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

Field Trips

The bits I most remember about my school days are those that took place outside the classroom as we were taken on countless theatre visits and trips to places of interest. ~ Alan Bennett

Spring is often a time of field trips for students.  There have been many studies done on whether students truly learn from field trips.  I am a firm believer in field trips for students.  Learning true academic content on these trips is not always a necessity.  As we strive to educate students in all ways, field trips are helpful in making this happen.  All learning is worthwhile, whether a student learns the appropriate way to behave in a theatre or simply is exposed to a location he or she has never experienced.  Our teachers do an excellent job of connecting all field trips to academic content, but also understand the importance of the other areas of learning on these trips.  April has been a busy month in regards to field trips.  I have highlighted many of them below.

The 5^th grade took their overnight field trip to the Minnesota Science Museum in early April.  Prior to arriving at the science museum the students visited the State Capitol.  We had a very willing group of chaperones who seemed to enjoy the trip as much as the students did when they returned.  While this year’s trip was free due to a grant from the Flint Hills Foundation, I will be looking into seeing if it is something we can offer every year (at a cost of course) to our fifth grade students.  It is certainly a nice culmination to their fifth grade year at Eagle Ridge Academy.  Here are a few pictures from the trip.

The 1^st and 3^rd grade students went to Stages Theater in Hopkins to watch performances.  The show was The True Story of the Three Little Pigs.  The 1st grade teachers are using it with compare and contrast lessons and teaching students about variations in fairy tales.  The 3^rd grade has used this story to teach cause and effect, dialogue, and point of view.  They are also using it to influence their classroom readers theater.  

The 2^nd grade went to the Minnesota History Center.  The teachers connect the experience to Minnesota state standards on how people change over time.  The students participated in a lesson on what is in an immigrant’s trunk and explored the different exhibits in the Minnesota History Center.  Here are a few pictures from their trip and some pictures of what they wrote after returning from the field trip.  

If you are the parent of a 3^rd, 4^th, or 5^th grader, you know it is MCA testing time.  All three grades have already taken their paper MCA reading tests.  Our 5^th graders have also completed their MCA science tests.  In the next two weeks, all 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th grade students will take their online MCA math tests.  The MCA math schedule is below.  Please make sure your students are well-rested and have good breakfasts on these days (although that is important every day).  

April 29^th- Grabanski and LeVahn

April 30^th- Walker and Sorenson

May 1^st- Pettinger and Madigan

May 6^th- Orr and Rau

May 7^th- Schloesser

Tuesday, April 29^th is the first of this year’s music informances.  1^st, 3^rd, and 5^th grade are performing.  Please be reminded students should be in formal dress for these performances, including black or brown dress shoes.  Please consult Mrs. Nimchuk’s website for particulars about these informances.  

Friday (May 2^nd) is the annual Eagle Ridge Academy Art Expo.  The gallery opens at 7:00 on Friday evening.  It is truly a week of Fine Arts at Eagle Ridge Academy.

Have a great week!

Mrs. Baier

The bits I most remember about my school days are those that took place outside the classroom, as we were taken on countless theatre visits and trips to places of interest.

Alan Bennett

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/trips.html#gtZjP5XzA1PmmIUI.99

Springing back into school...

"It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are." - E.E. Cummings

As you may have heard there is a community discussion on possible expansion or replication of Eagle Ridge Academy.  The discussion began when the Minnesota Department of Education selected Eagle Ridge Academy as a High Quality Charter School.  With this selection came the opportunity to apply for a grant for expansion or replication.  The goal of this grant is to create more “high quality” schools for the students in the state of Minnesota.  You can learn more about this possible opportunity by watching the State of the School address from March that is posted on our website.  More information and opportunities to share feedback will continue to be posted on the Eagle Ridge Academy website.  There will also be a survey coming out to the entire community in the near future.  As the Board contemplates this endeavor, they would love to continue to get feedback from the community.  Please consider sharing your thoughts at any scheduled meetings or becoming a member of a task force or committee when they are formed. 

I announced in the Eagle Eye this week that the Lower School will start using a new Uniform Fix-It next week.  I would like to ask you to take the time to review the Lower School uniform policy on our website

http://www.eagleridgeacademy.org/studentsparents/uniforms

On the new fix-it, any deficient areas will be highlighted or circled and we ask that you sign it and return it to school.  If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Our re-entry into school after spring break was a busy week.  It is that time of year when many activities and field trips are planned.  One activity/field trip took almost a year in its planning by Mrs. Ortgies.  The Eagle Ridge Academy Lower School students involved in Choir Club after school and the 7^th-12^th grade students taking choir in the Upper School had the privilege of singing the National Anthem at the Twins game on Wednesday.  They gave an excellent performance and were able to stay to enjoy the game on a beautiful Minnesota spring day as a reward for all of their hard work.  A big thank you to Mrs. Ortgies and all of our fearless chaperones that day!  Here are a few pictures from the day thanks to Mr. Shively.

I will post more activity and field trip pictures next week!

Have a wonderful week!

Mrs. Baier