The weekly - The Post Oak School

i n t h i s i s s u e : b O O K fA I R  P O PA Di n n e r R e s c h e d u l e d  t H E u S E O F m A N
s t u d e n t pi c t u r e s c h e d u l e  w e b c o m m u nit y lo g in  f I E L D dAY m Y S T E RY b OX E S
The Weekly
POST
vo lu m e XIV, n u m b er 4
O c to b e r 3, 2008
A weekly publication of
The Post Oak School
Available online at
www.postoakschool.org
99 Tr illion and change
by John Long, Head of School
9
9,998,999,999,993 x 6,342,579 =
That’s the multiplication problem two upper elementary boys wrote for themselves
last week. They were very pleased to show
me their problem. And they enjoyed how challenging it was for me just to read it – as I analyzed,
“simple family, thousands family, millions family,
billions family, trillions family—OK, ninety-nine
trillion, nine hundred ninety-eight billion…” And
they were quick to point out that they got the
answer right.
They were so proud of their work they hung the
paper on the wall under the hall of flags inside the
front door to the school. Go look at it. You’ll
continued on page 3
page 2
O c to b er 3, 2008
RESCHEDULED
The Post Oak Parents Association
Welcome Dinner
has been rescheduled to Tuesday, October 7
6:30 pm to 9:30 pm
at La Colombe d’Or
3407 Yoakum
New parents, faculty, room parents,
and board members are invited to
a pre-reception at 6:00 pm.
If you previously purchased tickets, you do not need to rsvp.
If you would like a refund for your original ticket
purchase or if you have any questions, please email
Christina Cantu ([email protected]).
Thank you.
O c tober 3, 2008
page 3
“99 trillion and change” by John Long,
continued from page 1
notice a color-coded geometrical representation of the problem – it was Montessori’s particular genius that presents math to
children from the earliest age as concrete, tactile and visual. She
helps children see mathematics simultaneously as arithmetic,
geometric and algebraic. You’ll also notice that they have analyzed the sub-totals for each individual product of this complex
problem—there are 98 of them beginning with 3 x 9 and ending
with 90,000,000,000,000 x 6,000,000.
Who would ever assign such a problem to ten year olds? Certainly
no teacher in his right mind. No, it was assigned by the boys for
themselves. Why would they do such a thing? I am reminded
of Sir Edmund Hillary’s response to the question, “Why did you
choose to climb Mt. Everest?” – “Because it is there.” Ten year
olds love great challenges every bit as much as British explorers.
What does the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)
guide prescribe for fifth graders extending their facility with
multiplication? “5.3 (B) Use multiplication to solve problems
involving whole numbers (no more than three digits times two
digits without technology).” That is a very reasonable guideline
but for these two boys it would fail to give them the opportunity
to learn more.
Learn more? What are they learning? Yes, they are learning to
multiply. And they are learning to read and to become comfortable with very large numbers. Those are the academic dimensions
of their learning. In terms of character formation, there is even
more significant learning taking place. They are learning to love
hard work. They are learning to push their own limits and in so
doing, they are building a solid foundation of self-confidence.
They are exercising an entrepreneurial sense of initiative. And in
working together on this challenge, they are learning teamwork:
the pleasure and power of collaboration.
Working on set problems assigned by the teacher, problems
limited to no more that three digits times two digits, would also
lead to academic facility with multiplication. But it would not get
them to Mt. Everest.
Copyright John Long and The Post Oak School
Originally published September 22, 2004
The 2009 Gala of the
Post Oak Parents Association
Friday March 6, 2009
All parents are invited to join in the
planning process of this major
Post Oak biennial event.
If you would like to volunteer,
please call Gala Chair, Lisa Reed
Book Fair
November 6, 2008
Barnes & Noble
3003 W. Holcombe Blvd.
The Post Oak School Book Fair is
an opportunity to purchase books
for your family and your child’s
class in support of our school
library. The Book Fair is held at
Barnes & Noble bookstore on
Holcombe, and serves as a source
of new books and a fundraiser
specifically for our library.
page 4
O c to b er 3, 2008
Individual student
pictures scheduled
Tue., Oct. 7
Barbara Hacker, Orly Kluk,
Middle School, Jessica Wagner,
Lisa Wells, Miriam Winton
Wed., Oct. 8
Joseph Lockett, Sabira Najeeb, Julie Parraguirre,
Maya Pinto, Susan Tracy
Thu., Oct. 9
Emily Hansen, Deidre Lodrig, Kathy Long,
Debbie Nickerson, Errol Pinto
For those of you viewing
The Weekly Post in color, this is a sample of
the background color.
Schedule a parent/
teacher conference online
You may schedule your parent/teacher conference on-line
by going to www.postoakschool.org (under the “For Parents”
menu). Our new web site allows for a web-base conference
scheduling system. This system will allow users to schedule,
cancel, reschedule or view your parent / teacher conferences
on the web. Please see the Web Community Login tidbit on
page 10 to find out about your user name and password.
You will no longer need to work with the school’s receptionist to schedule, cancel, change or view conference times. For
families with more than one Post Oak student, all the teachers’ conference calendars may be viewed simultaneously to
coordinate and schedule conference times.
If you are experiencing any issues with your login or the scheduling system, please contact IT Director Mirna AndradeSalgado at [email protected] or 713-661-6688
ext. 163.
Web community login
To log in to our online web community for parents please
visit our homepage (www.postoakschool.org) and click on
“Community Login” on the bottom right side of the page.
Your username consists of your first and last names together
without spaces: “John Smith” logs in as “johnsmith” (case-insensitive). If your last name is hyphenated, include the hyphen
(e.g. “janetsmith-jones”).
To retrieve your password enter your username and leave the
password field blank. Then click on the “Login” button below:
you will receive your password in an email, sent to the address
we have on file for you.
Fifth-grade students in Mr. Lockett’s class began their American history studies
by learning about the first human inhabitants on this continent. Several students
decided on their own to construct this model of a Hopi Indian pueblo.
If you have any other questions, please contact the Director of
Information Technology Mirna Andrade-Salgado at
[email protected] or 713-661-6688.
O c tober 3, 2008
page 5
The Use of Man
By Aziza Sana Janmohamed
Upper Elementary Student
What is the use of Man?
Well, there are lots of uses!
We civilize, build roads, boats, houses…
On Tuesday, September 30, 2008, Mr. Lockett’s Upper Elementary class performed the radio play The Use of Man, by Lord Dunsany
in Mr. Pinto’s Upper Elementary class. Radio plays are plays that
do not have costumes and you are not supposed to see the actors,
so Mr. Pinto’s class turned around to face the other side of the
room. Both Mr. Lockett and Mr. Pinto thought it went very well.
I personally thought that this play was very fun and it went very
well. This play was written in 1920. After the play, we went back to
our class to present our organism reports, which included masks.
Field Day fast approaches!
Thanks to everyone who has contributed to your
classroom’s Mystery Box. Room Parents have been
hard at work making each box special. To the right
is the list of Mystery Box themes. Join the box wrapping session during the first POPA Workday on
Tuesday morning, October 7 from 8:45 to 11:00 am in the
Common Room.
After they’ve been wrapped, the Mystery Boxes will be on display in
the school lobby. Raffle tickets for the Mystery Boxes will be on sale
in the Development Office, or during car pool the following week
on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday. Tickets will also be sold at the
event. Cost is 2 tickets for $5.
Remember, the sale of raffle tickets covers the cost of Field Day festivities, which will be help on Saturday, October 18 from 10 am to 1
pm. If you’ve never been to Field Day, prepare yourself for a fabulous
family day of fun!
For more information, contact event chairs Melissa and Felix Cordero.
Teacher
Mystery Box Theme
Hacker
What to Do on a Rainy Day
Hansen
Art
Kluk
Bugs and Outdoors
Lodrig
Things to Do and
Places to Go in Houston
Lockett
Best Sellers and Block Busters
Long
Science Experiments
Middle School
Elmo
Najeeb
Picture This!
Nickerson
Games
Parraguirre
Caring for our Earth
Pinto, E.
A Little Bit of Everything
Pinto, M.
Culinary CLASSics
Tracy
Toddler’s Music
Wagner
Let’s Pretend
Wells
Weather
Winton
Nature Exploration
page 6
O c to b er 3, 2008
Scenes
from
The Post Oak School
Left-to-right, top-to-bottom:
Infant Community children have a lesson with their teacher.
A Primary student paints, paying particular attention to small details.
Lower Elementary students look up the characteristics of birds in an effort to identify
the ones in their classroom.
Lower Elementary students work on writing and math.
A Lower Elementary student blows the shofar (made from a ram’s horn)
during a Rosh Hashanah cultural lesson.
The Upper Elementary students on chairs in the back perform a radio play to the
audience sitting on the floor. The audience was facing away from the performers so
they could experience the play as they would have if they heard it on the radio.
The new Bearkats Cross Country team was all smiles after they completed their run
at the Bellaire Fall Fever Run on Saturday, Sept. 27. Members are (front row, L-R)
D
. Pictured in the back are Coach Mark Tucker, Linda Barrows, Ma
Daivi Nithya, Jeff Schneider, and Shonali Jacob. They will also participate in the Race
for the Cure on October 4.
Come on, let’s jump! A Primary student jumps from star-to-star on the floor during
Physical Fitness class.
O c tober 3, 2008
page 7
page 8
O c to b er 3, 2008
Happe n i ngs
For more, visit www.postoakschool.org
Oc tober 6 - 10
POPA Coffee / Work Day /
Mystery Box Wrapping
8:45 - 10:00 am
Tue
10/7
Redirecting Children’s
Behavior
6:30 - 9:00 pm
POPA Dinner
N ot i c e B o a r d
EHS visit and
Private School Preview
Rescheduled
The Middle School visit to the Episcopal High
School has been rescheduled for October 20,
and Private School Preview is now scheduled
for October 26 from 2:00 - 4:00 pm at the JW
Marriott Hotel.
6:30 - 9:30 pm
Tue-Thu
10/7-10/9
Thu
10/9
Fri
10/10
Individual Pictures
Yom Kippur
The Weekly Post distributed this day
Parent-Teacher
Conference Day
No classes are in session: only
students with expanded-year
contracts attend.
O c t o b e r 15 -1 8
Tue
10/14
Redirecting Children’s
Behavior
6:30 - 9:00 pm
Thu
10/16
Elementary Evening Program
Sat
10/18
Field Day
7:00 - 8:00 pm
Religious Holidays
Parents: we would like your input on
which religious holidays to include on the
web site, in The Weekly Post, and in next year’s
calendar. If you have thoughts to share on this,
please email [email protected].
Gym Kitchen Update
If you are interested in being on a committee
to discuss updating the gym kitchen, please
email [email protected].
Green Team
Parent and faculty volunteers needed to help
with the greening of The Post Oak School.
Contact [email protected].
Carpooling is cool!
Have you thought of carpooling? It saves
on gas, lightens the traffic in our driveway,
and saves time. Consider calling a Post Oak
Volunteers Unite!
There are lots of events in the planning stages
at school these days. Check out the binder at
the front desk. It has volunteer sign up sheets
for Field Day, Book Fair, Gala, and more.
neighbor to share the driving duty.
How Green Was My
Weekly Post
We print The Weekly Post each Friday. If
Volunteer for field day
you’d like to save paper and ink, consider
If you would like to volunteer for fabulous Field
Day, be sure to contact your room parent. Lots
of volunteers are needed for half-hour shifts.
Neufeld ([email protected]) to
reading the news online. Contact Shannon
arrange an electronic subscription.
10:00 am - 1:00 pm
O c t o b e r 2 0 -2 4
Fri
10/24
Parent-Teacher
Conference Day
No classes are in session: only
students with expanded-year
contracts attend.
A bou t T he Weekly Post
The Weekly Post appears on most Fridays of the regular school year.
You can receive a printed copy from your oldest child, or a PDF version online.
Submit letters, articles, or photos in electronic form by 5 pm on the Tuesday before publication
Keep track of school events with our
online calendar—or download a fresh copy
of the school’s printed calendar, all at
http://www.postoakschool.org
to Communications Coordinator Shannon Neufeld ([email protected]).
the post oak school: founded in 1963 and accredited
by both the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) and
the Independent Schools Association of the Southwest (ISAS)
4600 Bissonnet, Bellaire, Texas 77401 / Telephone: 713-661-6688 / Fax: 713-661-4959