12/23/08

Red Cedar Students Share Learning with School Community

Students from all of the classes shared their learning from the late fall with each other and parents on Friday, December 19th.

The primary group does a puppet show/reader's theater performance of The Three Billy Goats Gruff.


Upper elementary students perform two stories from the northeast Native American oral tradition: The Chenoo and Keewahkwee. Charlie performs the role of Chenoo.

Upper elementary students share drawings and writing they have done in their study of pre-contact local Native Americans.

Middle school students make recommendations to the school community about how Red Cedar can become more energy efficient. They give oral and power-point presentations they have prepared.

This group talks about vermiculture and describes how a compost system could be set up in the school's basement.

Amanda works on the puppet theater set.

Upper elementary students each recently wrote 'how-to' pieces carefully describing how to do something they knew. These were collected into a book which they gave to the primary students. Xavia is reading one of her pieces to the group.

Gabe listens and reads along as an older student reads a 'how-to' piece aloud.

11/2/08

Red Cedar Students Take on Role of Citizen Scientists

The upper elementary group took on the role of citizen scientists this fall in a study of local butterflies. The third, fourth and fifth grade students captured and tagged butterflies, recorded their observations, and shared their findings with Monarch Watch at the University of Kansas as well as Journeys North. Through participation in this project students learned about the importance of conserving habitats critical to the survival of the monarch butterfly and its magnificent migrations.

The students looked for butterflies in the alfalfa hay field behind the school and a small pasture of grass and milkweed nearby along Hardscrabble Road. After finding and catching a butterfly using a butterfly net, the students would carefully hold the butterfly with insect forceps, and, with a partner, take a photo with a digital camera and record information such as the species, gender and habitat preference of the butterfly. The students would then tag the butterfly in order to assist in the tracking of the insect.

Isaiah with a butterfly in the net.


Quinn with Schuyler who holds a Clouded Sulphur butterfly with insect forceps.


Lena records observations.


A Monarch is tagged.


Lena, Nadine and Xzavia watch a monarch butterfly emerge from its chrysalis in the classroom.


A butterfly emerges.

The class contacted students in the central mountainous region of Mexico, the area to which Monarch butterflies migrate for the winter. The Red Cedar students sent symbolic Monarchs and letters of appreciation to students in the Michoacan region, thanking them for protecting the remaining twelve Monarch sanctuaries. The symbolic Monarchs represent a tremendous international effort to support Monarch butterfly conservation.

At the end of the project, the students shared their learning with the rest of the school and their parents, presenting their findings through tables with recorded data, writing, photographs and oral presentation

Jez and Lena share their learning with other students.


Charlie answers questions.


Bo shares his display on the life cycle of a butterfly.


Isaiah presents his information.


An Orange Sulphur


A female Sulphur


Mourning Cloak butterfly


Data collected by students







The class with teacher Brendan Collins

10/14/08

Red Cedar Middle School Spends 3 Days in Pharoah Lake Wilderness in the Adirondacks

The middle school group and the core staff set out on the morning of September 24 for three days of backpacking in the Adirondacks.

We hiked into Pharoah Lake on the first day.

C and Evan

Margot and Nimaya set up camp

Fishing in the evening

Kellen cutting firewood

Making s'mores by the campfire

Patrick

We rose at dawn

Loon in the Mist
I sit on some rocks at the lake's edge.
It is early morning and the cool water mixes with the warm air.
A layer of mist blankets the lake and I can't see the other side.
The sun barely peeks above the nearby mountains.
All is calm.
A solemn and solitary loon drifts across the lake.
Its head is black and its body white.
It skims the silver water in search of food.
The low mist looks like grey fire. It is beautiful.
The water is pure and calm.
The loon dives underwater.
When it comes up it has a brown speckled fish in its beak.
He swallows it and continues foraging.
After a while, it swims off and dives under again.
It has disappeared into the mist.

—Eliot

Dawn fishing

We had a morning meeting after breakfast

Then spent much of the day hiking Pharoah Mountain

On the summit 

We saw a lot of large white pines

Fresh fish for dinner!

On Friday morning, we broke camp and packed out

Back to the cars, just as it started to rain

9/20/08

UE Performs Reader's Theater

The upper elementary group did their first Reader's Theater performance on Friday. They voice -acted a script, and performed for the primary group.

Jez, Xzavia and Nadine
Charlie and Schuyler


Bo, Lena and Isaiah

Older Younger Partners Begins

On Friday, older-younger partners were announced. Every older student in the school is paired with a younger student. The partners meet weekly to read, work on projects, and play games together. 'Mentors' is a long-standing tradition in the school, and the announcement of partners for the year is a big moment.

Brendan introduces the first session. The partners will interview each other about their interests. Next week, each pair will create a frame–for a photo of the two of them–that will show their interests in a border of drawings.

Gabe and Nimaya

Amanda and Jezriel


Quinn and Eliot

John and Bo

Louis and Margot

Lena and Miranda