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Writer's pictureShelley Urben

Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian

Those are the tribes of SE Alaska that started our unit on the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest (NAPNW). We are now moving into BC, Canada and focusing on the Kwakiutl, Bella-Coola, and Nuu-Chah-Nulth (actually the Nootka, blame Capt. Cook). It's a big week!

Welcome to what we hope is a full week of school! I trust all of you have received the class lists of names (both classes) so you can prepare your Valentines. The party is on Friday from 2 to 3. It will have the traditional exchange of Valentines and then we will be passing out the newly sewn button robes and our art activity will be drawing their chosen animal outline on the robes. I want to thank all of you who are gathering materials and sewing the robes. We will have several days where we will need adult help in the classroom with hand sewing on buttons. Currently we are still collecting MASSIVE amounts of buttons – white ones are in short supply so that would be the focus – of all sorts and colors.

Anyone know a wood carver (chisel or chainsaw) willing to come do some carving for us? Wouldn’t it be cool if one or two of those tall stumps of Cedar trees we have along Callahan could be turned into totem poles?! Maybe even cut it flush after it’s done and put it on campus someplace. I think that would be very cool. Let me know if you can help.

In our other academic areas, we are taking informational notes about our tribes, reading informational texts, myths, and legends, and drawing diagrams of houses, canoes, totems, etc. In math we are working on decimals quite hard and making good progress. We will also be doing a scale activity wherein we scale up our animal outline from the small example on paper to the large scale for our robes.

We have the Share the Love fundraiser going on, so send in pocket change, cup-holder change, seat-cushion change, dryer tips, etc. It’s a good cause and supports families right in our area. We also have our Victory Seeds fundraiser to benefit our garden area and our Pond Project specifically. Be sure to check out the online catalog (www.Victoryseeds.com) for many more varieties that are included! Orders due Friday, March 2, 2020. Seeds should be back to us to distribute from MRA early March. Questions? Please call Iva Quinlan at 503.829.6672 or email iquinlan@mra-k8.com.

On top of all that, we do have several students involved in OBOB! They are working hard and doing battles with each other in prep for establishing our representatives to regionals. Lots and lots of reading for them! As always, we have a great deal to do in a short amount of time. Thank you for all your support! Have a great week!



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