

• Friday, March 30: Game Day begins at 12:45 pm. And at 3:00, welcome to your Spring Break! 
• And lastly, thanks to the Thomases for donating Forbidden Island, a cooperative board game!

Photo Update: Game Day (March 9, 2018)

Little Elk News (March 12, 2018)

Dear Little Elk families,

Just a quick note before I see you on at conferences. We've been working hard to complete the Timeline of Life Projects. Students are gaining independence and confidence in research. The note-taking process and writing of rough drafts took considerably less time as they did in the December for the Geography fair. These would have been complete with finished dioramas and polished final drafts were it not for the MCA Testing this week. The MCAs threw a monkey wrench into my otherwise reasonable planning. Nevertheless, we will lay out what we have done work so that you can take a glimpse of it on Thursday and Friday.

On another note, last Friday we piloted a new feature of Upper Elementary in Little Elk. We call it Game Day. On alternating Friday afternoons, we will roll out a variety of strategic and cooperative games. Game Day will be a time to celebrate a week of hard work. Emphasis will be placed on working together, negotiating peacefully, and enjoying each other's company. Please keep in mind that students whose work is "late" or "incomplete" on Friday afternoon will not participate (teacher's discretion). 

Our first Game Day went smoothly. Children worked together to determine who would play which game. I heard one child say, "Henry and Mikko can play first. I'll play the winner." A few of us played a logic game called Jumpin. Some played Uno, Battleship, and Checkers while Ryan introduced some of us to Backgammon and Cribbage. 

If you are interested in donating, or going in for a group donation, three excellent games on my wishlist are…

Forbidden Island 

Ticket to Ride

Settlers of Catan 

These St. Paul stores sell great games. I recommend a visit with your family. Also, the restaurant between the Goat and Sixth Chamber hosts a monthly Family Game Night.

The Gaming Goat, 1326 Grand Ave (651) 690-4628

Sixth Chamber, 1332 Grand Ave, St Paul, MN 55105

Mischief Toy Store, 818 Grand Ave (651) 493-3307

See you later this week!

In partnership,

John

MCA Testing Next Week

Dear Friends of Little Elk,

We are scheduled to take the MCAs next Monday and Tuesday, March 12 and 13. My best advice for children testing is to get a good, extra-solid night's sleep, and to eat a breakfast with protein. Other than that, there's nothing to study for, or get worked up about. Sam O'Brien has said it better than I could, so I am going to leave you with his words about standardized testing:

Head of School Thoughts on Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments 

by Sam O'Brien (originally published March 2017)

Dear Families of Great River School,

This month, we begin our mandated duty of administering the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments. In Minnesota, all 3rd-11th year students are offered the exams.  Great River School uses these results as one measure at one point in time for one individual. It's a snapshot, and fails to measure how a student will persist, grow, challenge themselves. The test does not predict how a student will succeed in the world. The test sometimes reflects what we know about a student's academic ability, and sometimes is wildly inaccurate. One thing I know from best practices in education: one-time high stakes assessment is not an indicator of the way a student will perform in a profession, on a team, or in an authentic situation of challenge where clear answers must be found through deep engagement in work and problem solving. However, the opportunity is seen as a challenge work or novelty by some students, and we make every effort to create accurate and informative measures to complement and better inform MCA results for families.... (To read the rest of his blog, click here.)