Forestry Occupation Practices Tree Ascension

written by Ava Van Brunt

The 7/8 Forestry Occupation went on an outing to Foresters Day at the University of MN on April, 19th 2019. Students started their day with a Pancake Breakfast at the Skok Hall with U of M Forestry students and faculty, then had the option to participate in tree ascension with the TAG (Tree Ascension Group).  

A note about tree climbing and forestry. In addition to being fun and contributing to physical fitness, elements of tree climbing include opportunities to develop analytical thinking, improve knowledge and appreciation for natural resources, as well as build self-esteem and a sense of accomplishment. Additionally, tree climbing introduces young people to skills and professional development opportunities in urban forestry and arboriculture.

Ascending a tree is no easy task, but the result is rewarding and the experience is overall pleasant!  In order to climb I needed the following, a foot and hand ascender, helmet, sturdy rope, and a harness.  Once I clipped myself I to my harness, I pulled my rope down through the ascender and thrusted my hips upward.  I repeated this until I reached my stopping point, then I relaxed my grip on the rope, allowing myself to descend.  Through this experience, I was able to gain knowledge on something I knew little about. As well as broaden my mindset on what it means to study a tree.  I would strongly recommend trying tree ascension to future students in the Forestry Occupation!

National Public Radio GRS Student Podcasts

IB Testing: Tips & Tricks

written by IB Coordinator, Melanie Peterson-Nafziger

IB exams begin May 7! Students' IB scores are a combination of internal assessments (e.g. presentations, portfolios, labs, interviews, research papers, performances, etc.) that students complete with their teachers during the school year and external assessments (e.g., May IB exams and some other presentations or papers) that are graded entirely by IB examiners from across the world. These are moments for students to showcase their content knowledge and critical thinking skills. 

IB students taking exams, what can you do to best prepare yourself for this exciting and sometimes nerve-wracking culminating experience? Read on for tips for the next month. 

1. Before Test Day

• Study more—a lot more. It may seem obvious, but insufficient study time is one of the biggest underlying problem for students who suffer from test anxiety. The more times you do something, the easier it will be to do.

• Practice positive thinking. The desire to avoid failure is a very poor motivator. To prime yourself for success, you must learn to banish negative thoughts. Think, “I will do well on this test because I have studied as much as I can and because I know what I need to do to be successful.”

• Sleep well and eat well. Few regular activities have as much of a bearing on stress and anxiety levels than resting your brain and eating well. Take care of yourself always, but pay extra close attention in the days leading up to the test. Exercise too! 

2. On Test Day

• Arrive at school a half hour early (or at home) and do some sitting meditation in the garden or elsewhere (optional). Listen to the meditation audio on your phone athttp://www.fragrantheart.com/cms/free-audio-meditations/self-esteem/easing-study-and-exam-stress! Breathe! Practicing some form of meditation or deliberate relaxation helps you to control your breathing, your heart rate and your thought processes. Focus your practice on calming yourself—by dismissing unwanted thoughts, refocusing your mind and controlling your breathing.

• Stand in the power stance in the hall before you enter the room! Hands on hips and feet spread apart, or feet spread apart and arms above head. Sounds silly yet research says it helps you perform better on the exam!

• Don’t study. If you’ve studied well beforehand, you shouldn’t need to study on test day. A nice review would be helpful to jog your memory, but you’re probably not going to learn a lot of new stuff on the day of an exam. You may make yourself anxious, however, by worrying that you’re not ready. 

• Prime your brain. Be very thoughtful about what you eat and drink, what medicines you take, etc. For example, if you eat too close to a test, your body may focus more energy on digestion than on thinking. But being hungry won’t help either. Eat something healthy one to two hours before your test. Think about words like "powerful," "competent," "organized," "prepared," "efficient," "ready," "resilient," "strong," and "intelligent" before you enter the room.

• Visualize success. Fill your mind with affirmation. Remind yourself that you have done everything within your power to be ready, and that you will be successful as a result. Picture yourself answering the test questions with ease. Accept that you will do well, and that you have nothing to worry about.

• Engage in a brief expressive writing activity immediately before taking an important test, which research shows significantly improves students’ exam scores, especially for students habitually anxious about test taking. Simply writing about one’s worries before a high-stakes exam can boost test scores. It does it by more than 10%, and it’s quick and free (Ramirez G, Beilock, SL., 2011).

3. During the Test

• Remind yourself that it’s only a game. Remember, tests don’t cause anxiety. The anxiety is your creation, and you can control it. Try regarding your test as a puzzle, there for your amusement only. Sure, you’re trying to score points—but it’s only because winning the game is more fun than losing.

• Begin with a short private affirmation—a kind word to yourself—and a few relaxing breaths. Remind yourself one last time that you have done everything you could to get ready, and now you’ll do all you can to succeed.

• Skim the test during the 5-minute reading time—but only if you think you can. Some people find skimming a test—to jog your memory and identify easier questions—is a helpful strategy. Others find that scanning a test makes them nervous. It’s a good idea, but it’s not for everyone. Decide whether this practice will help you.

• Don’t stay stuck in the mud. Don’t let yourself struggle with a question. Give yourself enough time on it to try to jog your memory, but then move on to the next one. Remind yourself that even as you answer other questions, your brain is still searching for the answer to the one you skipped. Answering other questions while waiting may just help jog that memory.

More at: https://well.wvu.edu/articles/reducing_your_test_anxiety_is_as_easy_as_1_2_3

Little Elk River Does Math!

written by Little Elk River students Azalea Eischen and Lilah Kottke

Yami, Walter and Audra find the square root of 5,929.

Yami, Walter and Audra find the square root of 5,929.

In Little Elk River, we currently have three different math groups: Hypatia, Pythagoras, and Lovelace. Next year we will have four. They are all named after mathematicians. We are in Lovelace. Every couple weeks or so we have a set of 10-15 “problems” to complete, for lack of a better word. Right now the problems include measuring the interior angles of different polygons, cubing binomials, finding equivalent fractions, and adding/subtracting fractions with unlike denominators, and division with decimal fractions. We just started learning how to add positive and negative integers. Today we are going to learn about probability by picking colored legos out of a mystery bag. We’re not sure yet what that’s about. Slowly but surely, we are also working on filling in our Math and Geometry dictionaries. John gives us terms in sets of five and we have to try to define them. We will be able to take our dictionaries with us to the adolescent community when we leave Upper Elementary. 

Though the Lovelace group meets once or twice a week for presentations, or correcting the problems that we worked on independently, we are expected to do some kind of math every day. Sometimes that means choosing and making our own problems. We can make problems for our each other, too. We think that this math group is good because it help us to do math on a regular basis.  




How We Reduce and Reuse in Lower Elementary

written by Rachel Cupps, Minnehaha Creek guide

In Minnehaha Creek, we try to get creative with unwanted materials. We often find used cardboard boxes, leftover tin foil and excess laminate around the school. Rather than letting these items go straight to the recycling bin or worse the landfill we give them a new purpose in our work

Most recently, Minnehaha students created a gallery walk of mammal habitats. Students used everything from cardboard and yarn to laminate sheets and popsicle sticks to create a home for their mammals. Here is how some of our students got creative:

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Wiley used laminate to enable the audience to see his clay model but make it so they could not touch it.

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Will and Rain construct their habitats out of small pieces so there is enough cardboard to share.

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Claire and Lucio use yarn to add texture and vines to their habitats.

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Vivian and Victoria add details with paint.

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Everyone shares their hard work at the gallery walk. We learned about mammals and their habitats as well as how we can work together to be more sustainable for our planet. Next time you are going to the recycling bin why don’t you think twice and get creative!

ACT & College News

written by Teresa Hichens-Olson, College Accessibility

The ACT will be held at Great River on April 24th. Students should be here and ready to test at 8:30 sharp, having had a good breakfast. They should bring a working calculator with them! Quiet snacks and a water bottle are also encouraged. GRS covers all costs of this ACT test but donations are welcome to continue this free service. All Juniors will be dismissed early on the 24th after the ACT is completed.

GRS will also be offering an ACT study sessions on April 17th from 1-2:30pm in the UA commons. All 11th graders are encouraged to attend. Note that 11th graders will be taking the tests on paper & not electronically so your student should practice with paper tests. These tests are available at your local library & GRS counseling office. Feel free to contact Teresa with any questions that you may have at thichensolson@greatriverschool.org

Poetry Out Loud 2019

Poetry Out Loud encourages students to learn about great poetry through memorization and recitation. This program helps students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about literary history and contemporary life. Great River sent two students, Ryland Kranz & Briar Weston, to the regionals competition to recite with other students from around the Metro area. Briar went on to recite at the state competition, reciting with students from all around Minnesota!

iRace 2019 Summit

The eighth annual iRace summit was a successful community effort! iRace students, beginning in October 2018, planned, organized, and put on the all-day conference, bringing in outside community experts, activists, & artists to lead student workshops focused on this year’s theme - Raising Awareness: Intersectionality & Language. Our first ever student keynote speakers, Feneti Mohamed & Isaiah Randle spoke to both the lower & upper adolescent student bodies on their experiences being students of color at the majority white Great River School and how to move forward with grace & solidarity. A big thank you to all the parents and community members who dropped off food for our community potluck!

Pi Day 2019

Pi Day is a Great River tradition - recite ten digits of Pi on 3/14 and get a slice of pie!

This year, ninth grader Briar Weston recited 1,900 digits of Pi from memory, earning themselves a spot as one of the top reciters in the world! The feat took just over twenty minutes and the entire lower adolescent community sat in anticipation & awe of Briar’s memorization skills! To see pictures of everyone who recited Pi in front of the community, click here.

The celebration wasn’t just in the lower adolescent community - upper elementary students got in on the fun too. Classrooms baked pies and did circle exercises, learning more about the wondrous number that is Pi.

Reptiles in St. Croix

written by Liv May Anderson & Syris McBride

It was fun to have snakes in St. Croix classroom. I think that everyone liked touching the snakes. The species of snakes included a cornsnake, milksnake, boa constrictor, hognose snake, and bullsnake. It took five kids to hold the boa constrictor. I hope they come back soon.

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Shingobee Spring Update

written by Shingobee guide, Amanda O’Dowd

After a long hard winter, spring is finally here! In Shingobee we have done some spring cleaning and we rearranged our classroom. We have also been studying plants, trees, and herbs. We have had some special guests that have come to talk to us about their work in farming, herbology, and maple sugaring.  

Miles Rosenthal's mother, Courtney Tchida, visited our classroom to help us plant spring seeds that will be planted in our school garden and used in our cooking at the end of the school year. Her father, Dale Tchida will be joining our class to discuss how to make maple syrup. Hadley Musselman shared her knowledge of herbs with us, too: she helped us make tinctures and salves. Finally, a group of our students went to the Como Conservatory to observe the plants and visit the rainforest area.

All of our studies around plants have led to further investigation of lavender, chamomile, elderberry, valerian, and many other fun herbs! We are excited to watch the leaves return to the trees, the grass turn green, the flowers to come up and to grow our own food!


CAS Magic

written by Sarah Hansen, CAS Magic coordinator

This month, twenty-four 10th graders are leading CAS experiences for 7/8 graders as a part of the CAS Magic Program Leadership training program. CAS Magic prepares students to lead programming for younger students through an intense training process based on scripted activities aimed at cultivating mentor relationships and group bonding. All 10th graders led a one week session with 7/8 graders last fall and then planned four week sessions based on their own ideas this spring. Some examples of current CAS Magic Programming: Fort-building, Outdoor Games, Sharks and Aquatic Life, Podcasts and Crafts, Music: The CAS, Premier Pro and Acrobat Effects, and Ice Skating.

CAS Magic leaders have enjoyed getting to know the younger students and learning how to support following the norms in group settings. They have also appreciated learning how to design their own program and are more confident to lead their own CAS experiences in Upper Adolescent. 7th and 8th graders report that they have fun playing outside with the older students and they feel a stronger sense of community across the levels. They enjoyed learning new instruments and having a structured activity without adults around.

Tapestry Making - GRS Student of Color Affinity Group

written by Jenny Kordosky, coordinator of race & gender student programming

Hello, hello. Greetings from mid-school year!

As you know, this year Great River School is trying out holding monthly events for the student of color affinity groups. This month, we hosted regional artist Shoua Yang. Shoua is a print-maker with family ties to the Twin Cities. He is a Hmong-American artist who focuses on making keeping Hmong culture accessible and vibrant. Working with Shoua was fantastic - he really enjoys working with students and is so talented and passionate about his craft. He hopes to come back and work with Great River soon! Look for him potentially as a Great Gathering guest or teaching a summer camp!

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Shoua worked with 9-12th grade students on a tapestry over two days. Students designed and cut their designs into linoleum on the theme of how they feel their identity is connected to Minnesota. Students left with three prints of their own plus their linoleum cut. Additionally, students make three print on fabric which Shoua will sew into a tapestry for us to display at school.

6-8th grade students had a shorter workshop with Shoua, learning about the history of printmaking, checking out a variety of different kinds of printmaking techniques, and then selecting a design of Shoua’s to print for themselves.

Check out the great images made and mostly designed by students below!

Check out the beautiful design that Shoua made for us celebrating our school with our mascot, the Great Blue Heron!

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Check out Shoua’s website.

Take care!

Jenny






Bright Star at Great River School

In the spring of 2012, Great River put on its very first musical, Bye Bye Birdie. What a long way we've come since then! A tiny pit band of 3 has become one with 11 talented musicians, a performance space has gone from a shadowy warehouse to a blackbox theatre, and for the first time ever, we'll have two weekends of shows for audiences to enjoy.

The cast of this year's musical, Bright Star, has been hard at work since the middle of January, rehearsing daily after school some Saturday mornings, and even a long day on President's Day! Today we ran the second act for the first time. Our actors have blocked every scene and are working tirelessly to learn lines, songs, and dances. The pit band is doing their part too as they master some challenging bluegrass music. A saxophonist has become an autoharp connoisseur, our percussionist has added spoons to his list of instruments, and Zack Scott is both running pit band rehearsals and also playing a mean banjo. 

We've all fallen in love with this beautiful score and script written by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell. Bright Star is set in the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina. Moving seamlessly back and forth between 1923 and 1945, it tells the story of two young couples in love, an unexpected baby, and two writers seeking the chance to tell their stories and let others be witnesses to their truths. 

Tickets will go on sale next week. We hope you'll come and join us March 15-16 and March 22-23 in the GRS Performance Space. Details will be coming in the announcement blog!

GRS Montessori Model United Nations Trip to New York

By: Keira McNiff, Maia Oberg, Hayden Shay, Sofie Stumme-Hanson, Harper O’Dowd, Alex Jacobsen, Willa Taylor, Clara Thompson, Emmett Goss, Tamarack Brohaugh, James Williams, Vivian Turbak, Sahara Peters and Beena Reiter

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Last week our group of 25 5th and 6th-year students went to New York City to participate Montessori Model United Nations. We spent most of this year preparing for this trip. We had to research and write positions papers on our topics and prepare speeches to give to our committee groups. The topics that we had to learn about were real-world problems that we had to find solutions for.

GRS represented Croatia, The State of Kuwait, and the Russian Federation. We were joined by students from other countries and had to work together to write a draft resolution and then vote to make it a final resolution. We went to committee six hours each day. On our last day we got to go to the real United Nations and sit in the general assembly hall where the real UN delegates sit! Four GRS students were chosen to speak at the UN. This was an amazing experience!

While the work was hard, we had a lot of fun. We ate New York street food, we got to do the Macarena to Wavin’ Flag with Alexander Star, listened to 13 year old DJs Amira and Kayla and danced the night away!  We went to Central Park and played tag. We got to stay in a huge hotel called the Marriot Marquis in Times Square that had 45 floors and was next to the Hamilton theater! We had an amazing time and it was a life changing experience!



J-Term Preparations

written by Phoebe Kirchner, Front of House Manager

Hello all,

With all the cold we’ve had this week, and our performances moved forward a week, the 7/8 has been using this extra day to finish up task projects, polish up lines and blocking, and tie up loose ends.

On Monday we’ll be starting to tech our shows, and we’re all getting back into the J-Term mindset so that we can show off our shows next weekend!



PEG Meeting Recap & Volunteer Opportunities

(written by PEG ambassadors Rachel Damiani & Jessica Knight)

It has been a pleasure to get to know many of you at the Parent Engagement Group (PEG) meetings and work with you as volunteers. Thank you to everyone who has donated their time and energy so far this year!

This last PEG meeting was a great success! Donna and Ricardo described the goal of making GRS a zero-waste school! We're still far from that goal, but one important step is educating students and the GRS community about proper waste stream management. The school is being equipped with waste stations that include bins for compost, recycling, and landfill, and at the end of the day, students bring waste from those bins out to sort into the appropriate dumpsters. Donna and Ricardo have been supervising that process (with some heroic dumpster diving antics to entertain and educate students) and will looking for some parent volunteers to lend a hand with both end-of-day and lunchtime waste stream management going forward.

New school chef Leah Korger and School Nutritionist Jenny Breen answered questions about the new school lunch program and offered a tour of the gorgeous new kitchen, including food prep, cooking, and warming stations, as well as the walk-in refrigeration units. Sourcing, recipes and menus, and serving logistics are being finalized, and the new program will be rolled out gradually starting next month.

As we head into the second half of the school year, we'll be reaching out even more to make sure families feel welcomed, connected and engaged in our community. We also encourage you to reach out to your PEG classroom or level ambassador or email peg@greatriverschool.org anytime! 

Blue Heron Bash March 23rd!
Great River’s biggest friendraiser of the year, the Blue Heron Bash, is coming up on March 23.  This is a great time to meet other families & check out the new building all while raising money for exciting projects at school.  Check out our webpage for more information. Blue Heron Bash — Great River School 

Cook or Donate for the GRS Staff of Color affinity group
Please help the Parent Engagement Group support GRS’s staff of color affinity group by providing delicious food for their monthly meetings! We are looking for donations of main dishes, side dishes, beverages, and dessert on the first Tuesday of every month. Cooking not your thing? Cash donations and gift cards are also welcome! SignUp Genius coming soon, or contact Karen Solas at ksolas@gmail.com.

Be a Volunteer Judge for History Day Competition
Sarah Garton, our intrepid UA Social Studies guide, is seeking volunteers to judge our tenth grade History Day competition on Tuesday, Feb 12th from 8-11am. This year's theme is Triumph and Tragedy. Students are working on their exhibits, websites, research papers, documentaries and performances on a wide range of topics, and we'd love your help giving them critical feedback. Judges would need to arrive around 8am for orientation and will judge at least five different entries with 1-2 other judges between 8:45-10:30. Debriefing and conferring for who to recommend to regional competition should take until 11am. If you know anyone else in the community who might be interested, please pass this along + thanks for your support! Questions? Email Sarah Garton: sgarton@greatriverschool.org

Volunteers Needed For GRS Green Initiatives
The school is seeking volunteers to help with various green initiatives on campus including: help with sorting trash, compost and recycling during adolescent advisories, supervise sorting at lunchtime, research plastic bag recycling, write grant for recycling and plastic occupations, design and build 3 compartment stations for waste stream stations. Email peg@greatriverschool.org to get started!

Take the Bike/Walk to School Survey
The Parent Engagement Group (PEG) would like to know your thoughts about biking and walking to school! Even if your kids already bike or walk to/from school or if you would never consider it - we want to hear from everybody! Fill out this short survey and be entered to win a $25 gift card for Now Bikes & Fitness: https://tinyurl.com/GRSbikewalk

Find a Carpool Buddy!
Wouldn’t it be great to have a shorter drop off/pick up line, not have to drive to school every day, AND reduce the amount of carbon being emitted into the air? You can do all of this - and get to know more people - by carpooling! If you are interested in receiving a link to the ‘GRS family map’ to find other families who live near you and set up a carpool, email Laurie Sovell at -lasovell@yahoo.com

Elementary Book Fair Success!
The elementary classrooms have been enjoying their newly expanded libraries, thanks to the generosity of the GRS community. So far this year, families have gifted almost $1700 worth of books from elementary teachers' wish lists, and have earned another $1400 in free books from Usborne Books purchases. Our next in-person book fair will take place during spring conferences. 

And don't forget, you can purchase books any time via our Usborne representative's website, and 50% of sales will go to GRS through the end of the year! Just follow this link to browse and purchase: https://b6900.myubam.com/Event/1113756

Used Book Sale Volunteers Needed
PEG has heard some community interest in a used book sale. If you're interested in helping to organize these initiatives, contact us at peg@greatriverschool.org.

View our Sign Up Genius Page for additional opportunities!


Festivus (What is It?)

by Johan Hanson, class of 2019

If you’ve seen the 90s sitcom Seinfeld, you are probably familiar with Festivus. For those who don’t know, Festivus is a non-religious holiday that was created to avoid the pressures and commercialization of the holiday season. Adopted from Seinfeld, Festivus has become an annual event celebrated by the adolescent students at Great River.

It traditionally involves a slew of different activities but at the core of this GRS tradition is a potluck and an airing of grievances.

This year’s celebration also includes an improv off, a hackey sack off, and a faculty and student karaoke. The event is being planned by student leadership in coordination with school leadership.

Students will be asked to contribute to the communal potluck! In the morning, between 8:00 and 8:30, students can drop off their contributions to the Festivus potluck in the upper commons (room #277). We will have access to a refrigerator for storing food, but not a freezer. Also, since we do not have access to ovens, dishes that need to be kept warm should be brought in a crock pot or other electronic food warming device. The potluck assignments by advisory are as follows: 

  • Abby – Main Dishes

  • Anni  – Main Dishes

  • Sheila – Beverages

  • Zack – Allergen conducive alternatives (vegan, gluten free, peanut free)

  • Caroline – Appetizers

  • Lindsey  – Desserts

  • Mike – Chips and Dip

  • Sarah G  – Fruit

  • Ocean  – Vegetables

Unfortunately, due to our polar-vortex mini winter break, Festivus needs to be rescheduled! (Administrative note: likely for February 28th, 2019) The student leadership team has been working hard to make this celebration happen, and their determination and planning will indeed be rewarded. Look for future communications from the school for more details.

Crow Wing Newsletter Articles: Construction & Physical Expressions

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GRS Construction   
(by
Willa Henkemeyer, fourth grade)

Recently, Great River School (GRS) has undergone construction. I mean a lot. For example, we have a new gym (see Vincent’s article), a new cafeteria, and a whole new wing of the school. All the construction has taken many months.  Some parts have taken much longer than anticipated.

Because GRS has been having construction on the cafeteria and kitchen, students have had to eat in other locations, which really doesn't matter except the fact that there has not been any hot lunch. But by the end of February all the students will have a hot lunch option!

When GRS was building a new gym, the students were having P.E. outside. Some of the students didn't  like to have P.E outside because we had it outside into winter. But now students are in the gym.  Many students feel warmer and happier to be in the gym for P.E.

Since GRS has added on the new part of the school, classrooms have been changed to different areas of the school, which has taken some getting used to. All the original parts of GRS are still there, but just with added construction. GRS has only recently finished painting the school.

It's been exciting watching the changes!

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Physical Expressions
(
By Vincent, fourth grade)

Recently Great River School (GRS) got a new gym. The gym was supposed to be used when we came back from winter break, but it was a little after that because the flooring took longer than anticipated.

I interviewed Seth the gym teacher and asked questions like “What's it like to be a gym teacher?” he answered “Challenging and rewarding at the same time.” He has enjoyed having Eric, his new co-teacher, around for teaching and if something goes wrong.  Right now, the elementary students have been learning Kali sticks, these are sticks where we follow a pattern and focus with our whole body.

Personally I like when we have PE in the gym because it's getting colder and I don't want to freeze. Ok, that was a little dramatic, but it is getting colder- and cold weather during gym for 45 minutes right after recess can be dreadful.