November 14 Lunch Orders Due
November 22 All School Meeting (Plovers and Puffins will present)
November 22 Empty Bowls 5-7pm
November 25-29 Thanksgiving Break
Homework Due by Friday, November 15th
1. Read for at least 20 minutes every night.
2. Complete at least 30 minutes of math practice (click here for DreamBox).
3. Complete 20 minutes of typing practice.
4. Optional: Compete Paragraph of the Week writing assignment.
Prompt: We often take care of other people like younger brothers and sisters. We also take care of plants and pets. Write about a time that you took care of something.
Upcoming Out and Abouts
This Wednesday, Trackers PDX will meet us at Central School for a lesson on (foam arrow) archery! Next week, we will have our Potlatch/Salmon Ceremony during our Out & About time.
Volunteer Opportunities
1. Breakfast Donations - Fruit needed this Friday
2. Library Chaperones - Needed 12/2
3. Out & About Chaperones - Needed 12/19 for a visit to Oregon Symphony to watch their Cirque Nutcracker rehearsal
First Salmon Ceremony - Donations Needed For Nov 20!
Early Northwest Coast people believed that the animals they hunted were really animal spirits that let themselves be caught to help people. If the spirits became angry, it was feared that they would not return as animals, and people would go hungry. An important tradition was the First Salmon ceremony. After the first salmon of the fishing season was caught, it was carefully cooked during a special ceremony. Each person in the village ate a small piece of it. Then, its bones were returned to the water. People thought that if the bones of a salmon were not put back in the water, its spirit would become angry and salmon might never swim up the river again.
On Wednesday, November 20th, the Plovers will have a ceremony to celebrate the conclusion of their Early Northwest Coast project. This celebration will include storytelling, music, games and a feast! Please take a look at our food list below, and select an item that your family could donate. You can send your donation in with your student any time before November 19th.
NOTE: To comply with state laws and to be safe for food allergies in the classroom, please send only commercially packaged food items.
- Smoked fish (shelf-stable/non-refrigerated)
- Dried meat/jerky (salmon, turkey, elk or beef)
- Dried berries (blueberries, strawberries, or huckleberries)
- Dried roots (vegetable chips)
- "Blubber" (aka jello cups)
- Seaweed/nori
- Goldfish crackers
Empty Bowls - November 22nd 5-7pm at Forest Grove Senior Center
Bring your whole family, have a lovely dinner, and help your community! Every student at FGCS made a bowl this year, with the help of Pacific University's clay studio. You will be able to purchase a bowl made by students for $5, then you will get to fill it with soup and have dinner. All of the money raised will go to HomePlate Youth, an organization going to help feel homeless teenagers in Washington County. It is a great way to give back to our community right before Thanksgiving!
Yearbook Orders
The 2019-20 FGCS Yearbook is now available to order online! Click here to purchase a yearbook with credit or debit. If you prefer to pay with cash or check, you may do that in the office using this form, which is also available in the school office.
Weekly Review
Our Native American village encountered several problems last week. During the middle to late 1800s, new settlers from the United States traveled to the Northwest Coast and started establishing communities and laying claim to the land. On our mural, a new settlement appeared near the students’ village. The action began when several of our hunters encountered a pair of settlers in the forest. The settlers said they needed food and medicine because their family members were sick. The community met with the chief to decide what to do, and then students wrote new journal entries about the situation. We also read several books together to learn more about what happened to the Native Americans in Oregon when other people began to arrive. The Plovers learned about how traders and settlers carried diseases, like measles and smallpox, which sickened and killed many Native Americans.
The next day, Isaac Stevens, the Territorial Governor, came into our classroom and asked to speak to the Chief. Stevens read a treaty to the villagers and then demanded that the Chief sign it. The treaty explained a plan to relocate the people of their village onto a reservation. In 1854, the United States government decided to make treaties with the Northwest Coast people to legally extinguish their rights to the land and to set up reservations where indigenous people were forced to live. Later in the year, we will learn more about the Oregon Trail, and I asked the Plovers to give some advice to their future selves when they take on the role of the settlers:
"Make a treaty that will be kind. Don’t force people to leave."
"Don’t think that now that you’re a settler that you should be mean. We are the same species."
"It was the settlers' choice to come here, and they don’t have a right to the land."
"Don’t kill. It was their land first."
"Be kind to others."
"Remember that it felt bad."
"Ask nicely."
"Just because you came this far on the Oregon Trail, don’t be rude and steal their homes. They were here first."
"I don’t want to kick them off their land."
"We should be careful and kind."
Communication
Please contact me with any questions or concerns. Parents and students can e-mail me at [email protected]. You can also leave a voice message on the class phone or set up a time to meet with me before/after school.