More Outdoor Classroom at Lewis

On Friday the concrete floor of our outdoor classroom at Lewis Elementary was poured. Helping with this effort were Lewis parents, Antonio Chavez, Ed Sisson, Darcie and Reed McIntosh, and Gregory MacNaughton. The group worked into the evening to set and finish the concrete and the result is a great looking floor in our outdoor classroom space. 3rd grade student Antonia helped us document the work and you can view some photographs she took over at Flickr...

Technorati Tags: Lewis Elementary, Outdoor Classroom

Outdoor Classroom at Lewis

Last spring we started to create an outdoor classroom space at Lewis. We got as far as the structure itself, but still needed to pour a concrete pad and also finish the roof. This spring we were awarded a grant to install an eco roof/green roof on the structure and plan to do so later this spring. This left the pouring of the pad which we anticipated would cost about $800 when all was said and done. Finding the $800 was proving to be a problem, that is until last Thursday. It turns out that Lakeshore Entertainment is in Portland filming a movie titled Untraceable. One of their sets is in the Lewis neighborhood and they needed a place for cast and crew to park their cars while filming this week. Since this week is spring break in Portland, it worked out that they could use our parking lot, and in return they have made a donation to the school that will cover the cost of the concrete and pumper truck. I have rounded up a few of our parents who know how to pour and finish concrete, so this afternoon we will finish framing the pad, and tomorrow afternoon the concrete truck is scheduled to show up around 3:00 and we will pour the pad.

Jott.com - Mobile Note Taking and Hands-Free Messaging

Jott.com - Mobile Note Taking and Hands-Free Messaging:
Jott allows you to call a phone number, and leave a voice mail message that is then transcribed into an email and sent to you or to others. Great for to-do lists and such, especially for stuff I want to remember later, but don't have time to write down at the moment. The messages come as text with a link to voice message. I'm impressed with how well it transcribes your voice message into text. With a little creative filtering in my email I can organize reminders for home and for work. Also you can easily import your address book into Jott and use the service to send messages to others just by calling a number, saying the recipients name, and then recording the message. Jott transcribes the message and sends it as an email or a text message.

Technorati Tags: Jott, voicemail

Lewis Drama Club

On Friday evening and again on Saturday, the Lewis Elementary Drama Club presented their their production of A Hairy Tale. Under the direction of Mrs. Keefer, Mrs. Ross, Mr. Jamesbarry, and Ms. Padellford, the students put on a great show. Also helping with the production was Michael Wehrli, our drama teacher in residence, part of our Artists in Residence program supported by our annual Run For the Arts. Our Drama Club meets weekly starting in January and then puts on their production right before our Spring Break. Students from our Orff Ensemble perform all the music, and parents, teachers and other community folks volunteer their time helping with things like costumes, sets, concessions, and general organization.

www.flickr.com

Technorati Tags: drama club, lewis elementary

Netequality.com

While several cities are involved in high profile wireless initiatives, including Portland, an organization called Netequality is working to provide access using a different approach. Today GigaOM has a report ( Really Plug and play WiFi ) about the marketing of low cost routers and repeaters that are being used to provide access to apartment complexes and neighborhoods. Netequality have come up with a plug-n-play version of Meraki’s wireless mesh router, that can be plugged into a power socket. This is an interesting and low cost approach to providing access. Basically a mesh network that shares an Internet connection. On the Netequality web site they document several of their current projects.

I am very interested in playing around with this and have ordered one of the plug-in devices, along with one of their routers. When I have it set up I'll post an update.

OnePipe: the Single-Button Generic Feed Filtering Bookmarklet

OnePipe allows you to create custom RSS feeds of sites based on a keyword or phrase through a simple bookmarklet. There are several sites that allow you to create filtered feeds, but this tool allows you to create them from within your browser and without any type of login or registration. Combined with text message alerts, you can create a system that alerts you when a particular web site posts about a specific topic or term. The post linked above outlines several possible scenarios for using this tool.

By way of Lifehacker...

Technorati Tags: onepipe

Garden Work Party at Lewis

At Lewis we are fortunate to have adjacent to the building a garden area we call the Outdoor Center. This space provides an outdoor classroom for our students and a garden area where students grow vegetables and other plants. Today was a very nice day in Portland and by chance we had scheduled a work party in the outdoor center. About 12 parents and students showed up and spent the time weeding, cleaning out beds, and helping haul wood chips and dirt. Below are a few images from the work party.

www.flickr.com

NCAA Bracket

Oregon Public Broadcasting Report on the TESA Mess

Oregon Public Broadcasting has an interesting report on the dispute between Vantage Learning and the Oregon Department of Education...

Ed Dennis is Oregon's deputy schools' superintendent. He says the extra bills came after Vantage learned it was going to have to compete against other companies, to renew its contract through an RFP -- or "Request For Proposals" process.

Ed Dennis: "Vantage suggested that if the RFP process went away -- if they didn't have to participate, they suggested that would be a good thing. When we said that wasn't the way the state works, then, they produced this $2 million in back invoices."

Dennis says that's also when the technical problems started.

Technorati Tags: TESA, ODE, Vantage Learning

News Release - Oregon Department of Education

News Releases - Oregon Department of Education:
The Oregon Department of Education (ODE) announced today that all Oregon schools will use paper-and-pencil assessment tests in math and reading for the remainder of the 2006-07 school year. This action is necessary because ODE's contractor for TESA, Vantage Learning, has declined to continue performing services required under the contract. ODE exhausted every option to continue with TESA until the end of the school year. ODE is working with the Oregon Department of Justice to explore its legal options.

Below is a screen grab of what you find if you visit the TESA page. The page that schools used to log into the system for testing.

By the way as of this posting, Vantage Learning still notes TESA and the work they did for the Oregon Department of Education as one of their "Success Stories".... From where I'm sitting, thinking of administering paper pencil tests to my students, it sure does not sound like one.

Technorati Tags: TESA, Vantage Learning