Week 7! Planning Fun
Week 7!
Halloween Party planning, apple testing, cemetary tours, song circles and cat visitors. Just another week at Pacem.
It has been a really fun week. We had a cat visitor follow Margo to school, a group of students planning a Halloween party and Nick embraced the fall with a study of apples! Our song circle was a success with ballads and tasty treats. Add in a tour of the Montpelier Cemetary and you have the makings of a pretty great week!
In this week's Pacem Pages:
- Updates and volunteer needs.
- Scenes from last Week
- Important Dates and Reminders
- Classroom snapshot
- A note about Pacem Water
- Family and Teen Resources
Building Community!
- WE NEED CARBOARD BOXES! - This Thursday workshop will require a good amount of cardboard. We are in need of your big boxes. Please send them in if you have some.
- Volunteer needs:
- Parent 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 (4 items purchased so far, whoo hoo! Thank you!): Our wishlist for school items makes it easy to donate - https://giftlist.com/l/CV4qKywqZZ
- Running Club driver on Mondays from 3:15 - 4:45 - Contact Nick - nick@pacemschool.org
- 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! - Samara and I met last week and we have a fun start on some great ideas! But, we need help so please contact Ryan for details on how to be involved - ryan@pacemschool.org
- School Happenings!
- Owl Banding night at North Branch Nature Center - Friday, October 23, 8-9:30pm at North Branch Nature Center. All students are welcome to join North Branch naturalists as they collect, weigh and band Saw Whet owls. This is a really fun night of up close and personal owl action!. This is a free event and will be limited to 20 participants. Sign-up and permissions form is here - https://form.jotform.com/262833138073154
- Thursday workshops
Duct Tape Armor and Other Duct Tape Crafts with Pacem student Maverick Peterson and teacher Rebecca Yahm — Creativity + Duct Tape = All Kinds of Things! Just in time for Halloween, Maverick will teach us to make armor. There will be instructions available for a few other duct tape crafts, and students will be encouraged to teach each other what you know how to make. Thursday, 10/22, 1-3pm. $25 for part-time enrolled students, $35 for students not currently enrolled. Materials fee for full-time students is $7 (because we’ll need lots of duct tape!).
- 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.
- November workshops will likely include Graphic Design in Canva, Intro to Writing Fan Fiction, and Nail Art. Details will be available soon.
Ben Z Haiku request
Along with/instead of/in addition to this, I would love if you could think about one word that describes community and any other thoughts you want to share on the subject. I want all perspectives, all ages, and all ideas. If you want your name with your submission, that would be great, but no pressure. Your age would also be much appreciated but not needed.
To submit something, either email benz@pacemschool.org or fill out this Google form: https://forms.gle/jY8DejVEDL2f1P8F8
Future Veternarian
This is Anne Zabriskie and you can bet that someday you might bring your pet to her for care. Anne is a new middle school student at Pacem this year and has jumped in with both feet! She is happy to be here and motivated in a way that is rare for someone her age. Recently Anne has started volunteering with the Mitzvah Fund with their mobile veterinary care program. She is favorite buddy of Freya and we are so glad she joined us this year!
Apple Science!
Events, field trips and visitors this month and next
Here are some important dates. These include field trips, class visitors, community events and more:
Friday, October 23, 8-9:30: Owl banding program for Pacem at North Branch Nature Center
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
Chemistry
Last week was a full one but the thing that I most want to share is what I observed when watching our Halloween party planning committee on Tuesday. I was just a fly on the wall as a group of students independently organized themselves to help plan a school party. They listened to each other, shared ideas and designated responsibilities in a way that most adults find difficult to do. It was really impressive and in the end, they are moving forward with a really fun party! These kids are amazing.
I also wanted to share a quick note about the drinking water at Pacem. There are rumors going around that the water in the taps is unsafe to drink. This is untrue. We have had the water professionally tested and in addition to that, our science class independently tested the water as part of a unit. All results show that the water passes every test we have thrown at it. Many of us are lucky to have well water at home so maybe it is the taste of city water that is making people uncomfortable. Yes, there is a slight chlorine odor in the water and that is really just proof that our water safety technicians are doing their job. We live in a country where we can drink water safely from the tap and that really is a special thing. Bring water bottles to school full of whatever water you want to drink but if you run out, there is no reason to go thirsty at Pacem!
Ryan