Our 5th grade students have just finished two weeks of bike safety classes under the sponsorship of of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance , Safe Routes to Schools and the City of Portland .
Today our 5th grade students took part in a neighborhood ride where they were able to put into practice the skills and safety rules they have learned over the past two weeks.
At Lewis are very happy to have musicians Kate Finn and Rick Weiss working this week with students in Mr. Colvin's 4th grade classroom. Through a grant, Kate and Rick are working with our 4th and 5th grade students to provide a songwriting residence experience. Students work in groups to write songs on a theme. Mr. Colvin's students have chosen the theme of animals. The experience will culminate with a recording session where the student songs are sung and recorded. Each student will receive a CD with the entire collection of songs. The files will also be available for electronic download to MP3 devices and iPods. Mr. Marchyok's students will be working next month with Kate and Rick, and our 5th grade students will work with them in January. We are grateful to Kate and Rick, and their grant underwriters, for providing this great opportunity to our students.
At Lewis we have two cob benches that were built by students under the direction of natural builder James Thomson. From time to time they need a bit of maintenance and a new coat of plaster. Today Mr. Thomson, along with an assistant, visited the school to make some repairs to our oldest bench, and also apply a new coat of plaster.
In preparation for their visit to the Reed College Cooley Art Gallery, Gregory MacNaughton visits with 3rd grade students at Lewis Elementary. I had the opportunity to observe Gregory deliver his presentation in our 3rd grade classrooms. He does a great job of sharing his excitement for the gallery and the opportunities it provides our students to visit and interact with a world class college.
Our 5th grade students have started bike safety classes this week. They will be working this week and next learning traffic safety and safe riding techniques. We thank our friends at Safe Routes to School and the Bicycle Transportation Alliance for their help and support with this program.
Bicycles arrive….
On October 21 we held our Fall Community Dinner. Over 150 members of the Lewis community joined together in the Lewis cafeteria to share a meal prepared by Chef David Anderson of Genoa. We thank David and the folks at Genoa/Accanto for their generous support of Lewis. Also we would like to thank all of our parent, staff, and community volunteers who made the event possible.
This photo was used on a USDA blog to promote National School Lunch Week.
Bike delivery day...
Our custodians have been working hard this summer getting ready for the start of school. We have two fantastic custodians and they do a great job...
I played with this image in Snapseed on the iPad...
I ride by these two tree just about every work day...
Last week, the City of Portland began work on the construction of some pedestrian improvements near Lewis Elementary School. Sidewalk installations have begun on SE 45th avenue at locations that previously did not have sidewalks. This includes a section of sidewalk directly north and south of our crosswalk on SE 45th and Evergreen. In addition it looks as if a pedestrian island is being installed at SE 45th and Glenwood, and a section of sidewalk is being installed just north of Glenwood on SE 46th. These improvements will make it easier and safer for students and their families to walk and bike to and from Lewis.
Clinton Street is a major east/west bike route throughout inner southeast Portland. It recently received some enhancements to acknowledge its designation as a bike boulevard. These include new signage as you can see above. More about Clinton Street can be found here: http://bikeportland.org/2011/01/13/clinton-street-bike-boulevard-enhancement-finally-coming-45936
A bit of urban art... Little army guys, and a dinosaur, taking up a beachhead on a bike rack on Hawthorne Blvd....
Playing around with the tilt shift setting on the Canon S95. A great pocket camera.
Was going through some old school photos today and found these. The bicycle pictures are dated 1958... The one on the right is not dated, but judging by the clothes, I'm gonna say late 70's or early 80's...
This was shot at our neighborhood Fourth of July parade today. Each year neighborhood kids decorate bikes and wagons and are lead around the block by a local fire truck. After the parade the firefighters bring out the hoses...
I have seen some shots like this up on Flickr, and the other day my wife pointed me to http://dearphotograph.com/ , a site dedicated to images constructed with old photos and the stories behind them. The old image of Lewis Elementary is from 1976. Was going through some old files today and found some documents that discuss the history of the school. I hope to spend some time this summer doing some research on school history. I think it is important that we and our students consider the history of our buildings, the stories they can tell and remember those that came before us.
I was in a rush today and am not entirely happy with the shot. Plan to try again next week and see if I can do a better job...
Our trees that we planted in February are doing well so far this summer.
