Lent School

THE LENT ADVENTURERS

WELCOME TO THE HOMEPAGE FOR KEVIN MUIR'S SECOND GRADE CLASS
ROOM 109 LENT SCHOOL 2009-2010

"MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD, NOW."

COMMUNITY, CONNECTIONS, GROWTH

Finale--"Earthalerth!"--2008

The Big Idea...

Greetings! Welcome to my class page. Genuine education comes through participating in life and making a difference. My second graders live life now and exercise their right to participate in society. Community is a key idea. My students become a functioning community among themselves and are also connected to the wider community.

So how does this happen?

As much as possible, our work has implications beyond the classroom at the level of school and beyond.

This means that we go out into the world, and we invite the world into our classroom.

To this end, we invite you as individuals, groups and businesses to take a stand with us for our education and community by becoming our partner.

Going out into the world...

Adventure trips this coming year include: Willamette Jetboats, Elk Rock on the Willamette River, Ape Cave at Mt. St. Helens, Sauvie Island School and the Pumpkin Patch, Timberline Lodge and the Bridge of the Gods, Multnomah Falls, A.C. Gilbert Discovery Village in Salem, Rafting on the Deschutes River. Follow this link for pix of these amazing places: Adventure Trips

Other outings include: Franz Bakery, the Oregon Zoo, a performance of "A Christmas Carol" at Portland Center Stage, a performance by Oregon Children's Theater, Magness Tree Farm.

In December we will sing at Pioneer Place and at a nursing home.

We regularly share our writing at spoken word extravaganzas in our classroom and out in other public venues. This coming year we will hold three poetry slams at Le Sorelle Cafe (Thanks to ever-enthusiastic proprietor Kelly Brouner!)

We regularly donate to local charities. We generate this money through taxes levied on ourselves as part of our class economy. We need business partners to make this happen. This is a very cool and easy way to partner with our class with huge benefits to our community and our learning.

We conduct a year-long food drive within our class for the Oregon Food Bank.

We will march in the Jr. Rose Festival Parade in June, 2010, possibly involving a float, stilt walking, huge puppets, or some combination of these.

The Lents Neighborhood...

We are particularly interested in developing relationships within our own neighborhood Lents. We will visit a number of local businesses this coming year, including The Rising Koi store, Le Sorelle Cafe and the Professional Karate School. We will work on social/environmental issues in our community. This could involve work with Metro or the City of Portland Bureau of Environmental Services.

We are looking for partners to sponsor our Adventure Trips--please consider contributing to the cause!

In the Classroom...

Much of my curriculum is tied to the outings listed above. As such, these trips are a serious and major part of our learning this year. Through our preparations for the outings, we will deepen our understandings of math, writing, reading, social studies, science, and public speaking. However, we do more traditional sorts of learning activities as well. Kids still have specific benchmarks to meet in reading, math and writing. So,

Please consider coming to our classroom as a partner volunteer--there are many possibilities for involvement, including:

Working with individual students on writing, reading and math. Very simple and critically important. Many students need more one-on-one attention throughout the day than I can give them. Your presence can make a huge difference.

Leading a group of two students in a simple, exploratory workshop. Ideas include sewing, carpentry/mechanical stuff, electricity (simple motors, circuits, light bulbs), gardening, instrumental music (I have many instruments available). Ideally, these workshops are once a week throughout the year. Remember, these are only second graders, so you yourself don't need to be an expert.

Background checks for volunteers are required by the State. The form is simple to complete. I can help you with that.

• Our Financial Supporters
• The Wider Community In Our Classroom
  • Guests:
  • Regular Volunteers:
    • Jennifer Priest
    • Hannah Gregory
    • Frances Doyle
• School Life in Pictures
• Adventure Trips in Pictures
• Theater in Room 109
• Past Theater Seasons
• About Mr. Muir

Contact:

Lent School
5105 SE 97th Avenue
Portland, OR 97266

503-916-6322

kmuir@pps.net

Home: 503-253-8102. No calls after 9:00 p.m., please.