Portland Parents

As a follow up to the Tinkering School post recently, it was brought to our attention that the Tinkering School was also written up by the openeducation.net staff; openeducation.net link.

Rieke Art Fair & Sale
Sunday April 27, 2008
10am-3pm

featuring professional artist art activities for kids and student art
Proceeds go to the Reike PTA.

Rieke Elementary SW Vermont/13th

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Well, now, being a fan of Tommy and Grease, this sounds like a lot of fun!

The Corbet Children’s Theater is doing the Midsummer Night’s Dream as a rock musical with Beatles songs.

Come and enjoy this exciting adaptation of the classic to Beatles songs.
Costumes and music will be from the 60s and 70s; the music will be by a live
band.

Show will performed at the Corbett High School at 35800 E Historic Columbia
River Hwy in Corbett, Oregon.

To reserve your tickets call (503) 695-2296. Prices are $7 for children and $9
for adults. Special matinee group rates of 12 or more are available with
advance reservations.

Show times April 18th and 25th at 7 pm and April 19 at 26th at 1 & 7 pm.

For more information, check out their site.

Bob Compton, an Indianapolis venture-capitalist-turned-filmmaker, has produced a controversial new documentary called “2 Million Minutes” that looks at how American education falls short in today’s global economy.

What I saw in the K-12 schools absolutely shocked me in both India and China. … I became very concerned about the competitiveness of my own daughters’ education. ( Bob Compton on Good Morning America )

Sounds like the film is an interesting look, but it does have its critics.
source

A.K.A. Science (All Kids are Scientists) is a fun, hands-on after school science program for children in grades K-8. Our playful, yet structured activities encourage observation of the world through exploration, and help dispel the myth that science is difficult or uninteresting.

Classes meet once a week for one hour, in eight week sessions. The small classes (11-15 students) are taught by schoolteachers, parents, and other volunteers who receive complete training in each subject.

Our next semester begins in April, with students studying Weather and Natural Disasters. Please check the website for more information!

TumbleVille Studios is a great place to learn tumbling. Sessions are taught by Gail Bruner who is a former competitive gymnast with 20 years of teaching experience. Gail has a B.S. in Human Services and Therapeutic Recreation, a Teaching Certification in Elementary Education. Gail is a former marathon runner, masters swimmer and her current passions are yoga and learning a bit of rhythm.

Preschool Tumbling (ages 3-5 )
Discover fun and fitness. Together, explore swinging & springing in an introduction to tumbling. Gain strength & flexibility by playing independently. 9 weeks of classes. Drop in rate, $10 a class.

Beginning Tumbling (ages 6- 14)
Develop strength, agility, coordination and balance while gaining basic tumbling skills. A noncompetitive way to build self-esteem and learn rolls, handstands and cartwheels. 9 weeks of classes. Small informal show performed on the last day of the session. Drop in rate, $18 a class.

Yoga For Adults
Discover the benefits and joy of yoga taught in the style of the Iyengar Method. Iyengar Yoga emphasizes proper alignment, and the use of props (belts and blocks) allows people with flexibility limitations to safely perform poses with the correct alignment. Drop in rate, $15 a class, please call!

Check out their site for more information, like times and locations.

Paknaks are soft rubbery gewgaws that attach with velcro to your child’s clothes, backpacks, bike helmets, or any other thing you want to personalize. Very cute and stylish, and kids ( maybe younger kids, but check them out for older kids too ) will adore them.

I especially like this idea because while I want my kids to have personalized “stuff,” I’m really against putting their names ( or even their initials ) somewhere a would-be kidnapper would see it. ( Yeah, I worry a lot about kidnappers, but these are my treasures we’re talking about. ) With these little PakNak charms, you can make your blue-backpack-just-like-everyone-else’s be instantly recognizable without making your kid a target.

Totally cool!

We all carry our mobile phones with names & numbers stored in its memory but nobody, other than ourselves, knows which of these numbers belong to our closest family or friends.

If we were to be involved in an accident or were taken ill, the people attending us would have our mobile phone but wouldn’t know who to call. Yes, there are hundreds of numbers stored but which one is the contact person in case of an emergency?

Hence this “ICE” (In Case of Emergency) Campaign The concept of ” ICE” is catching on quickly. It is a method of contact during emergency situations. As cell phones are carried by the majority of the population, all you need to do is store the number of a contact person or persons who should be contacted during emergency under the name “ICE” ( In Case Of Emergency).

The idea was thought up by a paramedic who found that when he went to the scenes of accidents, there were always mobile phones with patients, but they didn’t know which number to call. He therefore thought that it would be a good idea if there was a nationally recognized name for this purpose.

In an emergency situation, Emergency Service personnel and hospital Staff would be able to quickly contact the right person by simply dialing the number you have stored as “ICE.”

For more than one contact name simply enter ICE1, ICE2 and ICE3 etc. A great idea that will make a difference!

Update your mobile phone and those of your kids today!

And congratulations to Shelley Clark!

The Wells Fargo Celebrity Spelling Bee held on Thursday, January 31st raised a total of $189,000 in vital funding for Schoolhouse Supplies, the award-winning Free Store for teachers in Portland. More than 500 guests gathered to watch Mayor Potter, James Jones, Stephanie Stricklen and other Portland celebrities spell their way to the top. All participants gave it a great effort, but it was 14-year-old Shelley Clark, the ’06 and ’07 Portland Tribune/Comcast Regional Spelling Bee Champion, that out-spelled Stephanie Schneiderman of Dirty Martini with the winning word “eupepsia” and took home the championship trophy.

The Schoolhouse Supplies site!

FIRST is hosting a Robotics Competition the First Weekend in March; that is, Thursday Feb 28, Friday Feb 29, Saturday Mar 1. We went to a Robotics show at PSU a couple of years ago; it was pretty cool, but not quite “Competitiony”. This would be a great show to take your kids to.