from The Parent's Tao te Ching:
Dealing with difficult children
is like watching a garden grow.
Resist the temptation
to pull up the plants
to check on the roots.
In difficult times
children may thrive on conflict.
If you take the bait
the battle rages.
Instead step back,
breathe deeply,
relax,
and stay at your center.
Battles require two parties.
One fighting alone soon tires.
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We invite you to forward
this email to friends and relatives who are part of the Blue
Mountain School Family.
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Gratitude
We'd love to thank...
All the businesses that are participating in the
Local Gifts
fundraiser on Saturdays, December 4 & 11
William
Walter for putting on such an excellent show, and
donating all the door money to BMS
Alina Ever for talking to students about clothes
swaps
Stacy Hairfield of Natural Awakenings Magazine for
coming to discuss eWaste with our students
Swede McBroom of The Natural Woodworking Company for welcoming
our students to his workshop
Swede and Jason Rutledge of Healing Harvest Forest
Foundation for coming to the school to present the children's
plaques
Cynthia Hancock of Virginia Association
of Soil & Water Conservation Districts for her EnviroScape
presentation
Mike Burton of Sustain Floyd for
his presentation on local foods
Paige Dalton of Skyline Manor for arranging such
an enriching series of visits for our students
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Hi!
Welcome to the November edition of Blue Mountain School's Indigo
Messenger.
As you know, the school makes a big point of connecting with our
local community. One of the biggest ways in which we do this is our
annual Local Gifts fundraiser, in
which we provide free childcare at the school on Saturdays,
December 4 & 11, so that parents can shop locally.
In exchange for a donation from these businesses, we do our best to
promote them and encourage people to support the businesses that
support us.
This is a win-win-win scenario: parents get free childcare, local
businesses get more custom, and the school gets much-needed
financial support.
And as an added incentive, anyone who buys gifts, gift certificates, or any
of the other products and services offered by any of these
businesses, and brings their receipt to the school on either of the
days of this event, will be in the running to win a dinner for two
at the Historic Pine Tavern, a night's stay at the Oak Haven Lodge,
a $25 gift certificate from the Harvest Moon, or a $25 gift
certificate from Ashleigh's Spa a'vie. Every receipt earns you
another entry in the draw.
That should be enough to get you interested! So, without further
adieu, here are this year's participating businesses. Please
support the businesses that support Blue Mountain
School:
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Shelly Emmett
Direction
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Shelly Emmett |
As you may know, our new
Board of Directors had its first orientation meeting in November.
During this meeting, we talked about some of the unique advantages
and challenges of operating a small private school in a rural place
like Floyd. The discussion helped many of us to have a better
understanding of these issues, and seemed to strengthen our
collective resolve to do what we can to help further the school's
development as a thriving entity. After the meeting, several of the
new Board members asked me to share more about the school's
operations with the rest of our school community, so that everyone
could have an appreciation of the challenges that the school is
currently navigating.
According to the National
Association of Independent Schools, a typical budget for a private
school reflects that tuition covers only about 50 percent of the
operational budget of the school. For most schools, the other 50
percent is covered by fundraising or an endowment. At Blue Mountain
School, our tuition income covers 80 percent or more of our
operating budget; fundraising makes up the other 20 percent for us,
as we do not currently have an endowment established. In practical
terms, this means that our budget is much more reliant on tuition
income than that of many other private schools. And with our
full-price tuition set at half or less than that of other local
private schools, this is quite a challenge. Consider that Blue
Mountain School's budget allows for about $11,000 a year in
discounts and scholarships and you may find yourself amazed that
the school is able to survive, somehow (this means that about 10
percent of the school's already tight budget is given up in order
to make the school even more affordable for local
families).
Hopefully, all of this
inspires each of us to do what we can to help the school, beyond
monthly tuition or a yearly donation. But how?
Clearly, the tuition the
school receives from each family is indispensable - and its
timeliness is of utmost importance each month. Financial donations
are also an important part of our functioning. But beyond that,
each of us who are a part of the school must understand that it is
our energy, our time, our unique contributions to the school that
make it the vibrant and vital place that it is. Each time that
someone volunteers to drive students to a field trip, or offers to
fix a swingset, or stuffs envelopes for a fundraiser, or commits to
a volunteer shift at a fundraising event, that person is offering
an invaluable contribution to our school that is absolutely
fundamental to the school's survival. When we all work together by
offering our time and energy when possible, the results are
impressive. And the loss of even just one person's contribution is
undoubtedly felt.
Hopefully, sharing this
with readers of the newsletter will help everyone to understand
that we all belong here, we are all here to be a part of something
bigger than ourselves, we all have something to offer. And we are
all appreciated. |
Shannon & Hari's
class
The
Oxymorons
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Shannon Atkins |
From Shannon:
The OxyMorons report that
Scratch is one of their favorite parts of math and science class.
They've even been overheard begging for time to work on their
Scratch projects. So what is Scratch, and what's the big
deal?
According to the program's developers, the Lifelong Kindergarten
Group at the MIT Media Lab, Scratch is a programming language for creating
interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art, while
learning important mathematical and computational ideas, and
learning to think creatively, reason systematically, and work
collaboratively.
As the middle school math and science teacher, I introduced
Scratch to capitalize on the OxyMorons' enormous collective
interest in video games, but wanted them to be creators rather than
just consumers of interactive media. I like the way Scratch
requires students to think logically to make their programs
function the way they want, and encourages them to apply the
Cartesian coordinate system.
Adult fluff aside, some students from the middle school class
describe Scratch and how they use it, in their own words:
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Interactive art programmed
by Linneya and mixed by Yeshe |
What is Scratch?
Jerrin: "Scratch is a program to make video games and
animations."
How do you use Scratch?
Linneya: "It depends on what you want to do. You could make a game
like one on game sites, or you could make a pen game where you draw
and have controllers."
Jerrin: "You build scripts for characters and they do what the
scripts say. A script is like instructions. So far, I've made a
game where you move as a diver to get to your cheesy puffs, and
then I made two drawing games - one where you control with the
mouse and you can change shades and colors, which is my newest one,
and my other one you move with the arrow keys and change
colors."
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Yeshe's programming for
character movement and interactions |
Yeshe: "You make a sprite, which
is a character, and then you give it scripts. A script tells the
sprite to do something. Say I've got sprite one and I'm telling him
to move to a certain point, I would go to 'Motion' and say 'Glide
to an X point and Y point.' X goes right and left, and Y goes up
and down."
What has been one of
your programming challenges?
Jerrin: "My biggest challenge probably was when I had to figure
out how to do it. I had to look it up online, and so I figured it
out by myself. My biggest recent challenge was when I was making
the pen move with the mouse."
Yeshe: "One of my biggest challenges was in 'Halloween Monkey,'
when I tried to make different levels, so that when you touch
something it goes to a different level. I made a variable that lets
you know what level you're on."
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A short video of a
two-player game programmed by Jerrin |
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Inge's
class
Nature's
Ninjas
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Inge Terrill |
No one can deny that Fall
is here and that Winter is just around the corner. Nature's Ninjas
have been observing this first hand through nature walks around the
school's campus. Leaf and twig studies have been part of what the
class has been doing to observe the changes in nature. The class
has identified at least ten different species of trees on campus.
They include Black Locusts, Wild Cherries, Cucumber Trees, Yellow
Poplars, Flowering Dogwoods, Witch Hazels, White Oak and Red Oak
species, Sumacs, and Maples.
Everyone is adjusting as
best they can to the new time change, but snack time and lunch just
don't seem to come soon enough for these hungry, growing Ninjas!
So far, one of the classes' favorite foods are pomegranates. They
just can't seem to get enough of these delicious fruits. Another
snack time favorite is popcorn.
The Ninjas have been
working hard on learning the names of the bones in the human body.
Fortunately, they are not trying to learn the names of all 206 of
them! Next time you see a Ninja, ask them if they can sing the
"Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" song using the proper bone
names.
Highlights from our past
month include a Service Learning Trip to Swede McBroom's Natural Woodworking Workshop. The Ninjas
helped stack rough sawn boards to air dry and measured the
amount of board feet in
the stack they
created. They took a tour of the woodworking facility
and learned about
kilns and types of wood. They thoroughly enjoyed
the field trip and are looking forward to getting the special wood
creations they made at the end of the trip.
One thing the Ninjas
really looked forward to this month was Thanksgiving Break. An
entire week off from school! Now that's something to be thankful
for!
Another thing the Ninjas
are thankful for is the weekly help we are receiving from Virginia
Nathan and Linda Johnson that started this month. Virginia Nathan
is spending two mornings a week (Mondays and Tuesdays) with the
class. She is working with the emerging readers. Linda Johnson, a
volunteer from the local chapter of RSVP (Senior Corps - National Community
Service Program), is with the Ninjas two mornings a week
(Wednesdays and Thursdays) as teacher's aid.
The thankful Ninjas hope
everyone had a happy, healthy, safe Thanksgiving!
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Corey's class
Thumbs-up
Kids
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Corey Avellar |
To see a larger version of Corey's report, just click on
it...
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Amy's class
Silly Monkeys
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Amy Myers |
The end of October and
November were plentiful and fun in the Silly Monkeys' classroom. For starters, we
decided on a name for our class that seems so fitting! Our field
trips were so abundant this month, Apple Ridge was lots of fun,
with drumming and exploring the woods. It was great to see parents
get a chance to come to the workshops as well. The following week
we went to Sinkland Farms for pumpkins, mazes and farm fun. Not
sure what was more exciting - the tractor ride or getting to "milk"
the cow. We really enjoyed carving a pumpkin together in our class
the next day, in preparation for our Halloween festival that ended
our week. Dressing up in our costumes was surely our highlight, as
well as such yummy potluck food! Thanks for all those who
contributed!!
Moving into November had
us making pine cone bird feeders and getting to know our bird
friends right outside our classroom. We enjoyed our trip to Plenty,
where we picked up food and delivered it to the doors of folks
around Floyd. It was such a wonderful hit to light up people's days
with the children and food in hand.
Our circle time has been
more focused on number games, body parts, counting, birds, as well
as learning new songs and finger plays. Here is one that your
children should be able to do with you.
"Whisky frisky hippity
hop, climbed the squirrel to the tree tops. Whirly twirly round and
round, down he scampered to the ground. Whirly twirly what a tail,
tall as a feather, broad as a sail. Where is his supper? In a
shell, snappity crackity out it fell."
We had a very thankful
week last week, and have started to make lanterns together since we
got back from break.
We trust you had a Happy Thanksgiving!!
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Jamie's class
Community
connection
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Jamie Reygle |
One thing that repeatedly occurs to me
as the Service Learning teacher at BMS, is how much I love my job.
I remember as a kid that field trips were the best thing about
school, and now I get to go on plenty of them! To see the joy in
the children's faces, as well as those who directly benefit from
their presence, is a very fulfilling experience.
Some of the highlights of this past
month have been:
- The Thumbs-Up
Kids and Nature's Ninjas visiting the Natural Woodworking Company, where Swede
McBroom gave them a full tour of his workshop, and then gave each
of them their own plaques to design. A couple of weeks later, Swede
returned to the school - with the plaques and Jason Rutledge from
Healing Harvest Forest
Foundation - to present the finished plaques to the students.
This enabled them to have a clear picture of the full cycle of wood
production - from the logging done by Jason's team, to the storage
and drying of the lumber, to the working of the wood, and finally
to the finishing of the wood.
- The same two classes also had
their first visit to the Alzheimer's unit at Skyline Manor.
Understandably, this was an overwhelming experience for some of
them, and it will be interesting to see how things evolve with this
over the coming months. For most of the children - and certainly
for the residents - the chance to peel apples with an old-fashioned
peeler, and to connect young with old, was a lot of fun. In
December, we're heading back to make butter with an old-fashioned
churn!
- Meanwhile, the
Oxymorons have identified three types of projects
they want to engage in for the Siemens We Can Change the World
Challenge, and have had a corresponding series of guests come
to discuss their options. These have included (by project):
-
Now it is time for the class to break
into groups, and begin working on their projects, which are likely
to be:
- Recycle, Reuse, Reduce:
A local-area swap meet;
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Recycling in action |
Local Foods: Promotion of local food vendors; and
- Stream Management: Working
with local farmers to improve the water quality of Floyd
streams.
If any of these look like a project
you would like to be involved with, please let me know. We'd love
to have you join us!
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Sarah's
class
Slowing
Down
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Sarah McCarthy |
The most important
elements of our yoga each week are slowing down and focusing. Yes,
we do postures, we play yoga games, we talk about how we are
feeling inside on a given day, and we listen to stories. Slowing
down and learning to be comfortable in a quiet space with oneself
is even more important.
Children and young
adults are naturally active and excited. They are taking in a lot
each day-and each moment really-about how the world works. It is
quite stimulating for them. Although they are naturally active,
they also need calm, quiet time: real authentic down time in a safe
and comfortable place. I am hoping that through yoga class, and
other times throughout the day, our children can get this so they
can come to know themselves and the unique gifts they each have
inside.
We usually begin
with breathing exercises. We excitedly pick out a little animal
breathing buddy and place it in front of us. It sounds so simple.
We are breathing all the time. To stop and watch our breath for a
few minutes takes mindfulness; it takes putting aside thoughts of
what happened on the way to school or what is in our lunch. It
requires being here right now with all our being. It also requires
being in a quiet place. This is not easy. So we do it a lot. We
keep practicing. Soon this will develop into concentration and this
is a crucial element for learning.
Next I tell or read
a story where we learn about our 'treasure' of the day. This also
takes concentrating and being quiet. These stories come from
different countries and different religions, and all touch on basic
human needs, values, and emotions-such as kindness, anger, flowing
in the moment, being our true selves, self love, etc. I find
creative, interesting stories are great ways to teach and
inspire.
As we move into
stretching, moving, and games, we end with body relaxation, gentle
music, and guided affirmations. I find that for a lot of children,
this quiet time is uncomfortable and takes a while to settle into.
So again we practice and practice. After a while we learn to enjoy
this special time; we don't have to perform, impress, or learn
anything. We can just accept being with our own self.
How do you
cultivate quiet time at home? With our busy lives we sometimes
forget to simply take time each day to do nothing and relax with
our children. If 'doing nothing' is a stretch for you, (and believe
me sometimes it is for me) try reclining on the couch with a good
book, and reading to your child. The morning is a great time to be
together outside, greeting the sun and birds. We all know how to
create this special space, we just have to practice slowing down a
little more to notice the gifts around us. Especially our amazing
children. They have so much to teach us!
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We hope you enjoyed reading the
Indigo Messenger, and plan to be sending you another one
in a month's time!
Be sure to forward it to anyone you think
may be interested.
Thank
you,
The folks at
Blue Mountain
School
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