Ask your student about the new newspaper that has started at Ivanhoe called The Firebreather! The publishers (students!) are looking for contributions and collaborators. Ask in the Main Office to find out more!
Celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month
In honor of Jewish American Heritage Month, Mr. Bartoletti interviewed longtime Ivanhoe parent and community member Mr. Mickey Barda. Link below! Enjoy!
Visiting Kuruvungna Springs
The Tongva Springs is a magical place where people can connect with nature. The people working there are trying to restore it to the place it was when the indigenous Tongva community lived there. We will talk about the animals, plants, and spring.
The volunteers are trying to bring in the plants and animals that lived there when the Tongva did. In order to do this they have to move the plants and animals that don't belong there so the native plants and animals have room to grow and thrive.
The spring is home to many plants and animals (cattails, fish, etc.) but some aren't native and don't belong there. The crawfish are invasive (read: they aren't native) and are eating the native animals' food. Thankfully, they are being removed with traps (don't worry—no killing traps). They also have a medicine garden that has some of the many herbs the Tongva used. The property is full of trees, both native and not.
The spring runs through the middle of the property. It produces so much water that the volunteers use the water to water the plants! You can also drink the water from the sprinklers. It's very fresh. You can see the water that comes up from the spring, so it looks as if the sand is bubbling up into the water.
The Tongva Springs in West L.A. is open on the first Saturday of each month from 10 am to 3 pm, and welcomes volunteers to help out with restoring it. You can also visit the Kuruvungna Village Springs & Cultural Center located in the middle of the park. • GRAY C.
New Faces on Campus
It is so great to be back at Ivanhoe and to get to see friends and teachers on a regular basis. As you may have noticed, there are some new teachers around campus. So you may be like me, wondering who they are and what their personality is. Here are the answers to some of the questions I had for them. • GRAY C.
Ms. Richards started teaching second grade at Ivanhoe last year. This year, she’s teaching third grade. (Photo courtesy of Ms. Richards)
MS. RICHARDS
What is your favorite hobby?
My favorite hobbies right now are spending time with my two pets—a cat and a tortoise. I also started practicing ceramics a little while ago. It's been a lot of fun learning.
Where are you from?
I was born and raised in San Diego.
What is you favorite food?
My favorite food is Thai yellow curry with rice.
What do you like about teaching?
My favorite thing about teaching is that I get to see students try and learn new things all the time. I love learning and sharing that with students.
Ms. Wait is teaching fourth grade at Ivanhoe. (Photo courtesy of Ms. Wait)
MS. WAIT
What is your favorite hobby?
My favorite hobby is swimming.
Where are you from?
I grew up in Gloucester, Mass.
What is your favorite food?
My favorite food is Lebanese food.
What do you like about teaching?
Teaching is the first job that I've ever had that I genuinely feel excited about doing every single day. I like so many things about it, especially collaborating with other teachers, learning new and different ways to teach my students, and learning from my students as well!
Mr. Wilson is teaching fifth grade at Ivanhoe. (Photo courtesy of Mr. Wilson)
MR. WILSON
What is your favorite hobby?
Swimming!
Where are you from?
I grew up in Long Island, N.Y.
What is your favorite food?
Any kind of pizza.
What do you like about teaching?
I love seeing students realize they can do more than they thought they were capable of. I love seeing them take pride in their work.
Update from Fourth Graders in Ms. Flynn's Class
The Bering Strait
Ms. Flynn is teaching fourth grade about the Native Americans and how they crossed the Bering Strait to get to America. When most of the sea froze, the sea level dropped, revealing a land bridge between Asia and Alaska. The animals that the Native Americans hunted, such as mammoths, migrated over the land bridge known as the Bering Strait to North America. The Native Americans followed the animals across the Bering Strait and down North and South America.
Turkey Art Pieces
For the month of November, Ms. Flynn’s homeroom made turkey paintings and frames. We made the turkeys by dipping the paint brushes in different colors. Then we drew Thanksgiving-related things on the frames.
Fun Facts About Turkeys
1 Ben Franklin wanted the state bird to be a turkey rather than an eagle. He said, “Turkeys are a bird of courage.”
2 Turkeys are allergic to dairy.
3 Turkeys can fly about 55 mph.
Absolute Location
During the month of October, Ms. Flynn led fourth graders as they made maps of California, pinpointing 15 different places using latitude and longitude coordinates to find the absolute location. The class also colored each of the four regions. The four regions are: desert, valley, coast, and mountain.
The 15 California landmarks are Mount Shasta, Los Angeles, Morro Bay, Redwood National Park, Mojave Desert, Salton Sea, Catalina Island, San Diego, Sequoia National Park, Yosemite National Park, Lassen Volcanic National Park, Lake Tahoe, Golden Gate Bridge, Eureka City, and Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Cricket Drawings
Ms. Flynn’s homeroom drew drawings of crickets. The crickets were Chester Cricket from “The Cricket in Times Square.” Most students chose to make the background Times Square, Chester’s stump in Connecticut, or the picnic basket Chester got stuck in. • HENRY F. AND TYLER T.
Update from Third Graders in Mrs. Chan's Class
The students in third grade are doing skull art for Día de los Muertos and everyone is enjoying it.
We all love the parade and Halloween is so fun. It was so fun because it was the first time in a long time.
We love art. We are working on a collage.
We love study buddies.
We are also working on healthiness. We are making posters. We are assigned partners to work together on the poster. We are all learning about health. We have to draw a picture to represent a type of health. Then we have to write a blurb.
We do council so we share stuff that not a lot of people know about and the stories do not leave the room. This time we shared stuff that scared us but you don’t need to share if you do not want to.
We all love read alouds.
We all love to hang out with our friends.
Sometimes we play kickball against other classes. This week we are playing against all of third grade and that is a treat. We all love third grade. Our room is one of the best kickball teams in third grade! • NICHOLAS Z. AND MADISON B.
Update from Fourth Graders in Ms. Zamora's Class
In Room 14, our class got to vote on our next art project and we voted on learning how to draw an optical illusion. To create our illusion we had to draw between five and 10 lines and switched off between drawing sections with smiley faces and sections with sad faces. Then we chose two colors and finally we shaded the sides. • LEVI S., CHIARA T. AND CADEN Y.
Update from Fourth Graders in Ms. Wait's Class
The Battleship Iowa
Every Friday in fourth grade is a Friday based on one thing: fun. We have many subjects on Fun Friday, as seen below. We play games in our free time. I like playing Scrabble with my friends. There is chess, Chutes & Ladders, Monopoly and Scrabble. We are also allowed to draw whatever we want.
TECHNOLOGY: In technology, we’re learning how to use Google Maps. I got to see the Battleship Iowa and Missouri, and Dodger Stadium. We all get to explore the world digitally.
MUSIC: In music, we’re learning songs like “Walk Away Reneé” and “Erie Canal.” Each class gathers up at the black porch, and we sing with Mr. Dreyfuss playing the tune with a harmonica.
ART: In art, we’re drawing trees and bushes, mostly vegetation. We also carve things in clay in art. Last week, we used toothpicks and other tools to carve on a clay plate.
P.E.: In physical education, we do two laps around the entire lower yard, then do warm-ups like stretching, push-ups, yoga and more. Then we get to the game of the class. Sometimes we do Supergagga, Capture the Flag, Drop the Bomb, etc. My favorite game is Supergagga. • AUREN K. AND GAVIN G.
We’re learning how to use Google Maps to see places like Dodger Stadium.
Update from Third Graders in Ms. Richards' Class
We made monster cursive art. First, we practiced writing our name in cursive. Then we did it on a big piece of paper and put paint and glue over it. We folded it and made a monster thing! • JULIAN T., ELLIOTT M. AND NOA T.
Update from Second Graders in Ms. Park's Class
Room 20 is a safe place where all things work well! We have a star student who wins a prize. One of our favorite activities is about reading. When we get home, if we read for forty minutes we get a balloon sticker. We also do “All About Books” for writing. We do a gallery walk and read each other’s books. • AUSTIN S. AND INES T.
Update from Second Graders in Mrs. Safford's Class
We made coffee-filter bats in Room 15. We scribbled on the coffee filters with colored markers. We sprayed water on them and they looked like tie-dyed bat wings. Then we let them dry, scrunched them up and glued them to the inside of a clothespin that our teacher had painted black. We put googly eyes on and drew fangs with a white colored pencil. Voilá our bats were done! We took them home and used them as Halloween decorations. • AURA H. AND DYLAN Z.
Celebrating Filipino American History Month
Eaten with rice, chicken adobo is one of the most popular dishes from the Philippines. (Photo courtesy of Zoe Z.)
October is Filipino American History Month. In celebration of it, I want to share my recipe for making chicken adobo, one of the most popular dishes from the Philippines.
Ingredients:
2 pounds of chicken
3 bay leaves
8 tablespoons of soy sauce
6 tablespoons of white vinegar
6 smashed garlic cloves
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1 ½ cups of water
Add all of the ingredients together in one sauté pan. Cook on medium heat for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked. Eat. Enjoy! • ZOE Z.
Nature Club Outing: Lower Arroyo Seco Park
A Western bluebird sits in a tree along the Lower Arroyo Seco Trail. (Photos courtesy of Marigold D.)
Do you like nature? Do you want to learn about fly fishing? Do you enjoy hiking?
Come to Lower Arroyo Seco Park on May 16, Sunday, at 9:30 am for the Nature Club’s first meeting. Michael Miller from the Pasadena Casting Club will lead a fly-fishing demo.
Baby Yoda in a tree
Mr. Miller also will take us on a guided hike along the Lower Arroyo Seco Trail. We will try to find Baby Yoda hiding in a tree.
Climbing steps is fun.
There are lots of large trees and stone steps.
The casting pond is a big rectangle-shaped pool. There are no fish in it, but you can practice casting your fishing line. You also can see tadpoles swimming in the water and tiny toads hopping on and off branches.
The address for Lower Arroyo Park is 415 S. Arroyo Blvd. in Pasadena.
This activity is not sponsored or endorsed by the Los Angeles Unified School District. We will wear masks and socially distance to follow COVID-19 health precautions. If you’d like to attend, please email second-grade parent Michael Diaz by May 14, Friday.
I hope you will join us to have fun! • MARIGOLD D.
Terrific Toy Show on Tesla
(Poster by Nahla B.)
On March 20, head over to Tesla Avenue to learn the history of some terrific toys and raise money for the Children’s Defense Fund.
Spring Dance Party
Post your favorite spring-themed songs: https://padlet.com/andrewskomra1/spring_dance_party
For log-in details, please email Andrew.Skomra@lausd.net.
Fitness Fun Club Is a Healthy and Happy Thing to Do!
(Poster courtesy of Cousin Danny)
Do you want to come to the Fitness Fun Club? It’s a club on Zoom for Ivanhoe students. We exercise and have a great time.
Our first session will be on March 22, Monday, at 3 pm. Our guest speaker’s name is Cousin Danny from the Happiness Is Now Experience. He used to be a high school teacher. He was also a dance choreographer for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Cousin Danny will answer questions about himself and how to stay healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Then he will teach us an energizing dance exercise. It will be fun! • MARIGOLD D.
Take a Rock Walk!
(Poster by Zainab S.)
The Rock Walk is happening this Saturday, February 27, from 10 am to 3 pm at the Silver Lake Meadow. Drop off your painted rock, see how many you can find, and be part of our rocking event!
Black History Month: Nina Simone
Nina Simone was a very successful piano player and singer. She should be remembered for her talent but also for her kindness and love for others. • PHOEBE C.
Happy Year of the Ox!
Did you know there are 2 billion people around the world who celebrate the lunar new year? That’s about 1/4th of all the people on earth or about five kids in each class at Ivanhoe.
The lunar new year is a public holiday in countries such as South Korea, Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
What animal are you?
Each lunar year is named after one of 12 animals. This new year is the Year of the Ox. It starts today, February 12. Each animal has a special personality. The ox is honest and patient. You can depend on it. It also works hard to reach its goals. It sounds like it has a growth mindset.
This is the Vietnamese zodiac.
In Korea, lunar new year is called Seollal. In Vietnam, it is called Tết. The Vietnamese lunar years have two animals that are different from the Chinese ones. The Vietnamese have a cat instead of a rabbit, and a goat instead of a sheep. They’re still cute!
A dragon mural at Ivanhoe
A number of Ivanhoe students were born in the Year of the Dragon. Dragons have lots of energy. They also will live a long life and have lots of luck.
Red envelopes, oranges, and tangerines are symbols of good luck in the lunar new year.
You can also have good luck through doing and eating different things. These are eight examples:
1) Watch a dragon dance because the dragon symbolizes strength, power, protection, kindness, and good luck to all.
2) Wear red.
3) Hang pictures of the Chinese symbol “fu” because it means “fortune” or “blessing.”
4) Eat oranges and tangerines because they represent gold and wealth.
5) Light firecrackers to scare away evil.
6) Keep fish because the Chinese word for fish, “yu,” means surplus or having a lot of something.
7) Give and receive red envelopes that are filled with candy or money.
8) Eat rice cakes to grow tall in the new year.
Happy Lunar New Year! • MARIGOLD D. AND CYAN K.
Black History Month: Berry Gordy, Jr.
Motown founder Berry Gordy, Jr. once said, “Don’t judge yourself by others’ standards…have your own. And don’t get caught up into the trap of changing yourself to fit the world.”
Berry Gordy, Jr. was born in Detroit as one of eight children in his family. His mother and father were Berry Gordy and Bertha Fuller Gordy. Berry Gordy’s father had many different jobs. Berry and Robert, two of the youngest brothers, liked singing and dancing. Berry Gordy dropped out of high school. Unfortunately, he was drafted and had to fight in the Korean War, and after that married Thelma Louise Coleman. He found success as a professional songwriter and started creating Motown. With the help of other people, it became an amazing music sensation!
Motown was one of the first African-American-run record companies. The Motown music company made many tours and had lots of concerts. It even had some child prodigies on its roster like Stevie Wonder and the Jackson Five. It had many other musicians like the Supremes, the Temptations and Marvin Gaye. Motown was such an amazing company that fought for African-American rights.
Motown grew into such a huge music company in the Sixties that it crossed over into the white audience more than any African-American music company ever had. It was the first African-American company to become part of the mainstream culture. The Beatles have even covered some of the Motown music. Berry Gordy, Jr. put Detroit on the map as a major musical center in America.
Some additional facts are that Berry Gordy, Jr. liked to box, which is why he dropped out of high school. He was also married three times, and had eight children. He has lived and done so much to bring Black and white people together through music. He has even met Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Berry Gordy Jr. is now 91 years old.
A famous quote of his is: “Don’t judge yourself by others’ standards…have your own. And don’t get caught up into the trap of changing yourself to fit the world.”
I am like Berry Gordy because we both see the magic and enjoy music. • ROGER C.