Public Speaking

“You can speak well if your tongue can deliver the message of your heart” ~ John Ford

One of our fifth grade students had the opportunity to try out public speaking on the steps of the State Capitol on May 7^th.  Sri G. was the 1^st place winner in the Center for School Change Charter School Essay Contest.  She won 1^st place in grades 3-5 out of 900 submitted essays in that category.  Sri and her family were invited to the State Capitol for her to read her essay.  It was a slightly windy day, but at least there was no rain.  Sri did a delightful job reading her essay in front of a large crowd of people.  Below is a video of Sri reading her essay and pictures from the event.  We are very proud of Sri and her accomplishment.  

It is that time of year when teachers are working diligently to keep students focused on learning.  At Eagle Ridge Academy we believe every day of instruction is important and make sure students are learning right up until the very end of the school year.  Keeping routines the same during this time is important for continued instruction.  We appreciate your support in helping us make every day count.

The fifth grade students have been studying adaptations in animals and plants in science class.  They have learned about behavioral and structural adaptations.  To culminate their study they were asked to pick a particular animal or plant and address its adaptations.  Below are pictures of some of the projects hanging in the hallway outside the fifth grade classrooms.

Reminders:

Music Informances on May 20^th

o   All Day Kindergarten 4:30

o   2^nd Grade 6:00

o   4^th Grade 7:00

There is no school for students on Friday, May 23^rd or Monday, May 26th.

Have a wonderful week!

Mrs. Baier

Communication

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”

~ George Bernard Shaw

In this day and age of technological communication, I find the quote above to be quite true.  For example, I write this blog and communicate lots of information on a fairly regular basis.  I then expect people to have knowledge of the information I have communicated, but how do I truly know it has been communicated.  I don’t know who reads it each week.  Even though I know a certain number of people have signed up to receive an email of the blog, do they truly read the information?  Just because I put the information out there, does not mean it has been communicated.  

I think back to the “older days” when phone calls, telegrams, and face to face communication were the norm.  We could truly say that communication had taken place because we had control of it and did it ourselves.  While technology has sped up the process (of that I’m grateful), it has also given us false assumptions in believing things have truly been communicated.  It has placed half of the process out of our control.  How do we fix that?  I don’t know that we can.  There is a certain amount of responsibility on both parties to ensure the communication has taken place.  It is my responsibility to share the information and your responsibility to take it.  We must truly collaborate in the process of communication for it to be successful.  Thank you for taking the time to read this blog and allowing the communication circle to be complete.

We are having an issue in the Lower School with Pokémon cards.  The sharing and trading of them have truly become a distraction to learning.  We started with saying they could play with the cards at recess, but must keep them in their backpacks.  However, issues with trades and jealousy over cards have trickled into the classrooms.  At this point, I am imposing a Pokémon card ban at school.  If a student has Pokémon cards, the teacher will take them the first time and send them home at the end of the day.  The second time a student is caught with Pokémon cards at school, parents will have to come to school and pick up the cards.  Please help us in eliminating this learning distraction the last few weeks of school.  The ban does extend to the TEL program after school, as well.

Last week the 2^nd grade students held their annual Readers Café.  The students studied various authors throughout the year, wrote a 3-point expository essay about their favorite author (from the group studied), and read various books by this author.  At the Readers Café, they were given the opportunity to share their essays and read aloud books by their favorite author to visitors.  Thank you to so many of you for coming and supporting the learning of the 2^nd grade students.   As you can see from the pictures below, the students had lots of opportunities to share with other.

Next week we are having music Informances for kindergarten, 2^nd grade, and 4^th grade.  They are on Tuesday, May 20^th and start with our all-day kindergarten students at 4:30pm, 2^nd grade at 6:00pm, and 4^th grade at 7:00pm.  The Informances are in the gym and students should be in their homeroom classrooms 10 minutes prior to their Informance.  Please note that  students are required to wear formal dress uniforms for Informances, including brown or black dress shoes.  I look forward to seeing you there!

Have a wonderful week!

Mrs. Baier

Life's Mistakes...

“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new. “ ~ Albert Einstein

Students at Eagle Ridge Academy are always trying new things.  With teachers and families there to support them, it should be easy to try something new.  Students often feel that by failing at something or making a mistake they are themselves a failure.  It is important we teach students the difference between failing or making a mistake and being a failure.  Making mistakes is a part of a life well-lived.  It is important for the adults in each student’s life to model making those mistakes and recovering from them.  We must always be careful to help students understand the difference between excellence (always trying one’s best) and perfection.  Those two words can often become intertwined in the minds of young students and helping them differentiate between the two is quite important.  Now, I’m off to try something new today and know I will make a mistake, but will learn all the more from doing it.

On Friday, one of our 3^rd grade students tried something new.  Ellie W. in Mr. Schloesser’s class was the Lower School Principal of the day.  Lower School Principal of the day was an auction item in this year’s PTO Gala.  Ellie had a busy day as principal.  She greeted students, observed teachers, read to classrooms, helped out at lunch and recess, and even declared Friday a “No Homework” Day for the Lower School.  Below are a few pictures of Ellie hard at work.

The Annual Eagle Ridge Academy Art Expo was Friday, May 2^nd.  The beautiful work of students filled the Upper School Hallway.  It was my great pleasure to be able to award a Lower School Principal’s Award to one piece of art from the Lower School.  We started this tradition last year.  The winning piece of art is framed and will hang in the Lower School Office for the entire next school year.  It is quite a challenge to choose one piece of art to win the award, but after much perusing of the art work I managed to make it happen. This year’s winner was a piece done by Elena R. in first grade.  Her winning piece is below, along with a picture of the artist with her work.  Congratulations to Elena and all the Lower School students who exhibited art in this year’s Expo.

Have a wonderful week!

Mrs. Baier