Reports from the Field: School Projects

Those who have been following the “Reports from the Field” portion of our blog over the past year may notice some improvement in the kids’ writing. Now that professional educators have taken over their training and actual grades are being given out, they seem to apply themselves a bit more! (Photo album included at bottom of this post.)


Early Sunday Morning: The Pearl Harbor Diary of Amber Billows, A Story Timeline by Emily

October 20, 1941 - Amber’s family is going to move to Oahu, Hawaii from Washington D.C. because of her dad’s Job, as a reporter.

October 21, 1941 - The plane ride from D.C. to Oahu was very long and tiring because of the luggage.

November 10, 1941 - Amber meets a girl named Kame at her new school. Kame and Amber are now friends. Kame is Japanese/American.

December 7, 1941 - PEARL HARBOR! PEARL HARBOR!!! Bombs and planes were in the air. The sky was a dark gray. There was no sun light. It was all dark.

December 13, 1941 - To get in to the super market takes 1 hour or more and there is barely any food.

December 14, 1941 - We have to wear gas mask every were in the car, to the store, outside. They sting and they look like mutated elephants.

Epilogue - Amber moves to San Francisco. Kame married and then her and her husband were killed in a freak car accident. Then Amber adopted Kame’s baby Grace.


The Homework Machine, A Story Timeline by Jake

September - Brenton, Sam, Judy and Kelsey are seated together in their 5th grade class at Grand Canyon Elementary School. Their teacher put them there because they all had D’s starting their last names.

October - Brenton invents a “Homework Machine”. It’s a computer hooked up to a scanner that prints out your homework in your hand writing!

November - The four friends make a pact to only use the machine for their homework and keep it a secret.

December - Brenton makes “Red Sock Day” by using computer chat rooms, and every kids was wearing red socks.

January - Sam’s dad gets sent to war. He and Sam play chess by e-mail. Same looses until he had his first draw. Brenton made him better by helping him.

March - April - The kids get nervous because rumors get around about the “Homework Machine” and their teachers and parents get suspicious. Also Sam’s dad was killed.

May - The kids catapult the homework machine into The Grand Canyon, and they did it because it was getting a mind of its own.

P.S. Do Your Homework!!!


My Timeline, a “What has happened in the world since I was born?” timeline by Drew

1996 - I was born in Norman, Oklahoma on March 25 at 11:30 a.m.

1997 - Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act becomes law.

1998 - 1998 is declared the Year of the Ocean by the United Nations.

1999 - My brother Jake and my sister Emily are born in Oklahoma City on May 12 at 6:30 p.m.

2000 - Al Gore loses the Presidential election to Bush in a very close race.

2001 - The Twin Towers are bombed in New York City.

2002 - Packey the Elephant turns 40 at the Oregon Zoo.

2003 - My family moves to Oregon from Oklahoma.

2004 - The earthquake in the Indian Ocean is one of the most deadly natural disasters in history.

2005 - Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans.

2006 - Ted Kulongoski wins a second term as Oregon’s Governor.

2007 - My family takes a sailing trip to the Bahamas.

2008 - Obama is the first African-American to win a major party nomination for President.

Becoming Naomi Leon - A Character Analysis, by Drew

This week I read the book “Becoming Naomi Leon” which is one of my favorite books of all time. It is about a 12 year old girl Naomi who lives with her grandma and brother Owen in Lemon Tree, California.

After 7 yeards their mother, Skyla, comes back in to their lives. Naomi and Owen are both very excited until things turn for the worst. Before Skyla came back she had been drinking but stopped and now she started back up.

Naomi was very cautious through out the whole book because she wasn’t sure if she could trust her mother or not. For example, Naomi and Owen both had parent teacher conferences and Skyla never showed up and left them at the school til dark.

One of Naomi’s best traits was her bravery. Like when they had to go to court and Naomi had to tell the Judge a reason why her mom couldn’t take her away from Owen and Gram. The author, Pam Munoz Ryan, described Naomi after her court experience as “a mouse with a lioness’s voice”.

Naomi is also a very skillful person. One example of this is she loves to carve soap and is very good at it. Her best carving is of a lion because her last name Leon means lion in Spanish.


Here's a quick photo album from our weekend field trip to the World Forestry Center.
PHOTOS.

Field Trip: Oregon Zoo

Earlier this week, we took time for an after-school field trip to the Oregon Zoo to meet the new baby elephant born there just a few weeks ago. Here are a few photos of the new arrival, as well as the kids hanging out with friends.


The school year is off to a great start for the Jubilee Crew. Jake & Emily are happy to be following in their big brother's footsteps in Ms. Good's class. Today, they're invited to a "new student" luncheon at Bridlemile which they find quite funny. Emily wasn't sure about attending since they aren't really "new", but Jake is going for the pizza!

Drew likes all his middle school teachers and is doing a great job so far keeping up with and keeping track of his various assignments. (Just in case, Mom & Dad like knowing his teachers post all homework assignments online.)

The fact that Drew begins and ends his day nearly and hour and a half later than Jake & Emily has taken some getting used to, but he's starting to find ways to use the extra time in the morning productively... sometimes that means finishing an assignment or reading; more often, it means hanging out with his buddy Gabe. This week, it's been all about perfecting his stilt-skills. He built them himself, with the assistance of our friend, neighbor & favorite architect, Charles.


Although we did not capture the moment on film, Pat participated in his first biking event this past weekend... the 30 mile "Tour de Lab" sponsored by our favorite local brew pub, The Lucky Lab. Proceeds from the ride benefited a local animal shelter, but Pat mostly went for the pizza (and beer)... like father, like son!

Back at it... back to work, back to school!

It's the first day of school! This also is the first post to our new "Oregon Adventures" blog.

It was off to 4th grade this morning for Jake & Emily; the first day of middle school for Drew; Day 2 of work for Dad; and Day 1 of a strangely quite house for Mom.

The Jubilee Crew was up early making sure backpacks and lunchboxes were ready to go. No chance of being late today!

Jake recently read a article about a "backpack fairy" who apparently visits some homes on the night before the first day of school. He decided to try leaving his pack out, as did Emily, and sure enough... tic-tacs and gum were found this morning from a source unknown.

Pat has altered his mode of commuting downtown from bus to bike. He loves the exercise, plus there's lots of "gear" involved!

Here are some photos showing how we spent our last weekend of summer... it was a chilly one, but included a trip to the Sauvie Island Corn Maze and the "Art in the Pearl" festival.