Support Great River School

Over the next two weeks, you will see emails and posts emphasizing the importance of giving to support the unique learning opportunities and life-changing experiences that define the Great River education, from Montessori educational materials and athletic equipment to food for classroom pets and camping gear. There are many ways to support Great River:

  • *Become a monthly sustainer (sustainers make the biggest impact by providing a consistent and reliable source of funds!)

  • *Give a one-time gift *Check with your employer about matching gifts— some employers also give monetary gifts based on your volunteer hours

  • *Collect Box Tops for Education

  • *Shop using Amazon Smile (the program is active through the end of this month)

  • *Volunteer—your time and talents are important contributions All of our giving options can be found at https://www.greatriverschool.org/give.

Please consider how you can contribute to our giving community. We encourage families to participate at the level they can afford.

Blue Heron Bash 2023!

Blue Heron Bash is just around the corner and you're probably looking for a fun, entertaining way to support the school and to build the GRS community! Consider hosting a Great Gathering this year!

Great Gatherings are fixed-price social events that bring people together while raising money for our school. We are looking to add new hosts and experiences. Please consider hosting an event as a fun way to connect with other GRS families!

Examples of Great Gatherings from the past included family events like pancakes in the park, brewery tours, back yard movies, or puzzle and game nights; parent-only events like wine and cheese, themed dinners, a moms weekend at a cabin; and workshops -how to make kimchi, woodworking, yoga. Host by yourself, or co-host with a friend or two! Really, any opportunity to get together can be a Great Gathering!

Here's the google form to register your gathering idea -we'll be offering the gatherings for folks to sign up to attend at the Blue Heron Bash, but you can plan your event for any time in the next 12 months.

https://docs.google.com/.../1jAlwTjMmfu3eNDR9izoG.../prefill

Questions? Ideas? Feedback? Email greatgatherings@greatriverschool.org

Heron's Nest Updates and Information - February

Heron’s Nest

"At Great River School, we believe that food is a connector. The food we eat not only nourishes our bodies, it reminds us of people and places, it connects us to the land." 

Thank you to UMN student Molly Farrell for showcasing the amazing work Mel and the rest of the Heron crew do on everyday here at Great River School. Molly highlights our focus on sustainable food systems and supporting students to build culinary skills in our kitchen.

Her fellow UMN intern Sylvia Michael created culinary curriculum posters to be used in GRS's experiential kitchen courses. 

Click here to read a reflection from Molly on her time at Great River and to learn more about how you can support Great River students building culinary skills in the kitchen! 

Just a friendly reminder, don’t forget to pre-order lunches each week for your students. When you pre-order your student’s lunches, Mel and the staff in the Heron’s Nest Kitchen are better prepared, and are able to ensure the right amount of supplies are ordered. In addition, it helps the Heron’s Nest Crew know how many students will be having lunch on any given day.
Need breakfast in the morning? No problem! The Heron’s Nest also has Breakfast options available for students and faculty. Breakfast is available to pre-order on the School payment portal.

Check out the Quarter 3 menu Below:

11th and 12th Grade CAS Internships

written by Lindsey Weaver, IB Math Guide

Anika Overvoorde and Isaiah Benti-Novotny, Grade 12, student interns at U of M Horticulture Labs

Picture by Professor Julie Grossman

As you may know, 11th and 12th-grade engage in on and off-site CAS (Creativity-Activity-Service) experiences on Wednesday afternoons. CAS Wednesday experiences are experiences interning, working, or volunteering within Great River School or another organization.

We want to highlight some of the organizations and internships our students are involved with. Here is a snapshot! 

  • Art Studios in Saint Paul

  • Bee Lab at U of M

  • Bell Museum

  • Best Buy Teen Tech Center

  • Brassa

  • Cahoots Coffee

  • Chipotle

  • District 10 Community Council

  • Horticulture Lab at U of M

  • Feline Rescue

  • Forestry Lab at U of M

  • GRS Internal Internships: Ceramics Studio, Community Meeting Crew, Student Wellness and Equity, Community Service Club, Elementary Classrooms, Theater, Newspaper, Grounds Crew, and Zine Production

  • GRS Community Dog Care

  • Hamline-Midway Library

  • Listen Up! Radio

  • Loaves and Fishes

  • Loppet Foundation

  • Macalester College and Concordia St. Paul Strength and Conditioning

  • MN State Representative, Kaohly Her

  • Red Balloon Bookshop

  • Robotics Idea Lab at GRS

  • Saint Paul School of Northern Lights

  • SAP Pre-school

  • Science Museum of Minnesota

  • St. Thomas University Science Labs

  • United Hospital in Saint Paul

  • YMCA Midway

Number Fluency and the Mathematical Mind

written by Bailey Taylor, Otter Tail guide

The human mind is inherently mathematical. Mario Montessori described mathematics as the ‘second language of man’, and the word itself comes from the Greek word ‘to learn’. Creating order within the mind is the developmental imperative of the elementary child, and it is through work that is naturally precise that the child builds up the powers of reasoning and imagination, or abstraction. 


Montessori children understand not only the process of an operation, but why it is so, because they have explored it with the materials, and when a child discovers these patterns for themselves, it is a joyful experience.  For example, elementary children are positively tickled when they find that fraction division results in a larger quotient than the number they began with, while division of whole numbers will always equal a smaller one. 

It is this creative repetition that results in what we call number fluency, which means a child can think flexibly about numbers, much as they would if they grew from parroting foreign phrases to the mastery of a new language. Any of us who have experienced learning a new language know how taxing it can be to carry on a conversation while decoding or translating each word or phrase. A child with mathematical fluency will revel at the patterns in cubing, but the child who is skip-counting their way through the first term in the formula will not have the same opportunity. 

The last few years have challenged our children’s natural construction of the mathematical mind, and this fall we have had to get creative as we both build back fluency and continue to explore complex patterns with numbers. In upper elementary, we have focused on automaticity with operations. Like everything we do, we have approached this task with the developmental characteristics of the elementary child in mind, and what does a child love more than a challenge and a race against time? This winter Great River students have been experimenting with completing as many facts as they can in three minutes, and throughout the work cycle you can hear children exclaim to their friends “time me again, I think I can get a few more on this one!”  

You can look forward to hearing about how this work is going for your child in their upcoming progress report, and we should continue to invest our precious time and energy in the development of fluency both at home and at school this year, so that everyone has the opportunity to experience the joy that comes with the construction of the mathematical mind! 

Midsummer Night's Dream Theatre Intensive, Thurs., Feb. 9, 2023

Theater Intensive is back for 7th and 8th grade families! This year we will be putting on Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Like last year we are splitting the students into three cohorts, each cohort consisting of about 40 students working over the course of five weeks. Students will participate in the Theater Intensive during Humanities/Occupations time (9:45-11:10) and on Wednesday afternoons.

Theater Rotation 1
January 17 - February 14, 2023
Performance Date: February 9, 2023
2pm (for GRS students) & 6pm (for families)

The Play

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a play with a great many themes: magic, misunderstanding, dreams, but regardless of the production, cast or vision, the theme of love is one that cannot be ignored. Additionally as one of Shakespeare’s conceptually lightest and most overtly magical works, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a ball of endless possibilities when approaching it as a director. My goal as a director is to highlight love as an overarching theme across each different plot line within the story, and for each of our three productions to approach the story’s magical elements with an entirely different lens of understanding. Most importantly however, my goal as a director is to create a rehearsal space that my actors are excited to express themselves in and bring ideas of their own as well.

And…introducing Hawken Paul, Theater Director!

Originally hailing from New York City, Hawken moved to Minnesota in 2020 after graduating from St. Olaf College with a Bachelor’s of Music Degree in Violin Performance. Currently a Twin Cities-based teaching artist and actor, Hawken has performed with Sidekick Theatre, Off-Broadway Musical Theatre, and the Guthrie Theatre, and has taught with the Children’s Theatre Company, and the Minnesota Institute for Talented Youth. Hawken is super excited to be making his directing debut with Great River School, and is looking forward to introducing this timeless story to the next generation of young actors!

Looking forward to seeing you all at the show!

Volunteers Needed!
We need your volunteer help! Here's your chance to get an inside look at the shows and all the amazing work that goes into each production. It's also a great way to fulfill your 20 volunteer hours for the school year. Parent volunteers are an essential part of a success for our students. Sign up here to help, and thanks for making GRS such a wonderful school! 

Click here to Volunteer!

Meet our Great River Staff: Gina Kuhn

Gina Kuhn is Great River School's first Adolescent Program Assistant! Providing daily support for students and staff of the adolescent program, Gina is on the move all over Great River! She works hard to assist teachers and classrooms and enjoys collaborating with the administrative team. This semester, she is looking forward to continuing to facilitate logistics for the theater program. You might just find her checking in directly with students throughout the day or helping to plan key experiences.  Let’s get to know Gina!

Biography provided by Gina Kuhn, Adolescent Program Assistant

Having grown up in the Mojave desert, I naturally developed a profound respect for and connection to the immense wilderness of the sky. This deepened through the years and instilled a strong desire to live in close connection with the wildness of the Earth and stars. It is through a deep curiosity and love of learning which compels me to live with immense reverence and gratitude for all of nature, plants, and our human connection. I am a small business owner and belong to our community as an herbalist, writer, dreamer, song carrier, water protector, educator and mother. 

Working intimately with plants and medicinal herbalism has guided me to engage in a lifelong journey of exploration & growth. I have been studying plant medicine since 2009 where I first attended The North American Institute of Medicinal Herbalism in Boulder, Colorado. Although the plants have taken me many places alongside many teachers, it was upon relocating to Minnesota where I found a certain familiarity with the rhythm and spirit of the land. This beckoned me onto a quest for lost memories of the once wild spirit and awoke an ancient remembrance of how to be in direct relationship with the land and the plants that grow around us. It is here where I discovered the magic of living in such close proximity to the wild waters of Minnesota and found the importance of protecting the waters and the wild places of the Earth. 

My life has been a patchwork of passions in which I have been able to combine my background in education and my passion for the natural world to create many opportunities to lead with this heart work.

A diverse work history has led me both inside and outside of the classroom. I found an immense interest in supporting childhood development working as an Early Childhood Literacy Specialist early in my career. My time with The Wellness Initiative in Boulder, Colorado allowed me to spend my time in the most meaningful and joyful way; public school outreach bringing kid’s yoga programming into after school care programs. Here in the Twin Cities, I have enjoyed facilitating child-led nature walks for parents and preschoolers with Free Forest School. Highlighting wild exploration and unstructured play and discovery in nature for young developing minds. 

  In 2016, I started my business, The Ever Wild Herbal Company, to share my medicine making and work to help connect & empower folks on their journeys to develop unique ways to be in connection with the land and plants around them. It has been my privilege and honor to continue this work and help inspire youth to find and embrace a deeper connection within themselves and with our wild collective. 

A little more about me:

I value the relationship between ourselves and nature and strive to support all of us to be in a more meaningful relationship with the land. 

I am passionate about creating mindful & positive influence through learning and being an advocate within our community. 

I believe that we all have individual experiences and interpretations to share and learn from. These interactions are what bring us together cooperatively in our collective experience.

I am very interested in the power of owning and speaking one’s truth, which I find for myself through singing, dreamwork, teaching, and earth-based living. 

February 2023 Head of School Message

written by David Núñez, Interim Head of School

Dear GRS community,

As I am sure you are all aware, February is Black History Month!

What you may not know about is the work going on at Great River around equity and inclusion and some of the resources we use.  Like our entire community, our school is a place that is fraught with all the real challenges of racial justice in our time and place, here in the United States in 2023.  We know, as educators, that this fight is the work that is set before us, one of the most, if not the most important educational issue of our time.

Of course, here at Great River, we also believe that we should be celebrating and uplifting all identities throughout the year.  But in the case of Black History Month, Women’s History Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and other such celebratory events on our calendar it's a great time to sharpen our focus and these events are a great opportunity to have some very real conversations.

One of the current projects at Great River is the creation of an Equity Action Plan.  We’ve spent the last few months examining the results of last year’s equity audit and a team of educators and parents have been working with Equity Alliance MN to create an action plan for the school.  This plan is intended to drive forward concrete action in our community and also to be the cornerstone of our new 5-year Strategic Plan.

Also this year we have revamped the Student Wellness and Equity role at Great River to be our Equity and Inclusion Facilitator, a full member of our Leadership Team.  If you haven’t had the chance to meet or talk to Jordan Samejima, feel free to reach out to him.

A couple key reminders around Black History Month I share every year with the staff I work with are: 

  • This month is about celebrating and taking pride in the contributions of Black people, they should not use this month as the one time of year to bring up slavery, segregation and oppression.

  • They should not only teach about MLK, Rosa Parks, and other heroes the students have heard about again and again, if this is what the staff know about Black History they should be actively broadening their knowledge.

  • Staff should be teaching Black History with a lens on intersectional black identities.

Here at Great River we have a collection of resources that faculty use and share and Jordan and I will be sending weekly communications to staff this month with reminders and further resources.  Here are a few of the materials and articles we’ve compiled as a community, if you’re interested:

I am truly looking forward to celebrating this month with you and our entire GRS community. 

If you have any questions, concerns, ideas to add to our staff resource list, or comments, please let me know!

“The histories, stories, and voices of Black people should be centered, honored, and uplifted in school curricula every day. Today, we still see the absence of Black history and experience in most textbooks, required readings, STEM, and overall curriculum of our educational system. 

Unless Black history is taught throughout the year, it perpetuates an “othering” of Black Lives and Black students, and is also a manifestation of anti-Blackness. Ensuring the ongoing integration of Black history and experiences throughout all curriculum is imperative as educators continue to uplift every student and reinforce that Black Lives Matter every day.”

Source: https://centerracialjustice.org

Peace,

David

Holly's Huddle - February 2023

Written by Holly Bell, Director of First Impressions

Want to know what I think is fun? The silent auction part of the annual Blue Heron Bash celebration; this year the party is on Saturday, March 18th. I absolutely LOVE the silent auction because I get to learn about people and their hobbies. People sew quilts. People knit or crochet hats/scarves/mittens, etc.  People make jewelry and mugs or bowls. Others donate services - like cleaning, for instance! People paint and make art. People build furniture and birdhouses. People use all of their creative talents to share in the auction to raise money for our programs at GRS. What is the most creative thing you’ve made? Wouldn’t it be fun to donate an item to the silent auction for others to bid on? Just imagine how much your object will sell for! One of the best things (in my opinion) to bid on is artwork made by a student. You can see on the wall in my office that I adore art made by students.

I have a couple of silent auction strategies that I’ll share with you - if you promise not to use them against me. Once I “won” a vending machine because of my first strategy: be the first to bid on an object that no one else had bid on. (I sometimes feel badly for donations that don’t get bids.) Sometimes it seems like just one person needs to start the ball rolling for more bids to show up. Another strategy I use is to have a total dollar amount limit that I can spend - and keeping that in mind and to sticking with that number. It’s easy for me to outbid others when there’s something that I really want and I just need to keep my limit in mind. I have to struggle against the competition of the “game” getting the best of me. My third strategy is to make sure I see every item available for the silent auction. Sometimes the true treasure is just beyond the corner! Another strategy I’ve heard about is that many people “win” their bid by standing right next to the bid sheet (or by hovering over the object on-line) so that they’ll know right away if someone outbids them. Do you have strategies to win items at a silent auction?

Have you ever heard of the saying that one man’s junk is another man’s treasure? Silent auctions remind me of that quote. Maybe I’ve made something that I don’t particularly like or it’s not as beautiful as I had imagined. I could donate the item to the silent auction to see if someone would bid on it. Every little bit helps the school in the long run. Take a look around you to see if there is something you could make or donate to the silent auction. Let’s get lots of variety available! I’m taking this weekend as an opportunity to gather things together before the sale starts. How about you?

On we go,

Holly

Meet our Great River Staff: Aja Parham

Aja comes to Great River from the American Heart Association, where she worked as a Development Coordinator in Michigan before moving back to her home state of Minnesota. Aja is new to Great River this year in her role as Communications Coordinator. She is working daily on finding ways to improve the past communication processes, and discover ways the communication between the GRS community and the School can best serve the needs of all our families at Great River! She has some great ideas and is excited about 2023! She is looking forward to knowing more about Great River through her role. Get to know Aja!

Biography provided by Aja Parham, Communications Coordinator

Hi there! My name is Aja, pronounced [Ay-zhuh] and if you ever need help remembering or pronouncing my name, my parents named me after the 1977 titled album “Aja” by Steely Dan. I may be biased, but it is a pretty great song :-) Take a listen here: Steely Dan's "Aja"

I joined Great River in August and was thankful that the former Communications Coordinator set me up for success in my role. Since starting I have learned more about the GRS community, the history and it makes me so happy to be in an environment where everyone helps out as a community so all others can succeed. As the Communications Coordinator, I plan to get a better understanding of what the GRS families and faculty need to better communicate the great things going on at GRS. I love writing as well as learning new things so I am happy to be here in this role.

My Background
After graduating from the University of Minnesota with a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance, I went on to perform with the Minnesota Opera, Skylark Opera, Penumbra Theatre, and the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts. After a time, I rekindled my love of Jazz, R&B, Funk, and Motown, and started performing as a freelance vocalist throughout the Twin Cities. In addition to performing, I have taught voice lessons since 2010.

In addition to being Communications Coordinator, I am mom to 1st year student, Asa in Minnesota River. Asa, also new to Great River, is excited everyday to go to school, has learned so much, and is very supported here. I love the fact that he is thriving and comes home everyday wanting to talk about friends, activities, and those adults that have helped him throughout the day. He loves it here and I look forward to watching him grow in the GRS community.

Lastly, on top of being a mom and being Communications Coordinator, I am also all things entertainment! I am a singer, voice teacher, actress, vegan baker, photographer and a Photoshop and graphic design enthusiast. Singing since I was little and both singing and acting professionally since 15 years old, music is very important to me. I like to bring creativity into each of my workplaces, so you may catch me at my desk listening to or humming any number of songs. Currently, I’m a freelance vocalist often singing with various artists and groups in the Twin Cities. If you like live music, try to catch me at some of my shows in the Twin Cities singing with the Capri Big Band, Kashimana Ahua, Lake Harriet Bandshell, or The Twin Cities Jazz Festival. In addition to performing, I have been a clinician for 3 years and co-conducted a Vocal Jazz workshop in 2014 and 2015 with the former Dakota Jazz Foundation for Education.  If you want to know further about my music, please catch me in the halls of GRS.

For some fun things about me, please check out my websites below:

Babyshopped website (My Graphic design + website)
https://aja-parham.squarespace.com/

My Youtube Channel: Aja Darrah
https://www.youtube.com/user/babyleontyne13/videos?view_as=subscriber

Holly's Huddle - January 2023

Written by Holly Bell, Director of First Impressions

Happy New Year!!

Have you ever heard about a challenge that a friend is dealing with and you’re not in a position (financial, in this case) to help? It requires some brainstorming. You may have heard about this, but I have a co-worker (Nat Lutterman) who is working on such a challenge. Nat pays our bills at Great River School - a crucial role for the school. She has two dogs; and one (the littlest, and oldest at 3.5 years old) is having problems holding food down. He throws up frequently throughout the day (and night). I love animals - that’s not breaking news, I know. And I feel like humans must be advocates for animals. 

HA! My sister jokes about how I love animals so much that I birthed a veterinarian. Now THAT’S funny! Sure, my son had a good idea about what he wanted to be when he grew up… from about the age of 3, but he certainly didn’t verbalize that at birth. Wouldn’t it have been funny, though, if when he was born that he and I were in cahoots so specifically about his future? She also jokes that I have so much animal magnetism that when I go outside, squirrels stick to me. THAT would be silly - and frustrating!

Back to Jupi (Drops of Jupiter), Nat’s dog. Isn’t he cute? I want to know what’s keeping him from digesting his food properly. I know (from birthing a veterinarian) that tests are NOT cheap - for humans or pets. And, I know how important Jupi is to Nat. I believe that pets are part of the family, like children from another mother. I imagine that some people love their pets more than they love some human family members, but I don’t want to huddle about that. I finally thought of starting a GoFundMe for Jupi’s medical expenses. He’s got a BIG test coming up on January 12th at the U and it’ll be pretty pricey. (It’ll be all over by the time you are reading this huddle; I’m crossing my fingers that some answer will be found.) I’m pleased to see that as the word gets out, that we’re getting closer to the goal I set. Please spread the word with me. I thank you.

So what can you do to help a friend who maybe hasn’t got the resources to help themselves? You can brainstorm with them about solutions to the challenge. You can talk to other people who might know more about strategies than you do or who maybe have more experience with the specific challenge than you do. I think that asking for help from others is always one way to move forward to help your friend. However you decide to help your friend, your support will be noticed and remembered by them. And supporting friends feels pretty good! That saying about “It takes a village...” is true for more than just raising children.

On we go,

Holly

January 2023 Head of School Message

written by David Núñez, Interim Head of School

Dear GRS Community,

Welcome to the new year!  Coming out of a long break followed by two snow days means we’re all just getting back into our routines, but I know we at GRS are all excited that the students are back and I think deep inside they’re happy to get back into it as well!

I wanted to share with you all that the staff has been doing some work around Key Experiences this month.  In the fall, the Leadership Team was discussing why we do these trips and we realized that with all our new staff we could use some community time talking about why these trips are so essential to who we are as a school and a community.  Also, we want to get a jump start on planning next year’s trips!

The Leadership Team started this exploration by putting together a list of the reasons why we think that Key Experiences are such an important part of what we do.  Then, in December, the entire staff gathered together to talk about the “why” behind our Key Experiences and now, in January we are starting the planning for the remainder of this year’s experiences and trying to get into the planning for key experiences for the Fall of 2023.

 Here’s the “why” we came up with as a team:

  1. Pedagogy of Place - Our key experiences are important because we are able to learn from the places we go to launch and enrich our curriculum.

  2. Shared History - Here at GRS students take the memories of their key experiences with them both as experiential learning but even more so as a shared history that they all hold as a community.  It builds our culture as a school and allows us to build something new together.

  3. Social Emotional Learning - Our Key Experiences build the relationships between guides and students, and between the students themselves.  During Key Experiences students engage every moment in problem solving, learning to interact and be together, work in a team, bond, and resolve conflict.

  4. Independence - As follows directly from Maria Montessori’s writings, removing a child from their regular surroundings and their families helps build their independence as they construct their own learning in a new and unique situation.

  5. Interdependence - Also a tenet of Montessori learning, when students appreciate that they are an interdependent part of a larger system with others and with place they grow and learn about their world.

  6. Rising to a Challenge - These trips build resilience in our students by helping them move out of their comfort zones.

  7. Connection to the Outdoors - We as a community value the experiences and skills in the outdoors that students gain from these trips. Also, these trips allow some students who might not otherwise have it gain access to the outdoors.

  8. Observations - Adults are able to observe and get to know students in a way that will help us set the students up for success throughout the year.

  9. Building Confidence and Valorization of the Individual - Students get built up and see themselves as a valuable aspect of our community.

  10. And finally, Having Fun!

I’m also excited to share, if you don’t already know, that our 3rd year students will be going on a key experience trip to Eagle Bluff Environmental Center for a 2-night stay from May 31-June 2 for the first time this year!  This trip will be designed to help prepare our 3rd graders for a five day Key Experience in their fourth year.  We are all really excited to be including 3rd graders in our Key Experiences and know that they’re going to have a great time!

I hope you are all staying warm this winter.

Peace,

David

Congratulations! 12th Grade IB Diploma Students complete their Extended Research Projects!

Please join us in congratulating these 20 seniors on the completion of their IB Diploma Extended Essay Research Projects! We have included a list of the amazing research questions studied and what their authors are most proud of below. Take a look at all the Class of 2023 - IB Extended Essays

If you see them, tell them congratulations!

December 2022 Head of School Message

written by David Núñez, Interim Head of School

Dear GRS Community,

December was a short month with a long break here at Great River.  I wish you all a wonderful break and hope that you all got to spend some time together and celebrate in whatever way you and yours might celebrate!

Winter Break also means that we are getting close to the mid-year point as a school.  The semester ends on January 27th and so winter break is also a great time to check in with your student, particularly if they are in the adolescent program, and make sure they are on-track and getting all their work done.  If you’re concerned, reach out to their guide after break and help your student make a plan with them to get on-track!

Looking back at the year so far, one of the biggest challenges the field of education is facing right now, and we are no exception, is in staffing.  We have several full time positions open at Great River, but even more so we are looking for substitutes.  Those in the community who might be interested, or know someone who might be interested, should reach out to Maiya Yang, our HR Manager, and we can help you with the process.

Also 2022 we have been focused on recovery from the pandemic as a community.  This means social emotional recovery and academic recovery.  We spent a lot of time last year learning how to be together again in community and while we made a lot of progress we’re still doing that work everyday. In the area of academic recovery specifically, we are running programs such as our after school homework help and have invested in the hiring of a new reading interventionist at Great River this year.  While I know that recovering from this pandemic is going to take some real time, I also believe that we are making great strides with students every day.

Finally, if you did not know, we are deep in initial union negotiations here at Great River.  And while the process is a slow one, I am also delighted to report from my perspective that it has been a positive one.  We are working together on this first collective bargaining agreement Great River has ever had, and I remain truly hopeful that this document will bring about positive change for all of us.

Have a delightful break, Great River students, staff, and families!

Peace,

David

Holly's Huddle December 2022

Written by Holly Bell, Director of First Impressions

Have you been “counting your chickens before they’re hatched”? Or dreaming about something with “all the bells and whistles”? Maybe, during Winter Break, you’ll find yourself “tripping the light fantastic”? But have you ever “fiddled while Rome burned”?

What? Have I picked up a new language? Actually, I was just browsing through the Scholastic Dictionary of Idioms by Marvin Terban, 1996. In a way, it reminds me of a time when my daughter was younger; we used to tease her about never going on a trip without her dictionary. My sister and I took both of my children to Alaska one August. What a fantastic time we had! When we settled in at a bed and breakfast that first night, I discovered that my baby girl (6 or 7 years old) had packed her picture dictionary in her bag. What a heavy load! And so precious! Unusual as it is, sometimes she and I actually enjoy leafing through reference books to learn new facts.

Earlier this year, I referenced a couple of different idioms (sayings with a different meaning when taken all together as a phrase instead of reading each word individually or literally) to a couple of different students. The first was “get your goat” (“to annoy very badly, to make a person angry”). My dad once handed me a small wooden goat figurine when I was upset and he said, “Holly, don’t let them get your goat.” I lived on a farm, but we didn’t have any goats (like we DO at Great River!). I didn’t understand him at first. Why would anyone want this little figurine? And what did that have to do with my anger? He explained the idiom to me and now I pass that wisdom along. Another idiom I talked to a different student about was to “get the monkey off of your back” (face the problem that’s been bugging you, understand it, and don’t let it bother you anymore). Once again, I gave a little plastic figurine (of a monkey) as a symbol to remember the idiom and it’s real meaning. Putting the message into an idiom adds variety to our understanding and retention of the information. 

Idioms can be a fun way to learn history - or to learn English. Are there some favorite sayings that are mentioned in your family? My grandma used to talk about her friend who always had a “bee in her bonnet” (crazy idea, or an obsession with an idea). THAT was a difficult one for me to figure out when I first heard it growing up. This book of idioms gives some history of how the phrase came to be, so it’s a fun way to learn.

You might know the meanings of the idioms I mentioned earlier. Do you think you could make up some idioms of your own that might be strong enough to carry on through the years? If you’re up to the challenge, over Winter Break, send your ideas to me and I’ll do my best to pass them along as I chat with people at the front desk. I’d love to help spread the word(s)! As for those initial idioms in this piece, the chicken one is about depending on a profit of some kind before you have the goods in your hands. The bells/whistles is about something that is especially flashy with high-tech features. To trip the light fantastic is to dance. And the one about Rome? It means “to do nothing or busy yourself with unimportant matters instead of taking action in an urgent situation. There’s a famous legend that in A.D. 64 Emperor Nero stood on a high tower and played his lyre (fiddle) while he watched Rome burn.” Now whether the legend is true or not is another opportunity - to research. Who was Emperor Nero? See how much you can learn from idioms?

Have a great Winter Break!

On we go,

Holly

Heron's Nest Updates and Information - December / January

Heron’s Nest

Just a friendly reminder, don’t forget to pre-order lunches each week for your students. When you pre-order your student’s lunches, Mel and the staff in the Heron’s Nest Kitchen are better prepared, and are able to ensure the right amount of supplies are ordered. In addition, it helps the Heron’s Nest Crew know how many students will be having lunch on any given day.
Need breakfast in the morning? No problem! The Heron’s Nest also has Breakfast options available for students and faculty. Breakfast is available to pre-order on the School payment portal.

Check out the Quarter 2 menu Below:

Key Experience: Widjiwagan

Written by Amanda O’Dowd, Shingobee River Lead Guide

As our mission states, Great River School is an urban Montessori learning environment that prepares students for their unique roles as responsible and engaged citizens of the world. One way that we achieve this is through our Key Experiences. 

The extended Key Experiences are one of the foundational places we create the environment that can authentically: build community, connect to nature, challenge ourselves, make memories, and learn in a different way than the classroom provides. They change at each level to allow for traditions to be created and meet the needs of each plane of children’s development. 

The Upper Elementary recently completed our 5-day Key Experiences! Half of us went to Wolf Ridge, and the other half went to Camp Widjiwagan. Both of the trips provided the students with the opportunity to experience new things and explore the world outside of the classroom. While the Key Experiences challenge students to step out of their comfort zone, these trips provide scaffolding for students to build new skills and independence that help to prepare them for the Key Experiences they will go on as adolescents while also preparing them for other life experiences. 

The trip to Widji was a huge success! Although the weather had been forecasted to be cold and rainy the whole week, we only had light rain during our closing campfire! Children spent the days in their trail groups exploring the Northwoods, paddling around Burntside Lake, cooking lunch over an open fire, and creating lasting memories. The evenings were filled with options to take fantastic classes with the Widji staff, play outdoor games, have a dance party on the beach under the stars, or chill indoors playing quiet games or doing handwork. There were even sightings of foxes and shooting stars! 

I am happy to report that the food was as amazing as I remember it being! The homemade meals were served family style, providing each table the opportunity to practice grace and courtesy at the table while sharing stories of their adventures throughout the day. It was definitely one of the many highlights of the trip.

I am always amazed at how these Key Experiences strengthen our community. It is a privilege to witness children overcome their fears, challenge themselves to try things they have never done, step up and care for one another, and be in awe of nature. This is a different type of learning that can’t be taught in the classroom but is experienced by being out in the world, working together, and learning from the land. 

Each child left the Key Experience with new independence and sense of accomplishment, and a plethora of memories that will be talked about for years to come.

Looking Back: Harvest Fest 2022

With a slight chill in the air, GRS families gathered to celebrate the Harvest Festival on October 15th. With activities for everyone, families were able to learn more about Great River, meet other families and spend time just enjoying the brisk fall weather.

Activities included face painting, making apple cider, caramel apples with an assortment of toppings, a cauldron-cooked Stone soup, cotton candy and a freezer blast. Students also contributed to the festival by selling handmade soap, and making bread to accompany the stone soup.

Thank you to all those that contributed time and supplies to make the Harvest Festival a memorable event.

See you next year!

Congratulations, Cross Country Runners

The cross country team has been in training since August 15 - putting in the miles, setting goals, and achieving personal records.  On Tuesday, October 25 the season concluded with the Sectional Meet at Highland Golf Course in St. Paul.  Three individuals achieved their personal bests on the hilly 5k course:  Liam Clark  20:38, Nora Weiss  28:57, and Zach Severy-Hoven   30:45.  

Fantastic races were also run by Nate Rahberg, Roy Buckner, Toby Micko, Sam Severt and Finn Ivaskovic.

Unfortunately, three of the runners were unable to run for the Sectional meet but contributed greatly throughout the season…Alma Ratliff, Lillian Keitel and Murphy Gavin.

CONGRATULATIONS ON A SUCCESSFUL SEASON!

*Photos:  Training included early runs on Saturday mornings at Como Lake.

Attendance Policy, Processing, and Accuracy

Steps to ensure the best accuracy of your student's attendance record throughout the school year are as follows:

1. If your student is going to be absent, late, or require an early dismissal from school, send an email attendance@greatriverschool.org. Please include the following: Student name, classroom (if elementary), and reason for the absence, tardiness, or early departure.  The Arrival/Departure Change Form can be used for late arrivals, early departures and changes in departure.

2. Robo-texts are sent daily at 9 AM to alert families if their student was marked absent at the beginning of the day.  This system is most important when families believe their students are in attendance, but the student has not arrived to their first period class. You will receive a robo-text if your student is tardy and even if you have reported your student’s absence. We have also programmed a robo-text for upper adolescent absences to Wednesday afternoon CAS. 

3. SIgn-In/Sign-Out: No matter the reason, students are to sign-in and/or sign-out on the front office iPads if they arrive late, or if they are leaving school. This lets us know whether the student made it to school or left campus. Students must get a pass from the front desk if late to school.

4. Early Dismissal: The best way to let the school know your student needs to be released early is to complete the Arrival/Departure Change Form. This form is for any time your student’s end-of-day plans will be different than usual, including an early dismissal. 

  • Elementary - just fill out the form by 2pm. School staff will work to make sure the elementary student is brought to the front office and ready for pick up when you arrive.

  • Adolescent - fill out the form.  Your student should also stop at the front desk to pick up an “early release” pass. This pass should be given to the guide at the time of departure and the student can sign out at the front desk. 

A caregiver may also request an early departure by hand-written note, email, or phone call. For adolescents, the students must stop by the front desk prior to 8:30 to pick up their pass no matter the method of reporting. Students must always have caregiver permission to leave early.

It is extremely important that you plan ahead as much as possible for early departures. Especially with adolescent students, it can be a challenge for us to track down a student quickly for unexpected departures and you may have to wait for us to get them to the office.  We want to avoid this stress for both families and office staff. 

5.  And finally, a reminder from the dean:

Questions regarding the attendance policy should be directed to the Dean of Students, Matt McElrath at mmcelrath@greatriverschol.org.

For more regarding our attendance policy, please read more here.

Thank you for your partnership in improving the processing of attendance and accuracy of your student's attendance records.