Thursday, September 17, 2009

WAVE Schedule
Monday - no wave
Tuesday - Vocabulary activities with SAT words. We have broken them up into three sections so that we will cover them all in a child's stay here at ESMS.
Wednesday - ON DEMAND WRITING - topics are posed and student's have 25 minutes to compose a response. This day is devoted to getting students more experienced writing specifically to the prompt.
THURSDAY - CommonPlace Books - students bring in pictures or 2-dimensional artifacts that inspire them to write at least a page about the image. The goal is to get students away from just describing what is happening in the image, more towards what emotions the images evoke.
FRIDAY - SHARING/COUNSELOR's ACTIVITIES - throughout the year, we have approximately one Friday each month for an activity sponsored by the counselor.

THURSDAY - Commonplace Writing

9/17/09

I miss the mountains -- the cool breeze, the smell of the trees, the sound of the rushing water, the clarity that only being away from the din of electronics can give you. I miss the solitude amongst the grandeur of nature and the soothing aspect it has on my body, mind and spirit.

I grew up camping and hiking and have seen and stayed at almost every campground, overflow campground, and national park on the west coast. It's something that is part of my culture and I started when I was just a little person. These days when weekends are usually filled with chores, bills, and other things, I miss sitting around the campfire with my family, learning to play cards, to tend a fire, to sip hot chocolate (and later coffee) without melting the cup. The many ranger talks and ranger walks are but a memory.