Thor-Nox Educational Garden

The soil is tiled, and the garden is underway! Now I begin a photo essay to accompany and document the experience. Located adjacent to the Mount View School complex in Thorndike, the garden sits upon a piece of the historical 420 acre farm which is under conservation easement, owned by Shirley Bessey. Kelly Desrosiers, Mount View Elementary School Art Teacher and Project Based Learning Adviser, is helping to develop this educational garden on Ms. Bessey's land, with great enthusiasm from Ms. Bessey herself. The garden will be a hands-on project for students and the community, from planting, to tending, to harvesting crops for the school cafeteria. Along the way will be nature journaling and many other activities to encourage appreciation of the natural world just outside the children's proverbial back door.

To keep up to date with the going on in the garden (including when I'll be having my Afterschool Performing Arts group presenting an adaptation of "The Gigantic Turnip"!) please visit the Thor-Nox Educational Garden facebook page

Pecha Kucha Night, Waterville

My son Jakob has been selected to be a presenter at the next Pecha Kucha Night in Waterville. He'll be sharing 20 of his hand drawn sketches of charactors from the "new" BBC Doctor Who series. We are told he is the youngest artist ever the presentation would take place four nights before his 10th birthday) to submit to PKN Waterville. I am quite proud!

MSBA 2011-2012 Reading Group

I have placed the bare bones information about the Maine Student Book Award Reading Group for Mount View Elementary upon the Barefoot Storyteller web-site. And created a Maine View Elementary MSBA Readers Blog

If you are interested in purchasing the books yourself, I have provided links for them through Amazon for ease of ordering, as they are often the least expensive. Some titles are also available through the Scholastic Book Club, and if you chose to buy through them instead you will earn free books for the entire Mount View Elementary Summer Reading Program. After you and log on to the Scholastic Store, and create your parent password, use the classroom code HL23F and you will be able to view the program wish lists and recommendations relating to the MSBA. (some may appear more than once as they are in multiple catalogs) You are also free to browse and shop for any other books there, and all books can be picked up at the Summer Reading Program.

Elementary Afterschool Performing Arts Program

Mount View Elementary Afterschool Performing Arts Program members preparing for the performance of "And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon" at the Clifford Performing Arts Center.