I Miss You, Nora Sterry! I Miss You, Room 11!

I miss you all sooooooo much! But finally I am beginning to recover from this most horrid disease.
But I'll tell you about that later.

Today I wanted to share with you the GREAT NEWS!!!!! Our Lovebirds, Ella and Izzie, are the extraordinarily proud parents of a healthy baby lovebird. Mr. Gilbert wants to name the baby "Daphne." I'm not so sure.... Anyway, I am putting together some pictures of the happy trio...because I know you've been wondering about whether the second baby survived.

The pictures will be posted a.s.a.p. (you know what that means....As Soon As Possible

Watch Nora Sterry School Transform on Big Sunday!

BIG SUNDAY AT NORA STERRY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL WAS PHENOMENAL!
Thank you, Volunteers!
Here's a tiny tidbit in the form of a video available on TEACHER TUBE.COM

Big Sunday Early Birds Arrive Sat. to Prime the Walls!

MAGICAL CITY FOREST TOUR - Tree People Trip

Our Trip to the TREE PEOPLE'S MAGICAL CITY FOREST!

On Monday, April 28, 2008, Ms. Slater-Gilbert's 2nd grade class participated in a MAGICAL CITY FOREST TOUR at THE TREE PEOPLE where we were on a quest to win 5 secret rings! We ran up and down hills; learned about the city forest and guess what? We won the 6th ring....(because we found the first 5 of them) and found the secret to the MAGICAL CITY FOREST.

First we had to find the secret of the WATER!

We learned how water that runs fast from the schoolyard (or concrete in the city) is very polluted from CARS and other HUMAN GARBAGE and goes straight to the ocean where we kill the living things in the ocean.

We learned that if the city had more forest ground, the water would go through the MAGICAL CITY FOREST WATER SYSTEM!

Instead of dirty water running down concrete rivers to the ocean, in a CITY FOREST, water is ABSORBED like a SPONGE, into the soil and then it slowly trickles down, down, down, down, down to a big lake underneath our city. By the time the water reaches the underground lake, the water is clean! Then we can use a giant straw and suck it out!



It took 47 seconds for the water in our model of the Magical City Forest to reach the bucket.
But it only took 6 seconds for the water in our model of the concrete city to reach the bucket.

Then we learned about the soil from DOCTOR DIRT!

Learn More About CAVA - California Virtual Academy - Free Public School Online

Are you intrigued with the idea of using technology to support your child's genius?

Finally parents in Los Angeles have a couple of great choices.

Try:
CONNECTIONS ACADEMY
http://www.connectionsacademy.org

or

CAVA

Take a Look at a Big Sunday Partner - Turning Point School

As I write this blog I'm supposed to be at meeting Marian Lawrence, my co-chair, Big Sunday, to walk through our stock which will be delivered to school by volunteer Teamsters from the Hollywood Studio Local Union on Friday, May 2nd.

But, alas...I can't see a thing! My allergies have attacked me in my eyes, and I can't drive with blurry eyes...so instead I'm adding this cool link to TURNING POINT SCHOOL, so my students can "visit" virtually with the volunteers who will be working with us on BIG SUNDAY!

Hey, Hey, Collaboration is at Ha(nd! At LAUSD!sh

I was blown away when I read today on Marlene Canter's blogspot (she is our Nora Sterry School LAUSD Board Member and entrepreneur and social activist and, ....you get the picture!),

THAT collaboration is happening now in LAUSD!

LAUSD settled the Prop 39 lawsuit instead of litigating!!!!!!!!

(PROP 39 MANDATES THAT ALL CHARTER SCHOOLS BE GIVEN SPACE ON ALL PUBLIC SCHOOL SITES )

Perhaps those who are the decision-makers in the kingdom called LAUSD, are walking the talk finally, now that it is clear the children - must all be well-educated, globally-oriented, scientists , even the poorest of the poor and the weakest of the weak....for the secret to sustainability is the understanding that we are all one - all interconnected - and if one connection is broken, we are all DOOMED!