Sharing Memoirs from Patricia Polacco

The kids have been exploring Patricia Polacco's books for the last month, as they prepare for her author visit this week. Today they read many of her books thinking about the memoir genre. They are looking forward to meeting her on Thursday, and asking questions as they prepare to write their own memoirs.

Woven Tales

We did it! The kids did an amazing job performing Woven Tales last week in front of their peers, families, and OES staff. Their production was so poignant, and deeply felt that they have been asked to perform it again in other places. They have received countless thank you letters from students and teachers. One said, "You captured the despair and desperation and you noted the dignity in everyone's stories. Most importantly you ended with what makes the United States an amazing country - hope. Know that hope is truly powerful, and you all showed me the power of hope." 

Classes have discussed who the monster represents, and where it is found in our lives. Other classes talked about the idea of acceptance and belonging. Some were really curious about how we discovered all the immigration stories in our families. Our students are reflecting on their growth and self-discovery throughout the journey. I will be certain to share the highlights of those essays as well.

Below is a collage of our performances, captured by John Lamb and Karen Hsu. I have also created a Shutterfly book that will be available for your perusing at our conferences. Congratulations to our students for their phenomenal success in making an emotional impact through their words and actions within our OES community.

Creating Woven Tales

This is the movie we made capturing the journey of creating our class play after we finished the script. It was hard work, and was frequently interrupted with pesky snow days, but we did it! We've learned the art of puppeteering, acting, song composing, and sound mixing and recording. Together we worked hard to tell our important story on immigration. Enjoy!

Service for Valentine's Day

Our class chose to celebrate Valentine's Day by offering service of love to our community. We visited the Portland Children's Book Bank and learned all about how gently used books are given to children in the Portland community who don't have access to books. We cleaned books by removing stickers, washing covers, coloring spines, and taping tears. Together we repaired over 150 books! A lovely sack lunch provided by our moms was a wonderful way to celebrate our hard work.

Hard at Work on the Auction Project

Our creative skills are coming together to make this beautiful piece of collaborative art. Thanks to Deanne Do for helping us learn how to embroider! This piece will be on display for parent conferences, and then eligible for purchase with the lucky bidder at the auction.

Art Museum

Our field trip to the art museum began on a slushy and snowy morning. Once inside, we visited the Rodin exhibit, and wondered about the strong figures molded and cast out of metal. Our favorite pieces were the enormous pianist hand, and the busts. We drew several and felt inspired by Rodin's works. After lunch we visited the exhibit titled Constructing Identity, a compilation of African American artists. The works inspired a lot of conversation and discussion about historical perspectives, cultural differences, and civil rights. The kids were intrigued by the art, and sat on the floor trying to capture some of the images with their pencils. We thought a lot, created a lot, and discussed much. It was a wonderful trip.