Indoor Activities Including The Magician's Nephew

Brrrr!  It’s cold in Idaho!  Cold weather outside, but a busy, busy February in North Valley Academy Classrooms!  Our staff has packed in so many great activities for students in such a short amount of time this month...Check it Out!

Kindergarten enjoyed a visit from Jaimie Crane, a Umatilla Native American.  Jaimie brought regalia to share with the class and did a slide show presentation. Some of her regalia included river otter skins, moccasins, beaded jewelry, and shawls.  The students loved hearing about her heritage and learning about Native American cultures.

Third Grade is learning about SPACE, decorating NVA hallways with fabulous projects!

Sixth Grade has been studying the novel, A Long Walk to Water, by Linda Sue Park.  The novel is a true story of a lost boy of Sudan blended with a fictional account of a young girl who has to walk for water every day to support her family.  These stories parallel and join at the end in an exciting way.  In an art collaboration project with high school, these students created watercolor paintings and silhouettes of the African landscape in the spirit of this novel.

And…..The Climatic Event of February…..The Idaho Shakespeare Festival. 

Mrs. Stephenson’s sixth grade class raised money to bring the Idaho Shakespeare Festival Youth Theater to North Valley Academy on February 11th.  The Idaho Youth Theater performed a playwright based on The Magician’s Nephew, a novel by C.S. Lewis.  All I can say is AMAZING!  The play was performed for all NVA students K-12.  The best part was the workshops the actors held with our fifth and sixth grade English classes.  The workshops were so fun!  The actors helped students learn how to warm up their voices and bodies for a performance, they taught them how to act out impromptu scenarios, and students learned how much fun theater can be!  Thank you to the many individuals who donated to bring this event to our school.  Special thanks to our main sponsors, Clover Creek Dental, Columbia Bank, Sparks Landscape, Cyndi Hoekstra, Mary Sibley, and Mrs. Stephenson.  If you would like to donate to this event for next year, please contact Mrs. Stephenson at North Valley Academy.  

Enjoy these photos from the all school performance:

From the Classroom Workshops:

  

   

NVA Gives A "Hoot"

Happy 2019 from North Valley Academy!

Two weeks into the new year and although students have been back to school since January 2nd, I am positively sure that many wish they were still enjoying winter break!

Upper Elementary English classes are in full swing with new units and my excitement is racing as we dig into some amazing stories of courage, survival, and standing up for what is right.

Sixth grade is beginning a unit on the novel A Long Walk to Water, by Linda Sue Park.  “Two young people...two stories.  One country: Sudan.”  This novel explores the theme of survival and courage - “The human spirit is capable of the impossible when faced with the unthinkable.”  Students will be collaborating in their Social Studies class on several aspects pertaining to this novel such as the civil war of Southern Sudan, water-borne illnesses and clean drinking water, and cultural differences among others.

Fifth grade began a study of the novel Hoot, by Carl Hiaasen - This book is a total “HOOT!”   Students will love Hiaasen’s sense of humor and purpose.  A fun, engaging story about young kids standing up for what is right; bullying and protecting a group of burrowing owls from destruction.  This novel teaches that “sometimes (in life) you’re going to be faced with situations where the line isn’t clear between what’s right and what’s wrong.  Your heart will tell you to do one thing and your brain will tell you to do something different.  In the end, all that’s left is to look at both sides and go with your best judgment.”  Students will be collaborating in Science class on discussions raised in the novel, such as burrowing owls, owl habitats and the effects of industrial growth, endangered species, and ecology.

In a collaborative effort on this novel (Hoot), Mrs. Klamm’s sophomore art class spent a day with my fifth grade English class teaching us how to draw burrowing owls with chalk and oil pastels.  Please enjoy the photos below, we have some amazing, budding artists at NVA!

  

  

  

Also, please enjoy some of the owl drawings from our high school students who participated:

2018 has passed, 2019 is ready for NVA.

“‘I wear the chain I forged in life,’ replied the Ghost.  ‘I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on with my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it.  Is it’s pattern strange to you?...Or would you know,’ pursued the Ghost, ‘the weight and length of the strong coil you bear yourself?  It was full as heavy and as long as this seven Christmas Eves ago.  You have labored on it since.  It is a ponderous chain!” - A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens

North Valley Academy wishes you and your families a warm and joyous Christmas season!  Go look at Christmas lights, play games, sing Christmas carols...but most of all, spend quality time together and enjoy your families!  As 5th grade English is studying A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, I am reminded solemnly of the fact that children learn a tremendous amount from those in their sphere of influence.  The old adage of “Do and I say, not as I do,” rings in our ears but is unrealistic.  Children learn to value the things we value by watching what we allow to control our lives.  Like old Jacob Marley and Ebenezer Scrooge in this classic Dickens novel, we forge our own chains out of the things we allow to shape our days, things that many times hold us back from being our best self, things our children see and learn from, eventually forging their own chains.  In a symbolism activity we did, students anonymously added to our classroom chain things that hold back either themselves, or someone they love, from being the best, joy-filled person they can be.  Can I just say, Wow!  Children are so observant and understand more than we sometimes give them credit for.  Some of the items on our chain include:  fear, jealousy, smoking, video games, cell phones, social media, addictions to shopping, vaping, stress, selfishness, drinking too much alcohol, always working, being a workaholic and missing out on all the fun in life, and my mom works so hard she isn’t herself.  The top three responses had something to do with addiction to alcohol/smoking, working too much, and electronic devices.  Friends, colleagues, and parents, in the Spirit of Christmas, let us remember that love and family are so very much more important than all these other things!  Like Ebenezer Scrooge, let us endeavor to change our perspectives and lead by example, showing our children what really matters most!





Mrs. Stephenson’s English classes are all about reading!! 

Thank you to the Idaho Lottery for providing our classroom with books to support our Battle of the Books program this year!!  Your support of reading and our school is appreciated!!

Earlier in November, in the spirit of giving and in celebration of National Young Readers Week, Mrs. Stephenson’s 5th grade English class spent time in Mr. William’s 2nd grade classroom.  For this service project, each 5th grader was paired with a second grade student to buddy read for an hour.  Our students read Diary of Greg Heffley’s Best Friend, by Jeff Kinney, and after reading together, 5th grade presented a copy of the book to each 2nd grade student to keep.





Mrs. Stephenson’s 6th grade English has been studying Greek Mythology and is just finishing reading The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan.  Students have been learning to compare informational texts about mythology with this literary work based on common themes.  We are also studying how the hero of this novel follows, like many other stories, “The Hero’s Journey.”  Students have worked hard on making connections between texts and learning to write literary analysis! 




From all of us at North Valley Academy, have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!  We’ll see you back in January!

Feel the Music - North Valley Academy Orchestra Playing up a Storm

William Shakespeare wrote in Twelfth Night, “If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die. That strain again! it had a dying fall: O! it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound That breathes upon a bank of violets, Stealing and giving odour.”  Music is not only beautiful to the ears, it gives our heart voice and it provides balance in a world that might otherwise seem crazy and unsettled.  North Valley Academy is extremely proud of our Strings Program taught by Mrs. Danielle Winton.  Recently, eight NVA strings students participated in a two-day honor clinic, a wonderful opportunity.  The honor clinic gave our students the opportunity to work with a special clinician, meet other strings students from around our district, and perform.  NVA was one of eight schools to participate.

Our Strings Orchestra Concerts and elementary classroom programs are coming up in early December at NVA.  4th-6th grade will perform on December 11, 2018, and our Advanced high school students will perform on December 13, 2018.  Both concerts will be from 6:30-8:00 p.m. in NVA’s cafeteria.  Please join us as we celebrate the joy of music and pass on that wonderful tradition to our children.

Please enjoy these photos of our students at the honor clinic.

   

Buzz Buzz Buzz

North Valley Academy Started school off with a BUZZ

Buzzz…..it’s a fly, no it’s a mosquito, [sting]......Ouch, it’s a wasp!  Wasp stings are so painful and seem to take forever to heal.  At NVA, our wasps won’t sting you, but they are sure to bring a smile to your face!  Mr. Williams, the newest member of our amazing teaching team, has joined North Valley Academy this year teaching 2nd grade.  His class started off this month by creating wasp models, and can I just say...they are amazing!  Check it out!

Upper Elementary English started off the year learning about September 11, 2001, or 911.  Fourth grade learned about figurative language as we read a beautifully illustrated story called The Little Chapel that Stood, fifth grade learned about first and second-hand accounts of 911 by walking through an interactive timeline of events, and sixth grade watched a documentary called The Boatlift which discusses the unlikely heroes of the water rescue on 911.

Sixth grade English students researched the story of their name which proved enlightening!  One of our student’s found out he was related to a king, now he feels like royalty himself!  After researching their names, students created a mandala art project using their name.