Plum Trees at Lewis...

Friday was one of those warm and sunny spring days that brings a smile to just about everyone. From my office I heard voices through my open window and looked out to see Mr. Hansen's students out on the front lawn reading, and enjoying the warmth and sunshine. The front lawn of our school, Lewis Elementary, enjoys the shade and beauty of seven plum trees. Last week Mr. Hansen and I were talking and he asked about the history of those trees. Ms. Heinlein, a retired Lewis teacher who occasionally subs in our building, was in the building working and she gave us a bit of background on the trees. They were planted in 1987 as part of a project by a teacher, Mr. Light, and his students. Planted at the base of each of those trees are daffodils, that were planted by Ms. Heinlein and her students.

It is nice to reflect a bit and think of  those that came before us and the work they did to make the school we have today. 




Playing around with Meerkat

Using Meerkat to live stream our recent drama production...

Using Meerkat to live stream our recent drama production...

Meerkat is a smartphone app that allows anyone to publish live video from their phone to the web via their Twitter account. When a session is initiated in Meerkat, a tweet is sent from your Twitter account to your twitter followers announcing the live stream session, along with a link to the live stream. A stream of tweets associated with your live stream is then superimposed on your broadcast screen, allow the broadcaster to interact with her audience via twitter posts.

On Thursday night we used Meerkat to live stream our Lewis Elementary School Drama Club production. The purpose was two fold. First we wanted to experiment a bit with this technology, and secondly, Mr. Colvin, who helps with our Drama Club, was unable to attend the performance because he was visiting his ailing father. He was able to sit at his mom’s kitchen table and watch his students perform. We also had another 10 Twitter users following along. 

"A great job tonight by our cast, orchestra, and crew. #lewis #twitter"

We plan to use Meerkat to live stream future school events. Also am thinking it could be used for just in time professional development. For example, one of our teachers, Pamela Kennedy, has a lot of requests from teachers and schools, asking her to come and talk about classroom design. I'm thinking this might be a nice, low friction, method of having her share her room with others, and answer questions about her classroom set up. Maybe we will plan for one of these after we return from spring break.

Historical Character Day

Yesterday at Lewis, we held one of our monthly Spirit Days. Spirit Days are designated days where we encourage students to demonstrate their creativity and individualism by dressing based on a theme. Yesterday’s theme was “Historical Character Day.” Students were encouraged to dress as a famous character from history. We had many students take part and many cleaver and interesting characters visited our school. Follow the link below some images from Historical Character Day...

Teacher Workday

Friday at Lewis Elementary was a teacher workday. This day is set aside for teachers to work on planning and doing other such administrative work needed to prepare for the sending home of student report cards.

Ms. Layman and Mr. Hansen also took some time to head over to Peerless Pattern Works to make ping pong paddles for our PE program.  

Dr. King Day of Service at Lewis Elementary

On Monday at Lewis Elementary School, we celebrated the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with a school holiday and our annual day of service. We invited families and students to come out to the school and help clean up our school garden. We had a great turn out and got quite a bit of work accomplished. We would like to thank the many volunteers for their work today and also thank Kathleen Witter for her work leading and organizing the day.

Dr. King day at Lewis Elementary...

Dr. King day at Lewis Elementary...

A Tour of Room 17 at Lewis Elementary School...

Pamela Kennedy ( @pamelakennedy17 ) is a 3rd grade teacher at Lewis Elementary School. Through donations and repurposing, she has created an engaging and flexible learning space for herself and her students. The video below offers a quick tour of the various spaces and seating options for students. Since this video was first produced, she has added 3 nooks to her classroom, providing additional spaces for students to work. They are pictured below.

A tour of Pamela Kennedy's 3rd grade classroom at Lewis Elementary School in Portland, Oregon. http://lewiselementary.org http://mskennedy17.wordpress.com/

timlauer's photo on Instagram

Nooks in Room 17