Mountain View teacher visits China : MVE teacher Joan Hicks recently returned from an educational trip to China, where sh visited two schools. The first grade teacher has been sharing facts about China with her own class. "The students there seemed to be learning a lot even though they were very poor," Hicks said. "They were learning English and using inquiry in science and small cooperative groups. Some of their teaching styles are the same but many are different. They also require a lot of memorization. The 50 students to a classroom were amazing to watch as each student's full attention was on the teacher." She also visited a middle school in Nanjing which had more than 1,000 students grades 7-9. "It was an amazing journey." Mountain View Elementary Book Fair (April 24-30) at Barnes & Noble: MVE library and PTA will host a book fair this Saturday at Barnes & Noble in west Olympia. A portion of the sales (with a MVE mention at the cashier) will help earn them some money. The 6th graders made ceramic dragons (the Fair theme) that will be on display in the store window. Students can share their drago poems and drawings and hear Tacoma author Amanda Noll (originally from Australia) also came to MVE last week and wrote dragon poems with students. She will be at the event on Saturday as well to do a reading from her new picture book, I Need My Monster, and sign autographs.
Lacey Spring Fun Fair still seeks parade participants (May 16-17): There is still time to sign up your group or school to participate in the annual Lacey Spring Fun Fair at noon on May 16 at St. Martin's University. Go to www.laceyspringfunfair.com and click on Application forms to sign up today! This free weekend has been providing a fun weekend for families since 1988, including over 40 free kids' activities, food booths, arts and crafts and local music -- including many groups from NTPS on Saturday. Come one come all!
"Bowl for Kids Sake" needs teams for fundraiser: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Thurston County still needs bowling teams for their annual "Bowl for Kids Sake" fundraiser, to be held 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m., May 16 at Westside Lanes in Olympia, "Our local BBBS enables many of our students to build relationships with positive mentors and assists our families," said Seven Oaks teacher Laurie Jones, who helped organize school teams for the event. Her husband Roger is also director of the agency. "In doing their job, they help us to do our job." No particular bowling skill is involved. You just need a big heart to help kids For more details you can contact Laurie or BBBS (943-0409).
The above information was published by NTPS, which posts and emails similar information weekly. Click here for previous posts.
Last week nearly 100 middle school students from our district got a chance to job shadow at more than 32 local business or other places of work. This was the 25th year for "Window to the World of Work," a partnership between North Thurston Public Schools Partnership Services and the Lacey Chamber of Commerce. Sponsors ranged from Anchor Bank and Costco, to the Lacey Police Department and McChord Air Force base. Several district offices, including Community Relations, Mountain View Elementary and Technology and CTE also hosted students.
In addition to participating in some hands-on job assignments -- from making signs to sorting flyers and money -- students had to interview their work mentors about experience, education and other skills needed to do their host's job. 
Schools celebrate the Arts: Meadows and Mountain View Elementary schools celebrated the arts on Monday with their respective school communities. At Meadows, families were invited to different rooms in the school to participate and observe a variety of activities from quilt blocking and salmon cycle art and poetry in classrooms, to hip hop dance in the gym and a "fake cake" art display with live saxophone music in the library. Wonderful staff-created art was also featured, including a detailed fish carving and bonsai tree by Edward Kim. Students were also preparing their costumes for the annual Species parade, including tie-dyed shirts and mustang heads. Organizers of the event included: Cynthia Kelly, Betsy Perkins, Laura Van Etten, Matt Tuttle.