NEWSLETTER | April 2015 1

IN THIS ISSUE

Hello parents, students, faculty and friends of the Koan School!

We have successfully completed the first six weeks of the 2014-2015 school year. To the students, we thank you for all your hard work learning many new subjects, helping us get into the groove with the new classes and buildings, and generally being awesome. We have some of the greatest teachers in the world (and Texas) working here at Koan, facilitating our kids’ learning every day.

To the parents and community, we very much appreciate your being willing to support our school by volunteering your time, donating money to keep us up and running, and talking to others in the community about what we do here at Koan. We love having you in the school and if you would like to visit, please make sure to have an appointment so that we can keep the kids learning with as few disruptions as possible.

So far, we have traveled around the DFW area, learning about art, science, history, dance, gardening, and many more subjects, learning firsthand from the experts we have available to us out in the

world. That will continue in the next six weeks with further visits and great learning experiences. Let us know if you have any ideas for supporting our kids’ learning in the community through projects that the kids could be involved with.

Thanks for all your hard work and support!

Scott & Heather

Bonjour Printemps! Hello Spring!

Lower Elementary Update

Upper Elementary Newsletter

Middle School Fun

Adventures in High Schooling

Le Coin Français | French Corner & Summer Schedule

Bonjour Printemps! Hello Spring!

Newsletter

2014 - 2015

Volume 3

Can you believe this school year is almost over? We’ve made new friends, learned a thousand new things, and had a meaningful impact on our community. It has been a busy year so far!

We collected clothing and hygiene products, and raised money for Giving Hope, Inc. We collected dog and cat food for the grand opening of the new Linda McNatt Animal Care and Adoption Center. We brought joy to the residents of twoassisted living facilities.

We helped grow food at various plots around town. We began working on our own garden with the help of a $500 grant from Keep Denton Beautiful and Dr. Jean Greenlaw, and a $100 grant from the Lady Bird Foundation. We began working on our Junior Master Gardener certifications during the school day and in our new after school gardening club.

We took field trips all over Denton and the DFW Metroplex. We had expert visitors from various fields. We had our first annual Science Faire. We climbed walls, hills, trees, and piles of mulch. We hatched butterflies and praying mantises. We drew pictures and sang songs and flew kites.

All this while learning how to read, write, do maths, think critically, and work well with others. We are so very proud of all the students at our little school this year. We can’t wait to see what we do next!

As always, thank you for your support of the Koan School.

Sincerely- Scott and Heather

NEWSLETTER | April 2015 2

The Lower Elementary students are especially excited about spring and are taking many opportunities to learn outdoors. Monday afternoons, all the students are participating in Science Club held at the Elm Fork Education Center at U.N.T. They have completed their first of three spring service projects at Cardo’s Farm, planting collard greens and collecting eggs.

The students are planting on campus as well. In the classroom, they have many vegetable and herb seedlings spouting. During Gardening Club and French class, the students are busy planting strawberries and butterfly plants and keeping everything watered. They made many discoveries walking the Greenbelt including animal prints and fur, budding plants, and active insects. The Lower Elementary students are looking forward to visiting some angora goats in the next few weeks, visiting Whitehawk, spending the day at Elm Fork, and planning their Earth Day celebration.

Lower Elementary Update by Jeanne Webb

The Lower Elementary students, with Dr. Jean Greenlaw, accept a check

from Keep Denton Beautiful.

Chickens at Bedarra’s Farm, Service-learning at Cardo’s Farm, a class field trip to Heritage Village in

Dallas, and our first crop of strawberries at Koan!

NEWSLETTER | April 2015 3

OUR MONTH IN PICTURES

Upper Elementary Newsletter by Kay Treacher

The upper elementary students visit the fire house.

Who would have thought we’d have snow days at the end of February and into March? Even with all the crazy snow days, wonderful learning has been taking place in the Upper Elementary Class.

We’ve been using the scientific method and enjoying weekly science experiments. Here are a few of our favorites: adding 133 pennies to a full bowl of water without the water flowing over, coloring the inside of a stick of celery using only a bowl of colored water, floating potatoes between salt water and colored water, making oil and water rockers, and observing that colored water of different temperatures doesn’t mix. On the way we learned about cohesion, adhesion, capillary action, density, and the effects of temperature.

Our investigations into recycling were complimented by a visit to the Denton Landfill and Recycling Center. We made changes in our classroom so that less of our waste went to the landfill, and more to the recycling center. We also upcycled plastic bottles into fish window decorations and milk cartons into bird feeders.

Sandy Magee from UNT came to visit to help us learn about the brain and the central nervous system. We made huge collages of the brain and a neuron, and the students devised and recorded a short presentation about the brain.

Among other things we have been busy: investigated expressive writing and informative writing, and written some fabulous Valentine Haikus; we’ve been singing in French; created artwork inspired by Cezanne and Van Gogh; practiced the art of improvisation; and researched plants for the butterfly garden.

We took a trip to Discovery Park to see the 3D printers in action and learn about how they work. We’ve also been out and about in Denton and beyond visiting UNT on the Square, Beth Maries, the Denton Firefighters Museum and Fire Station, Denton libraries local parks, the climbing wall at Denia Rec Center, and the Dallas Heritage Village.

From the top: 3D printing at UNT, science experiments, Dallas Heritage Village, and learning about the brain!

NEWSLETTER | April 2015 4

Middle School Fun! by Amanda Newton

This semester is moving fast, but we still have some exciting activities in our future!

In English, we have explored expressive and informative writing. The students even wrote haikus for the Valentine’s Day cards we took to Autumn Leaves Retirement home. The students are still writing short stories for their own collections. We will be continuing with informative writing for a bit, then move on to persuasive writing. The students will also be reading books and doing a different style of book report!

In math, we have moved from absolute values to graphing. The students have learned about triangles, complementary, and supplementary angles, as well as the Pythagorean Theorem. There is so much more they have gone over. I encourage you to have a peek in your child’s math binder.

Science class is taking us on a journey through environmental issues, as well as structure. We have been learning about the structure of the earth and the continuing change that happens. The kids are also in the middle of making habitats. These habitats might be having some disasters soon. Stay tuned to see how the students were able to clean them up!

We have almost completed our lessons on the pillars of civilization. The students have been focusing on China. The inventions from that era are amazing. We also learned a bit about how technology can help us date artifacts and help us learn about ancient civilizations.

Soline has been helping the students construct sentences in French. Their vocabularies grow daily. Soline took us on an archery adventure, where the students learned even more words and a new skill. They have been learning some fun songs, too!

Almost all of the students have completed their fleece pants. Now they can be comfy-cozy and feeling accomplished in their new jam-jams. They will be working on another sewing project with Zelda soon.

We went out to Autumn Leaves Retirement home for our community project. We brought cookies and homemade Valentines to spread some cheer to the clients at the facility. While there we met the parrot they use for therapy and got to tour the grounds. All of the residents were so happy to see such young faces among them. We completed our mission of bringing cheer to others!

Spring Break is over and before you know it, it will be summer. Stay tuned to hear about performances, fundraisers, and exciting summer camps! I hope everyone had some well-deserved rest over the break. These kids are going to rule the world one day. Thanks again for sharing your children with me.

First annual Science Faire!

They sewed these pants by themselves! Pants with pockets!

Middle School students passing out cards at Autumn Leaves.

Bullseyes!

NEWSLETTER | April 2015 5

The High School class has survived the doldrums of winter (with the help of a few snow days) and is entering spring with fresh energy!

We were thrilled to learn that our first Koan Future Problem Solving team qualified to the State Bowl competition, which will be held in Austin in late April. The class is busy with fascinating research on the future of human enhancements to help the team prepare. We're learning about nootropics, bionics, genetic enhancements, brain chips, powered exoskeletons, increased human longevity, adaptive technologies, and more. Of course, we're especially focused on potential problems with these new advancements.

Our French class has continued to gain life skills while learning a new language. In addition to cooking wonderful meals to share, we went on an archery field trip, played French Anomia, and learned some basic carpentry skills to build garden boxes while speaking French! We're at the very beginning stages of planning an eventual trip to France or possibly Quebec to practice our language skills even more. If anyone knows of businesses we could visit where someone will speak French with us, we'd love to hear about them!

We've taken a bit more of an introspective turn lately. In literature, we've been reading books that focus on internal conflict, like John Knowle's A Separate Peace and some of Edgar Allan Poe's short stories. We also tackled our first Shakespearean play, Julius Caesar. Tiffany's husband, Christopher Fuhrmann, is a history professor specializing in ancient Rome, so he helped give us a great background for the play. We wore togas as we read the play together, and several of the students even memorized Mark Anthony's funeral oration. After finishing The Outsiders, we're moving on to The Glass Castle next!

We started off the year with a citizen science project as we investigated antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the streams of Denton. We collected samples upstream and downstream of the Pecan Creek Wastewater Treatment plant, as well as at locations at Clear Creek and Avondale Park. We found far more bacteria that were resistant to ampicillin downstream of the water treatment facility.

We also studied more about the problems with antibiotic resistance and steps that can be taken to reduce this public health risk. In case you didn't know, the city of Denton has a drug disposal kiosk in the lobby of the police department at 601 E. Hickory Street. Please don't flush unused antibiotics!

In biology, the students have been learning all about the systems of the body, as well as CPR and first aid. They also dissected squids and then made calamari. Yum!

Our projects took a fun twist during the cold days as we tackled a Stanford School of Design project to "Design a Better Ramen" using the design process. We expanded the project to the class favorite of mac 'n cheese, and had fun with the first few steps of design (especially "immersing ourselves to better understand the customer's experience”). We've created surveys and taken data, so we should be creating prototypes for a better mac n' cheese soon! In more recent news, we're excited about the addition of two young Russian Tortoises, Eleanor and Franklin, to our class. The students can frequently be seen practicing their French or reading a book while giving the tortoises some time to exercise outside. We're hoping to build them a small play area with a garden to grow the leafy greens they eat so quickly! We're also challenging ourselves to get more exercise and are just beginning a class Couch to 5K project. It will be a great excuse to get outside more during the beautiful spring weather. We'll be studying ecology this spring as well, with many planned outings to make our own observations.

HIGH SCHOOL AT A GLANCE

Adventures in High Schooling by Tiffany Fuhrmann

From left:Owl pellet dissection, prepping samples for experimentation, eating calamari, and dissecting squid.

Cooking and Archery in French

NEWSLETTER | April 2015 6

by Soline D’Haussy

All students are making great progress in French and their vocabulary is expanding. The younger kids can now sing five songs in French, our latest addition being “Bêê Bêê Mouton noir” (Bah, bah, black sheep). All classes have been following my cousin’s journey in South America on Vimeo (www.vimeo.com/channel/dacaluf) and learning vocabulary pertaining to their adventures (name for animals, food, outdoor activities, etc…). The “Dacaluf” family is now on their second year of traveling around the world and has just arrived at Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. We are all excited to be learning more about this new continent thanks to Felix and Lucille.

For Middle School and High School, the Dacaluf videos have been an opportunity to learn about francophone countries in Africa and the history of colonization. The students also have also been playing fun and challenging games in French such as Apples to Apples, Anomia and Scattergories.

Summer Schedule

We have lots of activities planned for the summer!

Summer Clubhouse June 2 - August 14 8:00 am to 5:30 pm Summer activities, including swimming, movies, and more! Ages 5 and up $150 per week French Immersion Camp June 8 - June 26 9:00 am to 12:30 pm For children who have spoken French for 3+ years Ages 5 to 9 $100 per week Reading & Spelling / Math Camps July 6 - July 31 Reading & Spelling: 10:00 am to 12:30 pm Math: 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm For students who need help with academic fluency skills Ages 10 to 13 $125 per week Film Camp August 10 - August 14 9:00 am to 4:00 pm Students practice screenwriting, directing, acting, and film editing Ages 12 and up $175 for the week Workshops for Teens and Adults Various dates and times Topics include Book binding, cheese making, and more! Check the Koan Facebook for upcoming details

Le Coin Français | French Corner