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About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Oregon) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (May 25, 2016)
Page 2 Dome School Times, Takilma, Ore. Wednesday, May 25, 2016 That’s groundbreaking! Building expansion moves ahead Recent visitors to the Dome School may have no- ticed the orance fencing that went up during the afternoon of Saturday, May 14, just one day after the school signed an agreement with contractor Kurt Bolser of Pickett Moun- tain Construction LTD. Dedicated Dome School classrooms have been dearly desired ever since the Takilma Community Building opened, over 35 years ago. Dedicated classrooms will allow for a quieter and more focused learning environment and free up the Takilma Community Building for events and com- munity classes. After many years of fund- raising and dogged effort, the Dome School is now closer than ever to realizing this vision. The expansion blueprints are finished and stamped by the county, and include two large classrooms, a library and computer space, two additional restrooms, storage space, and a utility room. And on Wednesday, May 18, we celebrated our impend- ing construction with a small groundbreaking ceremony. Kurt brought 24 toy hard-hats for the kids (see photo, right), though the shovels they used were full-size. The additions will be built on the southeast portion of the current building and have been designed with energy efficiency and sound acoustics in mind. These improvements will be a major boon for students, teachers, and parents alike – as well as locals who will have much greater access to the Community Building. Updates & Reminders for current families Graduation - May 26 We call it graduation, but we honor all our students at this end-of-year event. Dinner at 6pm, ceremony at 6:30pm. School picnic - May 31 Our annual end of the year all-school picnic will take place at Forks State Park, 11am-2pm. Construction doesn’t come cheap though, and the total cost amounts to over $300,000. The Dome School has raised a little over half of this amount, and has, thank- fully, found a steadfast-yet- flexible contractor who is willing to begin construction while additional grants and community fundraising is pursued. “There’s currently enough funds to close it in and weath- erproof it,” says Expansion committee member Dallion McGregor. “But we still need financial help before it’s ready for students. Everyone’s very optimistic though, and we ex- pect to have the entire project finished by next spring.” To watch a short video about the need for the project, including some historic pic- tures and stories, please visit http://domeschool.org/help. Elementary class’ ĦKLJKOLJKWV Marjorie Reynolds leads the Kindergarten in Qi Gong. Thanks so much, Marjorie, for all your years with jewelry-making and Qi Gong! Please register by June 30 Our waitlist is growing, so we ask current families to please submit registration payments by June 30 to se- cure your place for Fall 2016. You can pay at the Dome School booth at Barter Faire if you like. FYI: 2016-17 Staff With Katherine retiring (see lead story, page 1), the school has hired Kaci Elder to join Kimiko Fujita in the Elementary. Continuing as preschool teachers are Jill Gruenberg and Jenn Fogler. with Ashley Beckman and Rochelle Eidukot-Gale continuing as Kindergarten teachers. About the D-S Times T-shirts still available We still have several of our t-shirts, which debuted at the Winter Bazaar. Get them from the school office or find them at Hope Mountain Barter Faire, June 17-19. We also have bags and bum- per stickers with the same design. Following the grroundbreaking ceremony, students pose by the only dome at the Dome School. And that fence may look grey, but trust us, LW¶VGH¿QLWHO\RUDQJHWKHWUXHPDUNWKDWFRQVWUXFWLRQKDVEHJLQ Sorry for not letting the whole Dome community know this was happening. It was kind-of a surprise for Katherine, and we didn’t want to let the cat out o’ the bag. Going forward, expect more stories and photo- graphs by our students in a twice-yearly newspaper! Kindergarten class looks back on year “My favorite thing about school this year was the Mother’s Day Tea Party. We performed a poem for our moms and surprised them with muffins we made.” - River “We made kites at school. We went to the meadow to fly them but mine didn’t fly. Next time I want to make a plastic one like the ones from the store.” - Charlotte “I really liked the field trip when we went to the farm [Eden’s Edge] to pick vegetables and pet goats!” - Paisley “We learned about dinosaurs this year! My favorite dinosaur is diplodocus because it has a really long tail and neck and it ate plants!” - Azurah “I liked when we made a big huge caterpillar. He was grey and had big eyes.” - Rosemary “My favorite thing about school is learning how to add and subtract with my teachers.” - Kamy “We walked to the Frog Farm to press apples into cider. It tasted good. And another field trip was to Edens Edge. We picked corn and ate it raw. And we saw goats. I’m excited to go again and drink goat milk!” - Kailen “I really liked when we did the Three Little Pigs play. I was a big bad wolf. I said, ‘I’ll huff and puff and blow your house down!’” - Lori “My favorite things about school are learning about the calendar and weather and playing with my cousins outisde.” - Araya “I love playing outside with my friends and teachers and doing art projects.” - Asher Sarodah overcame her fear of heights: “I loved going on the ziplines for the first time at the Treehouses!” Airabella also enjoyed flying through the trees: “I really liked the ziplines!” Noah felt at home in the tall trees: “The redwoods field trip was my favorite. It was time with my friends in the trees.” Finn became an avid reader: “I really liked the Read-a-Thon because it was so much fun sitting quietly and reading all day. It really helped us with our reading.” Alalana experienced the power of a girl on a bike: “I loved the Bike-a-Thon! I liked riding my bike and had such a fun time.” Cooper stretched his science brain: “I really liked Science Works!” Lillianna developed lifelong friendships: “The best day was the first day of school and getting to see all these new people, thinking, ‘Wow! I’m going to have all these new friends.’” Lucy learned to glide on ice: “I loved ice skating! At first I was scared, but after a while it was fun.” Wyatt learned stories of history and vengeance: “I liked studying the book ‘The History of the Wild West’ and working on the play ‘Macbeth.” Felix enjoyed the hikes as well as the Shakespeare: “I liked the redwoods field trip since it smells nice, and I like doing Shakespeare plays because they’re greatly done and fun. It’s very nice to do them.” Rory read books to raise money for the school library: “The Read-a-Thon was a fun and academic way to get books for our school.” Kya found her own special rock: “When we went hiking Two students duel it out during to the river, I liked that there a performance of Shakespeare’s were so many rocks to sit on. “The Tempest,” at last month’s You could have you own rock to yourself.” Open House. Chela broke a school ABOVE RIGHT: Bike-A-Thon record: “I liked it when participants are on their marks, Kimi and I broke the record getting ready and set (and wait- in ultimate frisbee, when ing for “Go!”). we made a goal in just two passes!” 3UHVFKRROFODVVUHÁHFWVRQ0D\ Perhaps we could all learn something from our youngest students. Rather than reflect on the whole year, they are taking one day at a time. On Thursday, May 12, their teachers asked, “What did you like best about today?” Here’s what they had to say: Preschool students pose with teachers Jill Gruenberg (left) and Jenn Fogler (right) “The sand table.” - Ezra age 4 “Playing with toys.” - Myis, age 4 “Playing with toys.” - Keenan, age 4 “Playing.” - Adam, age 3 “Looking at bugs.” - Rio, age 4 “Going outside.” - Breeze, age 5 “Circle time.” - Lilac, age 4 “Going outside.” - Tristan, age 4 “Reading books.” - Samara, age 4 “Singing a song.” - Emma, age 4 Preschool students enjoy the tire swing Thank you so much to everyone who helped make the 2015-16 Dome School year a big success: our students and families, teachers and administrators, cooks, janitors, classroom and event volunteers, building expansion committee (it’s happening!), and everyone who attended any of our events or donated time or money. Thanks!!
