About OES
  September 23, 2011      Vol. 6, No. 3  
 
 
                   



Obletz Finishes 1st
in X-Country Meet

Junior Nick O. outran the competition from 10 other high schools as OES hosted an invitational cross country meet this week. Among 10 middle school teams, the OES girls placed second while the boys placed third. For the Upper School, the boys' team placed third and the girls placed fifth. Placing in the top ten in addition to Nick were Zachary S. '12, in sixth place with a time of 18:22, and Alex Y. '12 in ninth place at 19:16. Nick ran the 5000-meter race in 17:23. Thanks to John Holloran for still photos. See a 2.5-minute video here.		    

At top, the middle school teams surge from the starting line. At left, early in the race, Nick O. leads the pack with Zach Shute following.
4th-Graders Share Their Work With Classmates at 'Write-In'
     

Teacher Asha Sathyaraj listens as a student reads his work to the class.		   Fourth-graders participated in a "write-in" last Friday as part of their Year of the Writer project. They started the day watching a webcast of favorite authors--Rick Riordan, Gordon Korman, Linda Sue Park and more--speak about the traits of writing. Students decorated a classroom Author's Chair, set up personal writing folders, and of course, wrote and shared their writing. One activity in the day had students brainstorming descriptive features of an ideal animal, drawing the animal, and writing about it. Students in two classes traded paragraphs and drew each others' animals based on the description. Then they got together to compare and match their drawings.
 
                 
  You Can't Get More Local Than This!

The chefs from Bon Appétit, which provides food for the dining hall, are working with the Lower School students to harvest produce from the school gardens for Bon Appétit's Eat Local Challenge on Tuesday. The chefs will prepare a meal with ingredients sourced exclusively from within 150 miles of OES, demonstrating to students how their food choices affect the environment, land use, and community well-being. Every class in the Lower School has a garden plot, and last spring Ms. Thompson's class decided to dedicate their plot to herbs. Last year's class prepped the plot and planted, and this year's class is harvesting the herbs. On Monday, they worked with dining hall manager Kelly Cowing, above right, to harvest lemon balm to make tea in the classroom. The first-graders also are sharing their herbs with students throughout the school in the Eat Local Challenge.
 
 
Chilean Gives 8th-Graders a Lesson in Spanish

Eighth-graders had the opportunity to practice their Spanish with a native speaker on Monday. They received a visit from Chilean Renato Mundaca Lassalle, 15, who has been staying with Upper School teacher Robin Schauffler. The students asked Renato questions about what life is like in Chile--what he eats, what sport he plays (futbol, aka soccer, of course), and what he likes to do for fun. The conversation was all in Spanish, and judging from the laughter, they understood one another.
     
First-Graders See Birds and Bugs,
Spiders and Slugs
  First-graders are studying the classification, life cycle, food cycle, and habitats of insects, and this week they looked for bugs in the woods, meadows, and wetlands on campus. They found insects, such as the mosquito perched on the finger of teacher Doug Whitmore at left, as well as seeing other types of critters, including spiders, a great blue heron, and the slug captured by the students shown at right. The students also will visit the Oregon Zoo to see how the zookeepers create different habitats for animals.  

From left are Sarayu C. '17, Karina H. '17, Lincoln High student Lizzie A., Elizabeth K. '17, Alexandra U. '17, and Claire H. '17. 		  Students Walk
to Help Find Cure
for Breast Cancer

A group of freshman girls walked the 5-kilometer course at the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure to support the mother of one of the girls, who is being treated for breast cancer now. "It was very fun being with friends and was great to see all the support for such a great cause," said Elizabeth K. '17.
Come Have Dessert With Dormies 

All OES families are invited to join boarding students for their annual open house, "Dessert in the Dorms," from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. this Sunday evening. It will include the following activities:
• Enjoy a tour of the dorms while meeting some of our many international and domestic boarding students.
• Discover an opportunity for cultural exchange through the Dorm Buddy Program.
• Learn about the Backyard Exchange program – where Upper School day students can become "dormies" for a short term stay.
If you are unable to attend the event, but would like more information about the Buddy Program or the Backyard Exchange, please contact Bonnie Brennan at 503-768-3115.