OREGON HOLOCAUST RESOURCE CENTER COMPETITION: THE RESULTS ARE IN!

We received some good news this past week!  A number of our 8th graders have been named as winners of the Oregon Holocaust and Resource Center’s art and writing competition.  This year their topic was “Voice of the Future.”  Students were asked to depict the Holocaust in art and written form with this theme in mind.  This is an example of what we mean by integrated curriculum.  Ms. Harmeyer and Mrs. Acurso worked on this project together and the results have been most impressive.  Please join me in congratulating the following students:

ART

Addison Melzer, 1st Place

Kellan Griffith, 2nd Place

Emily Zweber, Honorable Mention

Claire Trily, Honorable Mention

Alice Erbling, Honorable Mention

WRITING

Alice Erbling, 2nd Place

Mariel Zupsic, Honorable Mention

These students, along with their families, Ms. Harmeyer and Mrs. Acurso will be treated to a luncheon on May 7th where these students will be honored by the Board of the Oregon Holocaust Resource Center located at Pacific University.

8th GRADERS ENTER INTO A FOOD FAST

Mrs. Kollars schedules a Food Fast for her students each year to help them understand poverty and the plight of those living in third world countries. Following classroom lessons on poverty, hunger, and injustice in various areas of the world, the students are asked to collect sponsors for a 24 hour fast during a selected school day.  Throughout the fast day the students continue to learn about and reflect on the world poverty situation.  Students are asked to continue their fast at home including through breakfast the next morning. Mrs. Kollars tells her students that they will be treated to a break fast when they get to school, but when they arrive they are grouped into 1st World, 2nd World and 3rd World groups.  Those in the 1st World group have a variety of sugared cereals, fruit, yogurt, white and chocolate milk, pastries, etc. ; those in the 2nd World group have 1 cup of rice puffs and water, and those in the 3rd World group have 1/2 cup of rice puffs but no water.  Some students understand what is happening right away.  Some grumble about being in the “little food” group, and others turn to those with no food and give what they have without skipping a beat.  It’s a very practical way of experiencing the elements of poverty that our children never have to deal with.  Mrs. Kollars intentionally schedules this lesson during Lent in order for her students to be united with Jesus during the remembrance of his persecution and death.  When we talk about teaching our students to live the Gospel, it must necessarily begin with an understanding of the issues, and then how we should respond. 

In the 4th grade this past week, we discussed all the rallying in this U.S. over immigration.  Ms. Mac and I asked why people even want to come to America, and explained how many of our immigrants, while seeking basic rights and opportunity,  begin their lives here in poverty.  This led us to a discussion of poverty.  What does it look like.  How do some families become so poor?  When we discussed the issues around immigration, we finally asked, “What is the Gospel value here?”  “What would Jesus do if he were here right now?”  They all said that he would let people come into our country.  In order to keep a balanced view on all of this, we further discussed the problems that ensue when you open your doors to countless numbers.  This lesson will result in “The Gospel according to the 4th Grade.”  When  it is finished, we will share it with you. 

Once again, this is an example of developing critical thinking skills, and drawing our students to understand issues of life and our world with a Christian moral conscience.  It’s a lot less to do with politics, and everything to do with a Christ-centered response.

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