Parent Power...The FUNd Stuff at PNA!

Vol 4, Issue 8

The FUN d Stuff!

Stories from the Office of Advancement at Pacific Northern Academy

Vision Courage Integrity

BestSchools.com publishes its 2015

and PNA ranks #10 on the list!

" Paying for a private elementary school education places a substantial burden on families, especially when one considers that the corresponding public education is essentially free. Nonetheless, many parents believe a solid, private education for their children is worth the expense, giving students the artistic, religious, or personal attention they might not find elsewhere.

"[About PNA] Though students do work collaboratively, they are held individually responsible for their learning in this college preparatory school. Nevertheless, teaching is differentiated so that all students can achieve to their own potential. Aiding students in this quest is a team of devoted teachers in small class....The Responsive Classroom program is used so that students will become comfortable discussing their ideas and receive the support they need to continue stretching their thinking skills to newer heights."

We love hearing what The Best Schools.org has to say about PNA, but we love hearing what our own parents have to say even more. Here are a few quotes we heard this week:

"When we visited PNA for our one day assessment, my daughter came home and said: 'It's like the Ignite program, but all day, every day."

"What is wrong with the school? My kids don't want to go home. They are having too much fun! That is not how I remember school to be when I was a kid.

As my kids said 'It was the best choice we made moving to PNA'."

"When I first came to PNA I became involved because I felt I had an obligation to give of my time since my child was a student here. Then I saw the alumni parents here in the building actively working to support the school, and that drew me in at a much deeper level and motivates me to give back in a much larger way."

"Parent contributions of time are truly valued at PNA. Our contributions matter, and it's easy to see we make a difference here."

"In my many years at PNA, I've seen plenty of mistakes. Big mistakes that become problems, little mistakes that are just annoying. But in all those many years, I've never seen a mistake that wasn't honest in its creation, or wasn't passionately attacked to try to correct it. Mistakes are inevitable, but our reactions to them are not. PNA, like it teaches its students to do, is always asks what was learned, and what can be done better next time. And then it does it better."

"At times, I've questioned the intrinsic benefit of PNA - it's a long distance and it's a good amount of money. But we still come to PNA. For one, the kids won't leave, and two, they have a sense of security here to be their own self."

"Like any parent knows, there are bad days, but after years of seeing my kid at PNA, the growth has been huge."

POSTCARDS FROM THE CLASSROOM

Did you read the Alaska Dispatch News this week? The UAA Consortium Library was featured, specifically for their incredible collection of skulls, furs and stuffed animal specimens they have available for checking out. Ms. Jaeger has been taking advantage of this distinctly Alaskan library for years to teach PNA students particular aspects of shading (here in the stark light), composition, value and depth. While the 1st graders are drawing, Ms. Jaeger picks up where Mr. F has left off in their current book: The Phantom Tollbooth. OK. We ALL want to be in that class.

5th gets rhythm. Whack-a WHACK-A whack-a, all in a scale. Then the tambourines and the zylophones and the drums - it was percussion sussion. Er, session.

Mr. Johnson and Liliana are editing her paper...so what's up with the math? Hand signals? Code language? Do it double next time?

1st grade is talking ten thousands. Well, they're talking jelly beans. They talk about all the different ways they could group jelly beans so they could confidently know they had ten thousand of them. NO SNACKING is a rule. The goal? One million.

PARENT POWER

There were three parent lunches this week! Parent lunches are an opportunity for parents to get an extra-helping's worth of what's going on in the classroom. The lunches range in complexity from student made to Alaska harvested, and activities span the gamut of watching a play to participating in one of the typical experiential projects the kids do so regularly. It's a great opportunity for parents to socialize and get a glimpse in the classroom that (some) kids just don't delve into for their parents during dinner time conversation.

During the 7/8th lunch, Hannah goes so far as to eat her journal. Not enough food? Well, maybe, but it had more to do with a reluctance to share her work.

6th grade had a good old-fashioned Alaskan pot-luck, with food that had been harvested, grown, plucked or shot in Alaska. The parents were treated to a slide show of the kids' fall retreat at Birchwood.

Parents didn't just come to PNA this week for lunch! Matthew Fox met with Jennie to talk marketing strategies - thank you so much!

And PNA's Audit committee met. Congratulations on a finalized audit from Thomas, Head, and Greison. For more information on that, be on the look-out for the Annual Report, coming out very soon. Thank you Jill Morgan, Kim Bassett and Board Chair Shannon Brockman. Big kudos to John Evans, the committee chair, for leading PNA to a great new audit firm. Congratulations and great thanks.

Third Grade Gets Techy

OK, lots going on here, so stay with us. 3rd grade is having a "mystery Skype" with another 3rd grade classroom, somewhere in the country. They go back and forth asking each other yes or no questions, and then search their maps to see how to answer the question, or how the new information has reduced the search. "Are you below the Mason-Dixon line?" "Are you a land-locked state?" (Fortunately Olivia knew what that meant!). Finally, PNA discovered their Skype-pals were from Texas. "Is it hot there?" "No, it's only 80 today" "WHAT! That's so hot!".

Shad O'Neel came through give a slide show about Antarctica. Yes, he's been there. In fact, he STAYED there - as in, lived there,

(in as much as anyone actually lives there).

Finally, 3rd grade found themselves in the library, handily looking up books. It was touch and go there for a minute, but once Ben typed in the key words, gold was struck and they could track down a copy of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Lost Hero.

Isaias thinks about his guess on whether the pumpkin will sink or float, while his mom looks on. We are thinking hard too, and we can't make up our minds. Will it sink? Will it float? Who knows? We decided to leave the science to Isaias.

The Library Coalition

If you have a minute, step into the Media Center (otherwise known as the Library) stacks and take a look around. The shelves have been cleaned up and reorganized to make it easier for kids to find the books they're looking for. Hundreds of books have been added, many have been culled. And then, if you see any of these fine women, be sure to thank them for the hours of work they put in every week. And THEN, if you have any more spare moments, grab a book and relax in one of the quiet corners!

This is a pre-Beginner who has already spent many many hours at PNA while mom helps out in the library. Her classroom is the library, and she makes excellent use of it.

Dear Community -

The Parent Lunches you are reading about this week are a tradition at PNA. There are normally three per year in each classroom, and they provide a great opportunity to spend time at school with your child, his/her classmates, their parents, and your teacher. In addition to sharing a potluck and getting to know everyone better, these events usually showcase something that the students have been working on, or provide an opportunity for them to share something they have been learning in class. They are fun events that create another supportive environment for students to gain confidence in social settings. I encougage you to attend if you can!

On Thursday this week you hopefully received a yummy slice of pumpkin bread along with a flyer announcing next week's official "launch" of our auction season! This will take place on Thursday, October 15 at 8:30, and will be an opportunity to have breakfast and learn about plans for the auction so far and how you can get involved. For those who can't make a morning meeting, folks helping to organize the auction will also be available to share information and chat around pickup time as well.

The auction is our largest event of the year. It is a great volunteer opportunity and way to connect with other families, a fabulous event to attend (February 27, 2016), and it's our biggest fundraiser, providing dollars that are critical in ensuring our school's success. Please come on Thursday if you can, or otherwise get caught up on auction happenings by contacting me, or PA President Kathy Heinlein, or our fearless event co-chairs Lisa Maurer and alumni parent Lindsay Tucker.

Have a great weekend!

Pat

Pat Lavin

Director of Advancement

[email protected]

Aah! AAH! AAAH...

...CHOO!

Do you know the story of The Mitten, by Jan Brett? Nicki (JD) loses the mitten his Baba (Sophie) knit him - it's lost somewhere in the snow! While Nicki goes back in the woods to look for it, animals of all sizes have found it's the perfect thing to snuggle up in. From owl to badger to bear, the animals (Kindergarteners) squeeze in - until a mouse (Parker) rests on the bear's (Kennedy's) nose - and causes the sneeze that tosses the animals everywhere!

The ensemble cast of Kindergarteners read, recited and acted out this book for their parents' lunch time entertainment deftly and with great humor.

Annual Fund Campaign Wrap:

All Together Now!

Danica and Skip (and Bella!) Bartow

Thanks once again to everyone for your participation and support for PNA's Annual Fund Campaign again this year! Our beautiful tree is full of leaves, Pierre has made cameo appearances all over town while also scaling Ms. Jaeger's Denali, and it is time to wrap up the campaign and move on. We are excited to have reached 91% family participation in five weeks and will follow up individually with families who did not get a chance to make a gift in this time frame. Thank you for participating and showing your love for PNA!

We also want to specifically thank our Annual Fund Committee - these were the folks that supported the Advancement Office and the school, helped run the campaign, and followed up to remind, prod and prompt all of us to make that timely donation. We use a concentrated five-week effort to raise critical funds for our school, and it takes a dedicated team to get it done. Denali Kemppel, Pete Devaris, Sajani Inampudi, Matthew Fox, Daniela Hjellen, Jen Neuberger, Kathy Heinlein, and especially our Committee Chair, Danica Bartow: thank you so much for your efforts to reach out to everyone in the community! And many thanks to Brenda Jaeger for working with all the students on the leaves for the tree and drawing our Denali!

Campaign Highlights

Board of Trustees Participation:

100%!

Faculty and Staff Participation:

100%!

Family Participation:

92%...and counting!

Dollars Raised:

Almost $120,000...and counting

Annual Fund Spirit Award:

Aishani Mishra!

Wait, what's the Spirit Award? After learning Aishani's story, we had to create a way to recognize her contribution so we made it up. Aishani lost a tooth recently, and the tooth fairy brought a $5 surprise under her pillow. Being aware of the Annual Fund campaign, Aishani told her parents she would like to donate that $5 to the cause. She's a second grader whom one might expect to spend that $5 at the candy aisle at the next opportunity, but instead she showed us her PNA spirit. Thank you, Aishani!

Participation Rate by Classroom

( as of press time):

Beginners 100%

Early Kindergarten 85%

Kindergarten 93%

1st Grade 100%

2nd Grade 83%

3rd Grade 100%

4th Grade 92%

5th Grade 100%

6th Grade 100%

7th Grade 90%

8th Grade 83%

ALUMNI CORNER

The Engagement Issue

PNA's kids are growing up and getting ready to get married. OMG...where is time going?

Lois Imbriani popped the question.

His girl, Shelby, said yes.

Jasmine Neeno and her sweetheart, and Tim.

Jake and Lizzy Brown are the latest to get engaged. Congratulations!

Love What You See?

You Can Support It!

Your gift benefits today's students and everyone's future. Spread the word! Don't let PNA be Anchorage's best kept secret. Let your friends know!

To make a donation or refer a family to PNA,

Call (907) 333-1080

and speak with Pat Lavin,

Director of Advancement,

or Jennie Tschappat,

Director of Admissions.

LINKS WE LOVE
It's Time To Do Math!

Can Solve the Hat Riddle - So You Don't Get Eaten By Aliens? This link takes you to the TED Ed Page which has the video, plus prompts to help you think through it. Below is the link the movie on YouTube.

Can You Solve the Hat Riddle? The movie.

It's National Space Week!

"A collection of over 500 stargazers and space scientists gathered in Llandudno, Wales, this week for the annual National Astronomy Meeting (NAM), presented by the Royal Society. The astronomers presented findings on just about everything under the sun, and well beyond our solar system. In this slideshow, take a look at some conference highlights as presented in the images, both observed through various telescopes and depicted by artists, illustrating some of the ground-breaking and occasionally controversial findings out of NAM. We begin with the hunt for supermassive black holes."

Epic Space Photos from NAM

from Science News

PNA IN

THE ANCHORAGE OPERA

Members of PNA's choir are the children's chorus in Carmen, one of the most accessible and enjoyable operas for folks who don't generally go to the opera...so...what a great reason to go! Performances are Friday, Saturday and Sunday, October 23-25. Purchase tickets here .

IT'S COMING...!

Did you get your pumpkin bread breakfast treat on Thursday? We did our best to run every person - and car - down to deliver a morning treat and a flyer to tell you...Join the Auction team on Thursday, Oct. 15 at 8:15 for a BIG breakfast and to get all the skinny on this year's auction gala. It's our 20th! Whoo hoo! You don't want to miss it!

PUMPKIN PARTY! Wednesday, October 21, 3:30-5:00. Fun for all!

COMING RIGHT UP

It's COMING...

Thursday, October 15th, 8:15-9:30am

PNA Goes Platinum!

Find out all about it at

BREAKFAST WITH THE AUCTION

Grade Reporting Day - NO SCHOOL

Friday, October 16th

School Photo Retake Day

Wednesday, October 21st, 8:30 am

Pumpkin Carving Night

Wednesday, October 21st, 3:30 to 5:30 pm

Conferences - NO SCHOOL

Have you signed up?

Thursday, October 22nd

Professional Development - NO SCHOOL

Friday, October 23rd

Spirit Week

October 26th through 30th

All School Assembly & Halloween Parade

Friday, October 30th, 8:30 am

Fall Concert Set Construction Night

Friday, October 30th, 3:30 to 6 pm

For a full calendar, please visit the

Pacific Northern Academy Website

Want To Get Social?

Catch sight of your kids in action by joining us on Facebook and Instagram!

Platinum Pumpkin, indeed! Thanks to Midnight Sun Cakery for adding a new level of delectability to our Auction kick off invitation this year. Did you get yours? Check in with Tabitha or Annie...it's so GOOD!

Just ONE More...

Ms. Mariner helps out with some neck support for Mr. floppy bones.

We educate students to be exceptional learners and independent thinkers of vision, courage, and integrity.

Pacific Northern Academy * 9251 Lake Otis Parkway * Anchorage, Alaska 99507

Dale Evern, Head of School
Laurie Hoefer, Assistant Head
Jennie Tschappat, Director of Admissions & Communication
Pat Lavin, Director of Advancement
TEL: (907) 333-1080 FAX: (907) 333-1652