• Blogroll

  • Central Elementary's Website
  • Central PTO's Website
  • IB's official website

• Pages

  • About Central’s IB Blog
  • IB PYP Newsletters

•  

  September 2011

  M	T	W	T	F	S	S
  « Aug
  			1	2	3	4
  5	6	7	8	9	10	11
  12	13	14	15	16	17	18
  19	20	21	22	23	24	25
  26	27	28	29	30

• Pages

  • About Central’s IB Blog
  • IB PYP Newsletters

New Video on IB TV

Education for a Better World:  The IB Primary Years Program

http://blogs.ibo.org/ibtv/2010/05/28/education-for-a-better-world-the-ib-primary-years-programme/

It’s going to be a great year!

Come one!  Come all!

Central is proud to launch the ground-breaking work day for the Front Door Garden this Saturday from 9-2 p.m.

The garden planning committee has been busy planning, designing, seeking donations, and materials and organizing this work day. 

I am beyond amazed at the folks who have stepped forward to make this garden a reality. 

We have recieved countless donations and the design of the garden is breath-taking. 

We hope you can join us on Saturday. 

Bring (if you have):  A shovel, rake, wheelbarrow and a side dish to share

A wonderful volunteer parent will be providing hot dogs and condiments! 

In order to make this event as zero waste as possible, if you have plastic plates, cups, etc. that you would like to use, bring those as well.

Please remember to label all items that you bring with you!

This should be a wonderful community-building event!

Hope to see you there!

**this looks so cool!** Just wanted to get the info out there! 

Asia Day event at CU-Boulder, March 13.

This annual event is free and open to the public. This year, the program is especially strong, with many sessions targeted  to elementary and secondary teachers and students. 

 

An Asian buffet lunch is free to all.

 

Please mark your calendars and join us!  Some highlights are noted below, and a complete agenda is available at  

http://www.colorado.edu/cas/adschedule.html

 

FOR ALL:

Secrets to Asia’s Education Success

 

CHINA:

Chinese Lion Dance

Tai Chi: Life in Motion

Four Major Chinese Cities of the 21st Century

Learn Xin Jiang Dance

China through the Lens of Piano

Chinese Invention of Paper and Paper Cutting

 

SOUTH & SE ASIA:

Vietnam: Not a War, Not Indochina

Indonesia!

A Taste of Indonesian Cooking

Spiritual Mosaic of India

Indonesian Artifacts

India’s Bollywood Cinema

Introduction to Hindi

 

JAPAN AND KOREA

Hanbok:Korean Traditional Dress

Holidays in Japan

Korean Family Images in Film

Korean Holidays and Spring Holiday Food

Japanese Taiko Performance

Japanese Calligraphy

 

WEST ASIA/ISLAM

Arabic and Islam in a Nutshell

Persian Language

Middle Eastern Music and Belly Dancing

I know…I know…I’m a few months off…

But I do believe it’s the perfect time to start wrapping our brains around a garden committee. 

I’m going to copy/paste some information I just read online about “starting school gardens”

Starting School Gardens
School gardens can provide an environment in which students can learn to work with teachers, parents and neighborhood resident volunteers while growing plants and learning the relationship between people, plants and wildlife. The lessons that are taught at the garden site are limited only by one’s creativity. School Gardens are a special kind of learning center. Like libraries, they need responsible and knowledgeable people to do all the jobs necessary to maintain them as functional places in which children will learn. They should be seen as permanent additions and must be utilized year-round. Below is a framework which you should consider before starting your garden.

Step 1–Form a Garden Committee
As a teacher, you do not have the time that is needed to coordinate the garden program. Someone else has to be responsible for the garden work, finding funds to support the garden, scheduling educational activities, finding and training volunteers, researching and disseminating information. Forming a garden committee from a pool of dedicated people with those skills, will enhance the success of your program. Look for volunteers among the school staff, parents, and local residents. Or if you know of a gardener, ask that person to volunteer, or to recommend another gardener.

This is where I ask that very important question…who out there has a desire to LEAD this very important role? 

Myself–no can do–

I want to be ON the committee, but with two jobs and already feeling nutty, I don’t think I can lead this committee. 

Good news:  We already have (at least some) of the funds! 

I am sooo excited about this project and I know many of you are, too.

I (at least) need a co-pilot to launch this little “garden committee” of ours.

I’ll leave you with some parting words….

Shelley Saxton, our lovely, creative, and most talented art teacher thought of (what I consider to be) a PERFECT name for our school garden.

It just so happens that the plot of land that will soon be a garden is located where the original school doors used to be. 

“The Old School Door Garden”   

(or something to that effect)

I can’t wait.  How about you?

I wanted to say thank you to Nancy Coppom (Jenni La Torra’s mom, 5th grade) for taking the time and energy for the most gorgeous display currently in the display case down the primary hallway (close to the cafeteria).  If you are in the building, it is definitely worth the time to go check it out!  Fascinating, colorful, fun, and interesting!  Thank you!

I am thrilled to announce that the community garden grant has been awarded to Central Elementary from IB ARMS (Rocky Mountain Association of IB World Schools) in the amount of $650!  So exciting!

Spread the word!

We will be putting together a “Habitat Team” (i.e. garden committee) for all and anyone who wants to be a part of this sometime in the new year!

“There should be a garden attached

where they (students) may feast their

eyes on trees, flowers, and plants…

Where they always hope to hear and

see something new.”

Comenius, The Great Didactic 1632

If you haven’t walked the halls of Central Elementary recently, I’d highly encourage you to schedule a little field trip! 

WOW. 

We currently have 20+ international flags hanging (a total of 60 WILL be hung, eventually).  They are gorgeous.  And as I sit here in the IB office and type this, kids are BUZZING outside in the hallway… “COOL!”  “Look at that one!”  “ohhh….look at Bolivia’s!” 

WAY cool. 

A special thanks for our custodial staff who stayed late on Friday to hang them!  And to Jim (and the snow day!)…he was able to purchase them from home during our snow day! 

In addition to the flags, we have the most amazing art display up by the stairs leading up to the old building.  Angela Beloian (Central parent) is the artist…and I can not rave enough.  It changes the entire “feel” of the building…as if we have our very own art studio housed in our school.  It’s fanstatic!  Not only are the pieces GORGEOUS, but they are made using recycled materials (great link to our 3rd grade Unit of Inquiry:  Reduce, Reuse, Recyle).  WAY cool! 

Last of all….Christina Stamper (Spanish/GT), Shelley Saxton (Art), and I (Kinder/IB Coord) combined all of our Day of the Dead materials to create a Day of the Dead display in the display case by the first grade classrooms (down the hall from the cafeteria).  It’s extremely colorful and adds a fun international focus! 

The first grade team has volunteered to take over the display case next…using it for their Celebrations Around the World that they will launch in December. 

We are gearing up for our visit by our IB consultant this Thursday and Friday.  We are excited for the feedback and the opportunity to ask questions. 

LOTS going on within these walls.  If only walls could talk….

Like I said, it’s BUZZING here today….thought you might like to know! 

(p.s. Photos SOON!)

Christina Stamper (the new GT/IB Spanish teacher) and I are going to pull together our collections for The Day of the Dead (El Dia de los Muertes), celebrated widely in Mexico and some of Latin America, and put up a display in the glass display cases near the first grade classrooms. 

We’re hoping to spark an on-going display of various countries around the world…add a little “international” flare to our beautiful historic building! 

Do you have a special tie to a specific country? 

I’d love to work with parents in our community on creating different international displays for our display case (p.s. it locks!). 

We’ll be putting up the El Dia de los Muertes display mid-October and will be leaving it up until mid-November! 

At that time, I’d love to put something new up…leave it up for a month or so, and then have a new display.

Please let me know if this peaks your interest.  And if you think of someone who might be intertested in this, have them talk to me!  (send them a link to the blog, or share my e-mail address).

I’m anxious to give Central a bit of an “International Make-over.”

We are making progress with the school-wide garden!  Can I hear a virtual “hip, hip, hurray!”?  Jim (Hecocks) and I met with the district grounds mananger and were basically given the two (green) thumbs up!  There is a perfect plot to the south of the old building where the old building and the new addition meet that is currently a plot full of weeds.  We will be making improvements right from the get-go!  It already has a water source (drip irrigation that can be controlled by a clock indoors) and an outside faucet as well.  Obviously details still need to be hashed out… we’re looking to lauch this project in the spring….but I think we’re making some excellent progress!  The proposal is written…just need to finish the budget.  Shelley Saxton found a great book by Alice Waters called The Edible Schoolyard along with a great website:

http://www.edibleschoolyard.org/

There are SO many resources on-line for school gardening. 

Eventually we’ll be looking to set up a committee…so start thinking about if and how you’d like to be involved! 

Exciting! 

I truly believe this will be a GREAT community builder for our whole school and some real ACTION projects can be imbedded so super easily…

Oh, and there’s a little corner perfect for composting!  (hint! hint! Third Grade and their Reduce, Reuse, Recycle unit of inquiry!)

Seriously.  It’s going to be great!

keep looking »

• Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries RSS
  • Comments RSS
  • WordPress.org
• Search for: