Fall is here at Pacem
Week 4!
Settling into routines and rythms of the year
Thiss week has been a little quiet around here. No big field trips or guest speakers which is actually perfect. I think we needed a week of normal rythms after so much fun! We did have a couple students come and visit to see if Pacem might be the right place for them so keep an eye out for some new faces around the building! Please share the word of how great we are!
In this week's Pacem Pages:
- Updates and volunteer needs.
- Scenes from last Week
- Important Dates and Reminders
- Classroom snapshot
- Family and Teen Resources
Building Community!
- Volunteer needs:
- Pacem Wish List: We now have a wishlist for school items to make it easy to donate - https://giftlist.com/l/CV4qKywqZZ
- Driver - Cemetary workshop on 10/15 @ 3:00pm
- Parent Circle Support! - Parent Circle is an important part of our learning community. We need someone interested in helping coordinate this circle and I can put you in contact with our parent circle representative, Liva Coe!
- Running Club driver on Mondays from 3:15 - 4:45 - Contact Nick - nick@pacemschool.org
- Camping trip drivers - We will need some parents to help transport students to the campout on October 8th and quite possibly an overnight chaperone. Details coming soon.
- 20th Anniversary planning- Some parents and teachers met last week and will have ongoing jobs for folks that are interested in helping out. Please contact Ryan if interested!
- School Happenings!
- Thursday workshops:
- October 1, 1-3pm — Meet the New Makerspace with Paul Wallich (Pacem teacher and makerspace maven) — Learn about Pacem’s makerspace tools—3D printers (one that can print objects in clay), a laser cutter, a vacuum former, sewing machines, a quilting frame, small mobile robots, and motors and electronics for creating and programming simple gadgets—and get to try out one or more. $25 for part-time students, included in full-time tuition
October 8, 1-3pm — Two great choices, both free to all enrolled Pacem students:
Origami with student Ben Zandstra — Whether you are an experienced origami maker or new to the Japanese paper folding art, come learn to make some cool new creations!
OR
How to Be a DM with student Tiana Ballenger-Moysich — In this workshop, you'll learn how to create a functional party, run a good session zero, and establish campaign expectations. I'll also go over different types of campaigns, tone, and how characters and the DM can work together to make a good story.
- October 29, 1-3pm – 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, 10/15, 1-3pm. Included in full-time tuition, $25 for part-time enrolled students, $35 for students not currently enrolled. $10 materials fee for all participants.
- Pacem All School Campout! - We are excited to go camping again this year! This is a long running Pacem tradition and we hope you can join us. Details and registration link is HERE
Chemistry!
Tiana's story will be performed at Bridge Side Books in Waterbury!
I asked her to give me a short explanation of the story and this is what she said "This is a story about a woman who lives in a small town and has the same routine every day, but as her life begins to degrade around her, she realizes that something is watching her from above. The townsfolk begin to act strangely, and she becomes convinced that the moon is watching her. Cards begin to arrange themselves into patterns, old photos develop into pictures of her from above, and her mind begins to feel like it isn't her own.......
Check out the event at: https://bridgesidebooks.com/events/5874620261024
All School Campout!! October 8-9
Events, field trips and visitors this month and next
Here are some important dates. These include field trips, class visitors, fire drills, community events and more:
September 30th:
- Immunization records due to Ryan (full time students)
- Explorations class field trip to Seven Days
- We will be celebrating our September birthday with a birthday treat made by Amelie's mom Brooke Northcutt!
Thursday October 8-9: All School Campout at Kettle Pond with a hike to Owls Head. Details and registration is HERE
Monday, October 12th - NO SCHOOL, Indiginous Peoples Day
Tuesday, October 13th, 6-8pm: Community Song Circle and Potluck with Yasi Zeichner
Monday, October 26th, all day - All School field trip to Nick's sawmill. Learn how a tree becomes lumber!
Curriculum Snapshots: Explorations Language Arts and Literature
Jenni’s Explorations class has been exploring journalism as part of learning about nonfiction writing, which has included some great real world community connections. A professional journalist from The Bridge came in last week to talk about what it takes to write a news story. This week, to help prepare for putting together a class newsletter, the class will be visiting the offices of Seven Days in Burlington to learn about what jobs and tasks are involved in creating a newspaper. Jenni writes for The Bridge and has been taking a journalism course herself, and this is a great example of how Pacem’s curricular flexibility allows teachers to bring our outside interests, skills, and connections into the classroom—to the benefit of students!
The Equinox here!!
I have been surprised every time I see a colorful fall leaf on the ground. Somehow it feels too soon to be fall, but the equinox cannot be denied. We have officially entered the transion from light to darkness and it won't be long now before we are both leaving and returning to home in the dark. I have been thinking of the nature of cold weather as we make this transition and from a scientific perspective "cold" is simply the lack of kinetic energy in the space around us or in an object; the faster things move, the warmer they are. To me this is feeling like an invitation to slow down and schedule less. Students will want to sleep more (adults too) and yet our life schedules don't allow for a natural human slowdown so this is something we have to intentionally offer ourselves. Living in Vermont we know the nature of the seasons and autumn is a training ground for the slowness of winter. It is okay to conserve some energy and we may even be more productive if we do!
Happy equinox everyone!
Ryan