5-8-2020 Watch Turtles Hatch Live at the Oregon Zoo

Check out these little turtle hatchlings at the Oregon Zoo.  They will be broadcasting on Facebook Live at 10:30 am today.  

By joining live, you can not only view, but ask questions about these cute little turtles.  After the live video, head over to this website for lots of great activities to learn more about the turtles.  Also be sure to check out all of the recorded sessions on the site with many interesting animals.  

Martha Thornburgh: Mount Vernon Schools Teaching and Learning

5-7-20 Bulldogs Make Great Nurses

Yesterday, we shared that it was National Teacher Appreciation Week. I hope that you took some time to connect with your teacher and let them know that you appreciate the hard work and creativity that they put in to helping you learn.

But there is even more to celebrate. This week is also National Nurse Appreciation Week. Nurses work hard to keep you well, and to comfort and care for you when you are sick or hurt. At this time of a world wide health crisis, nurses are on the front line, risking their own health and safety to help others. Throughout history, nurses have been brave warriors who risk a lot to help others.

Miriam Witt is a Mount Vernon High School Graduate who is currently working on her Master's Degree in Nursing and has used her skills and compassion to serve people in need all over the world. Read about her work in her own words.

Miriam Witt

I am a nurse.

I am a disaster response nurse.

I have traveled to areas on this planet where earthquakes hit, caring for patients sitting outside of their crumbled homes. I have traveled to war zones, changing bloody dressings of wounds caused by bombs. I have worked in refugee camps, providing nursing care to malnourished and anxiety ridden patients. The type of anxiety where you see their bones shaking through their skin. That kind. I have lived through a major fire in Southern California, driving through flames to get to work the next day. And I have walked with refugees crossing the Venezuelan border, entering into Colombia for basic human rights.

And here I am. Working as a hospice nurse in the time of Covid. People thought I was crazy when I put my backpack on my shoulders and bought a last minute ticket to Nepal after a major earthquake hit. I was called ignorant when I let my friends know I was headed to the border of Syria to care for victims of the Syrian war. Some people didn’t quite understand why I would travel to Colombia to provide medical care to refugees fleeing Venezuela.

I listened to my heart when it called me to these places. And you know what all of that prepared me for? Right now. I learned through these lived experiences that courage emerges when I stare fear in the face and take one step toward it.

Lately, I have been taking huge leaps forward, lunging into fear. I put the same scrubs on I wore in Nepal and the same danskos on I wore throughout nursing school and I step into homes with a mask covering my smile and a gown covering my body and I hold a Wife’s hands as her Husband passes away in front of our eyes and I just know that through the mysteries of life, every step has led me here. I used to think that sometimes, kismet happens. I now know kismet is continually happening, it just takes us a little longer to see it.

I’m not only proud to be a nurse. I’m empowered to be on the front lines providing care in the midst of this horrible virus. Covid is swirling all around me like a hurricane and I won’t let it stop me from caring. I won’t.

Miriam Witt: Mount Vernon Bulldog

Watch this video that shows some of the accomplishments nurses have made throughout history.

  

How can you say thank you to a nurse you know who has helped you or helps others?  

Here are some ideas:

• Write a letter or make a card to say Thank You.  
• Create Hearts to put in your windows to show nurses you care and you are thinking of them.
• Bake cookies and share with nurses working in a hospital or clinic.  
• Would you like to be a nurse?  Find out what you need to do to become a nurse.  

Martha Thornburgh: Mount Vernon Teaching and Learning

5-6-20 Thank a Teacher

This week is National Teacher Appreciation Week.  Your teachers invest a lot in you.  They care about you and they miss you.  Especially this year with the school closures, your teachers have showed you that not only do they do the hard work of teaching, they also do the hard work of learning.  Teachers are working hard to learn new ways to teach and to connect with their students.  They are working hard to try to make sure that you are able to keep learning new things and that you are safe and healthy.  Take some time this week to let your teachers know that you are grateful for what they do for you.  

Here are some ideas. 

1. Write your teacher a letter.  Share with them some of the special memories you have of them.  

2.  Draw a picture of you and your teacher and share it with them.  

3.  Create a "Thank you" video to share with them.  

4.  Think back to teachers you have had in the past.  Once you leave their class, you are not forgotten.  Teachers love hearing from their former students and seeing how they have grown.  Be sure to take some time to connect with those teachers as well.  You will make their day.  

5. Be sure to join in your class meetings this week and make sure to tell your teacher "thank you".  

5-5-2020 Celebrate Cinco de Mayo

Papel Picado by Stuart Seeger

Today is Cinco de Mayo. Many people think that Cinco de Mayo is Independence Day in Mexico. Actually, Mexican Independence is celebrated on September 16th. Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Mexican Army's victory over the French Empire at the Battle of Puebla, on May 5, 1862, under the leadership of General Ignacio Zaragoza.  Today Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of Mexican heritage and the many great contributions Mexicans have made throughout history.  Learn more about Cinco de Mayo here.  

Papel Picado is a type of folk art from Mexico.  These bright banners can be created in much the same way as we cut out snow flakes.  Celebrate Mexico and its traditions by creating your own Papel Picado as a colorful decoration.  

Martha Thornburgh: Mount Vernon Schools Teaching and Learning

5-4-20 Triangle Designs

Triangle Designs

 The goal is to create as many composite shapes as possible made up of four isosceles triangles.

 

1. Cut four isosceles to make your shapes.

Remember that isosceles triangles have two sides of equal length.

2. Use the triangles to make different shapes.  
3. Each triangle mus touch at least one other triangle
4. Triangles must touch along sides of the same length.
5. See how many you can make.

Here are some examples

Mary Ellen Huggins: Mount Vernon Schools Teaching and Learning