American Forest Foundation Blog

Check out the blog that Ms. Venti wrote about the work Paul students did on the community mural:

http://bit.ly/p0mL9L

Mural photos

This wall used to be a huge, rusty cement eye sore of the community. Students at Paul PCS decided to research and develop a proposal to turn around this corner. They researched murals in DC, their impact on neighborhoods, and made arguments for why it is important that the mural had an "eco theme." After 3 weeks, dozens of gallons of paint, oodles of paint brushes, several trips to ACE hardware, the mural is completed thanks to 20+ student volunteers!

Student expo

Students presented their end of the year portfolios to interested staff members. Visitors commented on how impressed they were with the students' ability to describe their work and what they got out of their learning experiences throughout the year. Among the work presented included: fractured fairy tale story books, A Comic Life myths, student biographies, a poetry anthology, and Seedfolks vignettes. A video was also playing showing students "Where I'm From" photo journal video, Shakespeare theater performance video, and photos and videos taken from several field trips throughout the year.

American Mural Project

Paul PCS students had the AMAZING opportunity to work with artist Ellen Griesdieck on her American Mural Project. For more information about this project check out:
http://www.wallofamerica.org/
It is basically the largest indoor mural EVER and it is dedicated to American workers. Ellen is working with 8 schools in DC and DC's mini-theme is government workers, which of course, doesn't just include the people in the White House and Congress, but also, teachers, post office workers, police officers, fire fighters, the army, etc. Students brought in photos and wrote powerful quotes to personalize their own canvas dedicated to U.S. government workers in some way. Students either presented a government worker they know, a group of government workers they would like to honor, a government job they would like to have in the future, a way they already contribute to the country as "We the people" of the U.S., for example, keeping 'domestic tranquility' at home, or recognizing a time in history when the people rose up and demanded the government do their job when they were not. Projects turned out SPECTACULAR AND WILL be presented on the National Mall in May of next year.

Project Week

We had an INCREDIBLE project week. There are tons of photos and videos, but these 3 at least represent each place we went to. At the U.S. National Arboretum we took a tram tour, hiked through the rain in the Asian Gardens to the Anacostia River, and volunteered at the Washington National Youth Garden.
Next day we went to Calleva Farm and did a service learning project, used our problem-solving skills on the low ropes courses, and tested our courage on the zip line.
Day3 we went rock climbing. Almost everyone made it up to the top once, and some tried every single course...twice!

Seedfolks' garden

We had a great time planting our school yard, urban garden. We planted some from seeds, and others we started at the greenhouse at the Franciscan Monastery in DC. By the end of the school year we had plenty of lettuce, peas, beans, radishes, turnips, beets, cilantro, and coriander to harvest. Now we're waiting for the tomatoes, squash, and peppers.
While we were working on the garden, we read and LOVED Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman which focuses on a community garden in Cleveland, Ohio and how it positively transforms the lives of 13 individuals, and the entire neighborhood!

Shakespeare Steps Out

Paul PCS students rocked the Shakespeare Children's festival with their performances of Richard III, Hamlet, R&J, and Henry IV. The theme: Why fight?The pen is mightier than the sword.

Check out the following link to see a blog Ms. Venti wrote and click on the response to see a video of the performance at the Folger Shakespeare Theater:

http://folgereducation.wordpress.com/2011/02/01/how-well-is-he-read/

Pennies for Peace 2011

6th grade students stepped up to the plate, continuing last year's successful Pennies for Peace campaign to raise money for school's in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In future years we're going to choose a new organization to support, in light of the Greg Moretenson scandal. There's always issues with international aid, so we're going to make sure the money we raise goes directly to those in need.

America I Am

Check out this awesome video my students put together for the Black History Assembly!

Atlanta and Hippomenes

Theseus and the Minotaur

Psyche and Cupid

Echo and Narcissus

Where we're from

Students selected lines from their "Where I'm From" poems to be used in a whole class version of the poem. Quotes are mixed in with photos students took to illustrate "where they're from." After only a few short photography lessons, I am completely impressed at the photos students took of landscapes, portraits, still lifes, night shots, action shots, etc. The simpleness of some of the lines pack a powerful message and I can't help but watch the video and not get misty eyed.

Folger Theater Post

http://folgereducation.wordpress.com/2011/02/01/how-well-is-he-read/

Fractured fairytales at LAMB

6th grade students went to LAMB elementary school to share their fractured fairy tale story books. Students chose a fairytale, chose a way to fracture it, re-wrote it, and illustrated it. Students fractured their fairytales by making it a "quirk classic" genre, by flipping the protagonist and antagonist, by changing the setting. We had a range from "Little Red Werewolf," "Jack the Robber" instead of "Jack and the Beanstalk," and "Futurella" instead of Cinderella.
Tangled came out just at the same time so we took a field trip to the movies to compare Rapunzel and the new animated Disney hit. A lot of FUN!