Week 8 - Duct Tape and creativity
Week 8!
"This is the most fun I have ever had at school!"
We have been having fun and learning a lot at Pacem this week. It doesn't hurt that the weather has been absolutely fabulous! A quick reminder that this newsletter is the primary way that we share school information. Not just fun stories of your kids being awesome (which is my favorite part) but also important school information, permission slips and offerings. Please read the newsletter each week so that you don't miss out on important info. I try hard not to consolidate information here and not email everyone during the week because we all have enough spam in our inbox these days.
In this week's Pacem Pages:
- School Happenings and volunteer needs.
- Scenes from last Week
- Important Dates and Reminders
- Classroom snapshot
- Student Culture updates
- Family and Teen Resources
Building Community!
- School Happenings!
- Halloween Party!! 10/30, 3:45-7:00- Our students have been hard at work planning a Halloween party for this Friday (10/30).We have lots of fun activities planned, including games, crafts, possibly a costume contest, movie watching (Kiki’s Delivery Service), and a potluck. Sign up here so we know how many are attending
- Costumes on 10/30 - Students (and teachers) are welcome to wear costumes to school on Friday, October 30th as long as they don't become a distraction.
- Caregiver Conferences, First week in November- Last week we sent out mid-semester updates from all of our teachers. Your student's advisor (or an assigned faculty member for part time students) will be reaching out soon to schedule conferences for next week. Keep an eye out for that email and we look forward to connecting with you about your amazing student.
- Family Game Night! 11/12 6-8:00pm- Join us for a Pacem family game night on November 11th. We plan to hang out an play some board games, card games or whatever sounds fun. This is a casual evening of snacks and building community around games. Settlers of Catan anyone?
- Thursday workshops
Growing Oyster Mushrooms with Ryan Johns — Learn how to grow oyster mushrooms at home! We will learn how to prepare buckets, sterilize our growth mediums and set up the mushrooms to grow all on their own. These will be skills that you can replicate at home and the class will include discussion and demonstrations about other mushroom growing techniques as well. Finished oyster buckets will remain at Pacem for our students to use in culinary projects. Thursday, 10/29, 1-3pm. Included in full-time tuition, $25 for part-time enrolled students, $35 for students not currently enrolled. $10 materials fee for all
- Other Upcoming Workshops (tentative):
11/5 Graphic Design in Canva with Jenni
11/12 Intro to Fan Fiction with Aaron
11/19 Nail Art with Alex Yahm-Halberg
- Volunteer needs:
- Caregiver Circle Support! - Parent Circle is an important part of our learning community. Can you help coordinate this circle? I can put you in contact with our parent circle representative, Liva Coe!
- Pacem Wish List (6 items purchased so far, whoo hoo! Thank you!): Our wishlist for school items makes it easy to donate - https://giftlist.com/l/CV4qKywqZZ
- 20th Anniversary planning- Please contact Ryan if interested!
- Organization Master! - Our storage room needs a serious overhaul. Any organizers out there that want to dig in?
- Marketing Team support! - Contact Ryan for details on how to be involved - ryan@pacemschool.org
Duct tape workshop was a success!
Non Fiction Comic Festival - Featuring teacher Jenni!
Jenni will be at this years non-fiction comic festival on November 14th at the Fletcher Free Library in Burlington! You can find more information here https://www.nonfictioncomicsfest.org/
It would be super cool to show Jenni some love by showing up and seeing some of the awesome art that she makes when she is not here teaching our students.
Play reading in Global Literature
Events, field trips and this month and next
Here are some important dates. These include field trips, class visitors, community events and more:
Monday, October 26th, all day - All School field trip to Nick's sawmill. Learn how a tree becomes lumber!
Wednesday, October 28th - Birthday treats for October birthdays. Happy birthday Tiana!
Friday, October 30th, Time after school TBD - Student planned Halloween party!
November 23-27 - Thanksgiving break - NO SCHOOL
Student Circle
"'Give 'em an inch, they'll take a mile' turns out to be true primarily of children who have only been given inches in their lives.” - Alfie Kohn (author and lecturer about education, parenting, and human behavior)
In Student Circle, we give our students as much autonomous decision making power as we can, while providing some boundaries around safety, Pacem’s mission, etc. As the teacher representative, I try to make sure my voice is just one among many. Consequently, rather than pushing at those limits, students more often take responsibility for looking out for the community. Recently, Student Circle decided to use this power to plan a Halloween party, and I have been so impressed with the care and inclusiveness that guided their planning. They thoughtfully chose a movie they judged suitable for our full age range (consulting a trusted website for reviews), planned a quiet room with chill crafts for people who get overstimulated, and emphasized bringing potluck dishes that take various dietary restrictions into account. Their goal is clearly to host a party that will be fun for everyone, not just the planners. We hope many of our students will come join the fun on Friday at 3:45!
I wanted to mention just a few things that have been coming up recently at school and that we have been or will soon be discussing with the students. We try very hard to create an atmosphere of support and inclusivity at Pacem and our students consistently rise to the challenge of treating each other kindly and with support. However we all need reminders and adolescence is a complicated time where emotions rise to the front of conflicts and patience can be hard to access. This week I will be chatting with the kids a bit during morning meeting on Wednesday to see how they think it should look when we are really and truly including each other and our differences in our games in a way that makes everyone feel welcome. How it feels when we are respecting school property (and NOT writing on the desks!). And I hope to hear some of their strategies for how to maneuver peer dynamics when they are feeling annoyed or frustrated with each other. These are conversations that you can be having at home as well if you find the right moment.
Thanks for being amazing!
Ryan