March 5, 2010
NEWS & EVENTS
Tuesday, March 9: Upper Elementary theater trip to Freedom Train at the Northwest Children’s Theater. Transportation is by chartered bus (please return the permission form by Monday).
Thursday, March 11: Let’s Go Bowling at Crosley Lanes for all Cascadia families - details below:
Friday, March 12: School closure for Inservice Day. Cascadia teachers will be attending a national Montessori education conference that is being held in Portland this year.
Thursday, March 18 & Friday, March 19: School closure for Parent Conferences. Please select a conference time from the schedules posted at the entrance to each classroom.
Attention all Parents of Lower Elementary Students!
Next Wednesday, March 9th
from 6:30-8:30pm
The Cascadia Middle School Community is hosting
A party for all lower elementary parents.
Please pre-register in the school office by Monday, March 7th.
This will be a fun filled night that will include dinner and activities where you can meet other parents from the school community and make some new friends. The admission price of $15 per person or $25 dollars per couple will go towards supporting the middle school community’s trip to the Teton Science Camp in the spring. Childcare will also be available. The price for childcare is $7 per child and includes pizza and a drink.
Bowling at Crosley Lanes:
Cascadia families will be bowling at Crosley Lanes on Thursday, March 11th from 3:30-5:30 pm! This will be an after school event so parents will be responsible for getting their children to and from Crosley Lanes. If your child needs a ride, please coordinate with another parent. The cost is $6.50 per child (paid directly to Crosley Lanes at the event) and includes 2 games of bowling, shoe rental, soda and a slice of pizza. If you have any questions please contact Danielle Benge at 546-0236.
Upper Elementary Class News:
All of our students (4th through 6th grades) have recently started the Jr. Great Books program of interpretive reading and discussion. This exciting program, which utilizes children’s literature from many cultures, stresses reading for enjoyment and meaning and helps children build group discussion skills as they engage in weekly discussion groups and participate in related creative writing and art activities. Students will be bringing their books home at the end of each week to re-read their story with a particular question in mind, and should return it to school by the following Tuesday. As your child’s at-home partner, you can support these activities by taking an active interest in each story and reading or listening to it with your child. The main thing to keep in mind with Jr. Great Books is to enjoy yourselves!
Registration for 2010-2011:
Please remember to turn in your registration materials for the 2010-2011 school year as soon as possible if you have not already done so. Registration for new families opens on March 15. Thank you everyone who has referred friends and/or acquaintances to the website or to the school office for
program information. We will be enrolling children for first grade (and other grades as space is available) throughout the spring. Thank you!
Middle School Dance:
Cynthia had the pleasure of chaperoning the middle school student dance last Friday night. They had a great turnout, and everyone was cooperative and polite. Everyone had a great time! There was lots of dancing and singing along to the rockin’ tunes from DJ Brooks Sparling (Cascadia class of 2009). Many students took advantage of their theme, Masquerade Ball, to dress in their finest. Congratulations to the eight grade girls for organizing such a fun event! Thank you also to the other chaperones for making this possible: Betty Skundrick (UE Teacher), Camille Lill (UE Assistant) and Krista Howard (Middle School Parent).
January 28, 2010
NEWS & EVENTS
Tuesday, February 9, 6:30 pm: Middle School performance at the St. James Church, Vancouver.
Wednesday, February 10: Lower elementary theater trip to Pinocchio at the Northwest Children’s Theater. Transportation is by charter bus. Please refer to the permission slip for additional details.
Friday, Feb. 12 – Monday, Feb. 15: School closure for President’s Days holiday.
Spanish Classes Beginning in February:
Kathleen Kimball will be teaching Spanish classes to all age levels, with lower and upper elementary classes beginning during the first two weeks of February and middle school classes resuming after the presentation of their class play on Feb. 9th. Kathleen’s background includes 4 years of teaching Spanish at the Oregon Episcopal School (from beginning levels to advanced placement and Spanish literature studies) as well as two summers leading students in an 8-week foreign exchange program in Spain. Kathleen has also coached girls’ soccer teams (varsity and junior varsity) at OES and other schools and teaches photography for children (after-school classes at Cascadia are a possibility). She is enthusiastic about helping to develop our Spanish program and we feel very fortunate to have her joining our faculty!
Emergency Preparedness at Cascadia:
Cascadia School has prepared for the possibility of earthquakes and other unexpected emergencies in several ways. Our present school facility was designed and constructed recently in accordance with the most stringent earthquake mitigation codes. The framing and exterior walls are firmly strapped to the foundation at multiple tension points around the structure. The wood framing that is employed throughout the structure allows for the maximum ‘ductility’ (a structure’s ability to absorb movement or shaking without compromising structural integrity) that can be achieved in a building of this size. All interior shelving over 4’ in height is secured tightly to the walls everywhere in the building. All ceiling framework, lighting and other overhead components were double hung with heavier gauge materials than required by code. The electrical system is backed up by a constantly charging battery that powers bathroom lights, hall lights and emergency classroom spotlights and signage whenever the power goes out. Every classroom also stocks self-charging lights and radios. In designing and building this structure, we never questioned any expense that might improve the safety of the facility.
Cascadia School is also prepared to support and protect our students for extended periods of time in the unlikely event that parents are ever unable to pick them up at the normal time. An exterior storage space contains emergency supplies for our entire population: enough water in sealed, 10-gallon containers for 36 hours, nutrition bars that are formulated and packaged for this purpose, cases of emergency blankets, first aid kits, self-powered lights, radios and cell phone chargers. This storage area also includes tools that are dedicated to this purpose (never moved or used at other times): a gas shutoff tool, shovels, crow bars and other hand tools. All of these emergency tools and supplies (water, blankets, etc) are also stocked in another storage area, in one of the sheds near the playground, in case access to the primary storage space is ever compromised.
Thank You!
Kelli Bottolfson-Brown: For volunteering to check hair and scalp of all upper elementary students for any
sign of head lice or nits (last Thursday). Everyone was free and clear!
Crismon, Hutchins, and Miller Families: For donating books to the Cascadia Library!
Cascadia PTO: For donating a new, 32” high definition flat screen TV/monitor for classroom use. This model is designed to project video signals from a variety of sources: DVD, vs., camera, iPod, microscope, etc.
We are looking for someone who can help us anchor the monitor to our audio/video cart before rolling it out. Please contact David if you have an idea for securing the monitor to the cart. Thank you everyone!!
December 18, 2009
NEWS & EVENTS
Monday, Dec. 21 – Friday, Jan 1: School closure for Winter Vacation.
Monday, Jan. 4: School resumes.
Friday, Jan. 8th: Annual Geo Bee takes place in the upper elementary and middle school classrooms.
Monday, Jan 11th: Final round for the Geo Bee finalists.
Annual Geography Bee Begins In January:
Each year our upper elementary and middle school students (4th – 8th grades) compete in the National Geographic Society's Geography Bee. The Geography Bee is a two-tiered event. All students will compete in a preliminary competition on Friday, Jan. 8th, and the finalists from these preliminary rounds compete together in the final competition on Monday the 11th. There will be 5 finalists selected from the upper elementary class and 5 more from the middle school, for a total of 10 participants in the final competition. There will ultimately be one finalist who will take a written test the following week.
The written test is sent to us by National Geographic, and it is sent back to them for scoring. The Cascadia winner has progressed to the state bee in each of the previous five years in which we have participated. Winners of the state bees in each of the fifty states are then invited to compete at the national bee in Washington D.C. later in the year. Good luck Cascadia students!
Upper Elementary and Middle School students compete in a semi-final round of the 2008 Geography Bee. The eventual school winner, Miles Anderson (extreme left), went on to the state Geo Bee in Olympia where he made it through several preliminary rounds before bowing out.
Parent Discussion Group Forming: (Cynthia Drakos)
My primary focus as a co-administrator (and former parent) is building a mutually supportive Cascadia School community. I will be initiating a Cascadia School Parent Discussion Group to support this vision when we return in the new year. I would like to invite any and all Cascadia parents to drop in on Wednesday afternoons for an informal discussion on any topic of interest that relates to our school and its mission. I feel that this will also be a great way for all of us to get better acquainted with each other.
Please stop by on Wednesday afternoons from 3:30 – 4:30 pm. beginning Wednesday, Jan. 6th. I would first like to focus on this question: What helps you to feel welcomed and supported as part of a community?
Annual Fund:
As a non-profit corporation, Cascadia School relies on ongoing, annual fundraising to support our capital development goals. Contributions to our school are tax deductible as we are a 501-c-3 organization under the IRS non-profit designation. The Annual Fund is our ongoing fundraising program and it supports the operating budget in a variety of ways for the benefit of our students and school community. Specifically, the annual fund provides a ‘cushion’ for unexpected expenditures and/or unplanned opportunities that might benefit our students. Please refer to this year’s December 4th newsletter for specific examples of how the annual fund has benefited our students.
Please use the attached donor form if you would like to make an annual fund donation, or if you know of a family member or other organization who might be interested. Donor forms are also available online at http://cascadiamontessorielementaryandmiddleschool.schools.officelive.com/DonationForm.aspx
Thank you!
Thank You!
Thank you everyone who participated in our adopt-a-family program.
Barbara Paulson and Sharie Moss for helping to organize the adopt-a-family project.
Julie Felix and Nancy Miller for transporting gifts to our two families
The Eubanks Family for donating books to the Cascadia library.