John Muir Magnet Schooli 100 Walker Avenue, Ashland, OR 97520 541-482-8577

December 2013 Newsletter

“When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.” -John Muir

Principal’s Corner As I read through the many profound quotes from John Muir, images and pictures form in my head, and I wondered how his quotes would come alive through children’s illustrations. Which also leads to me mention the principal’s office is now completed. Thank you for your incredible patience. You will notice a great deal of open and blank wall space creating a perfect place to display beautiful art pieces, scientific drawings, children’s photography selections, as well as student work. I look forward the wonderful possibilities. Our website is going through some changes and improvements to bring it up-to-date and make it easier to find information. We are also working to change our school name to indicate that we are a magnet school and want that to be part of the new registration information. Some new additions include a link to the Library, changing the logo to the drawing selected by students last year, adding a news section and a really exciting Vimeo – a place for promotional or student produced videos. Another upcoming positive change is the restructuring of our math instruction (see more on page 3). With kindergarten leaving at noon we saw the opportunity to reorganize a math block in the afternoon, so no teacher had more than two grades of math instruction to prepare for. Marcia will teach 7/8 grades; Jim 5/6 grades; Camille takes the 3/4 grades, and Shannon will teach grades 1 and 2. Kindergarteners will continue to receive math instruction through integrated units. John Muir Magnet School, as a Title I school, receives funding based on the number of families who qualify for the Federal Meals Program. With the funding, we provide a reading and a math specialist, Educational Assistants in the classroom to work specifically with children receiving Title I support, and professional development or release time for teachers. Since we are considered a targeted school, Title I funding can only be used for children needing some extra academic support. If you have questions about how you can help support your child at home, please contact me at susan.hollandsworth@ashland.k12.or.us. As I am finishing my 2nd month as your interim principal, I continue to be so impressed with both the quality of instruction and the results of student work. Our school is

truly a place off emotional comfort to children. We provide a variety of opportunities in an inclusive and support setting. I feel very lucky to be a part of the John Muir Magnet School and look forward to the coming months. In the coming months, I will be sharing the application process to JMMS and the Open Enrollment Policy so you can spread the word to families who may be interested in joining our community. Also, I will be sharing the process for selecting a permanent principal for JMMS and how parents and the community will be involved. Two very busy and important endeavors. One final thought has to do with attendance and in particular, the tardy problem we have at JMMS. If children are ill, they should definitely stay home. However, being tardy is often extremely disruptive to the classroom activities. Teachers may have already prepped the class or outlined the work for the day. When a student enters late, the teacher sometimes has to stop instruction and catch the student up with what they missed. If JMMS wants to attract new families, I feel it is important to show families our dedication to the John Muir community by being on time and teaching that responsibility to our children. So please, staff requests that you work diligently to arrive no later than 8:10 am to ensure your child is off to a strong start for the day. I hope you enjoy the glorious clear crisp days of the season and have a wonderful holiday seasons with your family and friends. Warmly, Susan

A Look Ahead . . .

Camille’s class will be studying the solar system for the first two weeks of December. We will learn the names of the planets (in order!), learn the definitions of the different bodies found in the solar system, and make a large posters containing those bodies. We’ll also learn how a year differs on each planet. The last week we will learn about craters and conduct a scientific inquiry about why craters are different depths on different planets. Our writing will include an imaginative story about aliens who visit Earth. We will begin math homework that is focused on learning the basic math facts beginning with addition and subtraction and moving into multiplication and division as the year progresses. Our class work will focus on multiplication as well. We will also collect 1000 acorns so we can visualize that large number and begin to understand even larger numbers. Finally, we’re having fun sewing ornaments to sell at the Winter Faire.

Jim's class will be working on a short unit of study related to Earth / Sun / Moon interactions. Students will learn about the reasons for seasons, months, years, eclipses and moon phases. Student learning will be shown by the creation of Powerpoint presentations, to be shared with other classes. We've got one sure-to-be-cold trip up to Earth Teach this month and will be cutting boughs with Marcia's class for our school Solstice Celebration. In literacy, we will continue to work on vignettes, with a focus on word choice and organization, and we'll continue our small-group literature circle rotations.

Marcia’s class will be heading to SOU for indoor rock climbing on Monday 12/2 1:30-2:45. Parents are invited. Students will be a little late that day as we walk back. If parents need to pick up children they can meet us there or find us along our walk. The SOU Indoor gym is in the racquetball court area behind the tennis court and track. We will be studying the human body systems and learning about the changes one undergoes during puberty. Students will be learning about a particular body system and creating Powerpoints to share with the class. Literature groups will continue into December and adult volunteers are still need from 11:40-12:15. Marcia has a few random "fix-it" issues around the room and would love volunteers! Please email Marcia if you have a little time to spare. 8th graders are gearing up for their winter capstones and writing their capstone proposals. Volunteer opportunities are available for helping 8th graders complete their capstones. Lastly, Janis from the Ashland Public Library will be giving a teen book talk on Thursday, December 5th from 11:40-12:40 if anyone would like to join.

One of our John Muir traditions as the weather turns colder and the days get darker, is to join together as a community, have a warm drink, eat treats and purchase handmade crafts from our own students in preparation for the holidays to come. Please join us in the Ashland Middle School Commons for our Winter Faire & Parent Night on Thursday, December 12th from 5:30 - 8:00 p.m. Between 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. we will enjoy performances from our students and get a glimpse of their progress in school so far as part of the John Muir Parent Night. Come before or stay after to visit our Re-Gifting Room, where children can find gifts for loved ones for only $1 and parents can purchase beautiful crafts made by John Muir students. Please join us in the celebration of our wonderful John Muir community! Things you can do to help with th is event:

-Bring your donations of re-gift items to the Scrip Table now!

-Donate cookies or treats to be sold at the event as part of our fundraising efforts. Bring them to the Scrip Table on December 12th or to the event itself by 5:30.

-Help with set-up or clean-up. Contact Katherine Holden at holdensherpa@yahoo.com to sign up.

-Come ready to buy Scrip and spend a little money.

-Know that the Winter Faire is a fundraiser for our school and that any support you offer helps pay for our Art Focus Program, Community Music and Outdoor Education Programs.

Our School community has raised just over $1,200 this year through the use of Scrip. Please stop by the Scrip Table before/after school to see how you can be a part of this great accomplishment. Let’s

keep it going!

Solstice Celebration

On Friday, December 20th, John Muir will hold its Winter Solstice Spiral Celebration. Parents and extended family members are welcome to join the students in this beautiful ceremony, which symbolizes us finding our inner light in the darkness of winter. This year, in an attempt to recreate the ceremony in its traditional fashion, we will be holding this event off campus at the Bellevue Grange. The olders will walk and the youngers will take a bus. The ceremony will begin at 12:45 and last approximately 1 hour. Parents may take their children home from the ceremony or may pick them up at school at the regular release time. We will need eight parents to help with set-up from 10:30-12:30 and eight parents to help with clean up from 1:45-2:30. Please call Carrie at 541-499-1758 if you can help in any way. This is a very special ceremony – one you won’t want to miss! All parents and loved ones are encouraged to participate!

New School Wide Math Instruction Structure Dear Parents, We would like to take this opportunity to update you on how staff of John Muir Magnet School is meeting the academic needs of students, as well as enhancing student learning and understanding. As you may be aware, in our present configuration, adequately providing math instruction to three grade levels in our 6-7-8 classroom has been very challenging. Teachers and I have been having detailed discussions about optimum ways to deliver instruction to our children so we can meet their needs and achieve a higher level of learning. We realize that if we are going to fully implement teaching to the Common Core State Standards (which are now fully adopted at the national, state, and district level), we must make significant changes in how we deliver curriculum and group our children. An important factor is how the math standards align grade to grade. After a close study of standards, the following groupings allow staff to present a logical sequence and continuum of skills and knowledge: Grade Grouping Instructor 1/2 Shannon 3/4 Camille 5/6 Jim 7/8 Marcia Beginning in mid-December, our math block will start at 12:30 and extend for at least an hour Monday through Thursday. Grouping students in this new configuration aligns much better with grade level standards and allows flexibility of instruction. Support staff will continue to work with students and teachers to provide extra help as needed. Kindergarteners will continue to receive instruction through integrated units and centers. Another very positive aspect of this configuration is allowing children to integrate in a new and positive way with teachers. One of the tenets of John Muir Magnet School is to mix children in multi-age groupings, and set up systems that allow staff to work with children flexibly beyond their assigned grade level. Consequently, an equally strong benefit of teachers working in our new math groups, expands community relationships between teachers, children and parents. We are very excited to implement this change to our mathematics instruction and look forward to introducing it to our children. If you have questions or would like more information, please feel free to contact your child's teacher and/or Susan. Thank you for supporting your child and our very special school community. Shannon, Camille, Jim, Marcia, Susan, Dylana and Velda

Art Focus Update This week students complete their fall Art Focus classes. This trimester proved to be hugely successful. Thank you to all the parent and community volunteers who participated. A special thank you goes out to JoAnn Manzone who volunteered to teach 2D & 3D Art to our students this session. JoAnn is an art instructor from the Ashland Art Center who teaches classes to children professionally. We are now gearing up for our winter session, which will run from January 15 – March 19. If you are interested in teaching or assisting with a class please contact Art Focus Coordinator Katherine Holden at holdensherpa@yahoo.com

New Educational Assistant Angie Hanson is a new Educational Assistant at the John Muir Magnet School. She is working part-time in Jim's 4th/5th grade classroom, as well as assisting other staff as needed. She says that she feels "so honored to be a part of such a wonderful community". Angie is a mother of two children. She and her husband Mark have made Ashland their "home-base" for the past 27 years.

Next Parent-Teacher Collective Meeting Our next PTC Meeting is Monday, December 16th in the evening. Please join us at 7:00 p.m. in the JMMS Music Room to learn about all the latest breaking school news and participate in this great place of education.

New PTC Officers Needed The PTC is in need of a new Secretary and President. If either of these is a role you would be interested in assuming please join us at December’s meeting.

JMMS December 2013 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

2 6/7/8 SOU Rock Climbing 1:30 – 2:45 p.m.

3 4 5 6 6/7/8 Oredson-Todd Woods

9 10 11 Special Art Focus Winter Craft Parent Help Needed 8:20 – 9:50 a.m.

12 Winter Faire & Parent Night AMS Commons 5:30 – 8:00 p.m.

13 4/5 Earth Teach

16 PTC Meeting JMMS Music Room 7-8 p.m.

17 18 19 20 Solstice Celebration Bellevue Grange 12:45 - 1:45 p.m. Winter Break Starts!