Our Auction Project

The unveiling of our finished auction project brought a lot of excitement to our class this afternoon. The kids loved looking at each person's art, talking about the colors, the motion, and the symbolism in the quilt. They are in love!

Meditating with Mo

This year, our class is delving deeply into practicing mindfulness. Together, we engage in daily mindfulness experiences that help us to understand its importance in increasing our attention, self-control, and lowering stress and anxiety. We've increased our meditative abilities to a sustainable 10 minutes, and have different student leaders.



When Mo Copeland shared her intention to attend a 7-day meditation retreat, our class wanted to share their experiences with her. With their first grade buddies, we created a book of suggestions and strategies to apply when meditating. Today, we shared our book with her after inviting her to join all 36 of us for some collaborative mindfulness. Our first grade buddies, fifth grade selves, and Mo really enjoyed the time together!

The New Playground

Prior to the grand opening, our class was invited to explore the new playground together. We gave the turf slide our full attention. Having just finished a discussion about Algonquian language during Jamestown, we loved yelling, "Wingapo!" as we slid down. Ask your local fifth grader for a translation to English. It is fair to say we were pioneers in discovering some needed agreements around avoiding the puppy pile slide. The K9s give the new playground a two-thumbs-up rating!

Loving the Snow

We have had a lot of fun this week with the snow. Whether it was waiting and hoping for early dismissal, playing in the snow at home, or the added bonus of our new playground buried in snow, the K9s in Shades love the snow.

Using Our Hands to Show Our Heart

This year we've been talking about literacy and  equal access to quality education. After Giving Chapel, our class was intrigued by the numeric statistic regarding the number of homeless families in Portland. Surprised by prevalent this can be in our community, we began many conversations about how we could help. Our conversations and questions led us to research the Children's Book Bank and find more about how they help the people in our community. Inspired by their work, we conducted a mini-book drive and headed to spend our Valentine's Day committing to service.





Together, we cleaned and repaired books for young children at Head Start programs around Portland. We loved finding and cleaning books that we enjoyed as young children. With our hour of service, we cleaned nearly 300 books! That is enough book bags for an entire Head Start class!

Becoming Archaeologists