Lewis Elementary
This year we are working with Songwriters in Residence Rick Weiss and Kate Finn. They have been working with our 4th and 5th grade students. Each class has worked collaboratively to write and then record a song. They also have been working to create album art and liner notes for a CD that will be produced. If we get additional funding, we will also provide this experience to our 3rd grade students.
http://instagr.am/p/lOJzy/
Reed College student Li Zha leads a chemistry lesson with Ms. Jen's 5th grade students. Li is the leader of the Reed College Chemistry Outreach program. The program is modeled after the Reed Biology Outreach program. Both programs provide Lewis students with the opportunity to learn science with Reed students. We thank Reed College for their continued support of these programs.
Ms. Kennedy's classroom has a new reading bench, compliments of her husband Craig. Over the past two weekends he built the bench and it is now placed in Room 17. He did a great job with the finish work, and he experimented a bit to get just the right shade of stain so that it matches the existing 50's era woodwork. Ms. Kennedy plans to utilize the area as a reading corner providing a comfortable area to get lost in a good book.
One of the best features of iOS 5 on the iPad is the ability to project your iPad 2 screen wirelessly to a display via AppleTV. This is accomplished via Apple's Airplay technology. The AppleTV has an HDMI connector so, basically you just plug your AppleTV into an HDTV and your can wirelessly project your iPad 2 screen on the TV. 
This is great if you have an HDTV, but most classrooms do not. This is where the HP HDMI to VGA converter comes in. It is a small attachment that has an HDMI connector on one side, and a VGA adapter on the other. This allows you to plug an AppleTV into a data projector that does not have an HDMI connection. The connector will pass the video, but audio will not pass through. We only have one projector in our building with HDMI and ideally this is the best way to do this, since you get video and audio, but for most of what teachers want to share, being able to pass the video image will be very helpful. The HP HDMI to VGA converter is about $40 and available from HP. An AppleTV will set you back bout $100.
Our 5th grade students have just finished two weeks of bike safety classes under the sponsorship of of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance , Safe Routes to Schools and the City of Portland .
Today our 5th grade students took part in a neighborhood ride where they were able to put into practice the skills and safety rules they have learned over the past two weeks.
At Lewis are very happy to have musicians Kate Finn and Rick Weiss working this week with students in Mr. Colvin's 4th grade classroom. Through a grant, Kate and Rick are working with our 4th and 5th grade students to provide a songwriting residence experience. Students work in groups to write songs on a theme. Mr. Colvin's students have chosen the theme of animals. The experience will culminate with a recording session where the student songs are sung and recorded. Each student will receive a CD with the entire collection of songs. The files will also be available for electronic download to MP3 devices and iPods. Mr. Marchyok's students will be working next month with Kate and Rick, and our 5th grade students will work with them in January. We are grateful to Kate and Rick, and their grant underwriters, for providing this great opportunity to our students.
At Lewis we have two cob benches that were built by students under the direction of natural builder James Thomson. From time to time they need a bit of maintenance and a new coat of plaster. Today Mr. Thomson, along with an assistant, visited the school to make some repairs to our oldest bench, and also apply a new coat of plaster.
In preparation for their visit to the Reed College Cooley Art Gallery, Gregory MacNaughton visits with 3rd grade students at Lewis Elementary. I had the opportunity to observe Gregory deliver his presentation in our 3rd grade classrooms. He does a great job of sharing his excitement for the gallery and the opportunities it provides our students to visit and interact with a world class college.
Our 5th grade students have started bike safety classes this week. They will be working this week and next learning traffic safety and safe riding techniques. We thank our friends at Safe Routes to School and the Bicycle Transportation Alliance for their help and support with this program.
Bicycles arrive….
On October 21 we held our Fall Community Dinner. Over 150 members of the Lewis community joined together in the Lewis cafeteria to share a meal prepared by Chef David Anderson of Genoa. We thank David and the folks at Genoa/Accanto for their generous support of Lewis. Also we would like to thank all of our parent, staff, and community volunteers who made the event possible.