Pinwheels for Peace at Explorer West

On September 21, 2007 -- United Nations International Day of Peace -- Explorer West Students made pinwheels-for-peace, and installed them on the fence adjacent to our school parking lot.

We joined over 1,000,000 students from around the world who make and displayed pinwheels. Pinwheels for Peace is an art installation project started in 2005 by two Art teachers, Ann Ayers and Ellen McMillan from Coconut Creek, Florida. It was created as a way for students to express their feelings about what’s going on in the world and in their lives.

Explorer West students created pinwheels and wrote their thoughts about war and peace, tolerance, and living in harmony with others on one side. On the other side, students drew to visually express their feelings. They assembled these pinwheels, and on International Day of Peace, Sept. 21, 2007, they planted their pinwheels outside as a public statement, and as an art installation.

The spinning of the pinwheels in the wind will spread thoughts and feelings about peace throughout the country and the world!

Mr. "H" Urges Students Towards the Zone

It's official! In The Zone is in the house!

Today Mr. "H" introduced the entire student body to a tool that students, teachers, and parents can use to maximize their growth, productivity, and performance. "In the Zone" is a method Mr. "H" has employed extensively in his many years of teaching and coaching tennis.

All Mr. "H" asks is that every student commit to becoming more aware of where they are in the scheme of the "Zone" as they face challenges, and try to cope appropriately.



If you are "Tanking" you have simply given up before you even tried. Your fears and low confidence kept you from stepping up to the challenge, whatever it was. At this point it might be good to get some perspective on the source of your fear. Seek advice, support, and clarification. You deserve it. Then try a fresh start.

If you are in "Anger" you have been overwhelmed by frustration. There is no point in beating your head against the wall. Take a break. Do something you will like better, or feel more confident with. Then, when your anger has subsided, try the challenge again.

If you are "Choking" you have momentarily dropped the ball due to pressure. But pressure is a good thing that can call up our best effort, as well as creativity and new angles. You came to play, and did so, even if you were not entirely successful. Ultimately, you will need to show renewed commitment. When you choke, just admit it and move on. We all make mistakes. Our best moment may follow.

The "Zone" is where we all want to be, and where we hope most of our students will be frequently by the end of the school year. When you are in the zone you are prepared and confident, even hungry for challenge. This is when you at the top of your game. When in the zone in class you produce exemplary work -- and then seek extra credit. Or, you might help a classmate, taking your zone to a whole different level.


Experiment with this at home, work and school. Pay each other respect for trying to be "In The Zone."

6th Grade Geography and Ancient Civilizations Classes Explore Cave Art

According to the geological record, the earliest fossilized record of bacteria, a sign of life from the Precambrian era, is 3.5 billion years old. Spiders started showing up much later, just 400 million years ago. Lucy, the oldest upright, bipedal who seemed more human than ape, lived just 50 million years ago.

But hey, we’ve got the woolly mammoth beat! They were late to the show, arriving a mere two million years ago – barely yesterday in geological time.

Using Larry Gonick’s Cartoon History of the Universe and a variety of supplemental sources on archaeological method, cave art, early religion, and the roots of language, the 6^th grade has been exploring how humans came to be so complex in so little time – geologically speaking.

You can admire original 6th grade cave art (pastels on crumpled paper!) in the hallway. This display features hands – one of the most common motifs in Cro-Magnon’s Ice Age artistry. These hands – traced, stenciled, and drawn throughout caves 10 to 20 thousand years ago – appeared across the globe, from the Americas to Europe, Africa, and the South Pacific. What did these ancestors of ours intend? Worship? Ritual? Signature? The hunt? Control? Graffiti?

Cave art seems to be a combination of narrative (story), ritual, and symbolic language. These markings tried to say something in an organized fashion, perhaps to give a challenging Ice Age existence meaning and hope.

What language will our students leave for the future? Part of our mission at Explorer West is to give students the tools to envision and work towards a lasting future. The past is a rich place to start.

7th graders experience true Northwest weather at Snow Lake

The 7th graders learned a ton about packing and being prepared for the weather on their trip to Snow Lake. They also found out that teamwork, cooperation and a positive attitude are good things to bring along on a backpacking trip.

We left the Alpental parking lot, elevation 3100 feet, at 11:40 am in overcast but dry weather. It took almost 2 hours to get a mile and a half gaining only about 7 or 8 hundred feet in altitude. There we stopped for lunch and put on our rain gear as the wet stuff started to come down from above. Motivated by the rain to cover some ground, the hikers made the next steep section (900 feet of altitude in about half a mile) in around and hour. From there it was all down hill.

We reached Snow Lake around 3:30. All were a little damp and very tired. We found a fairly dry camp site that would fit us and the kids had their tents up in no time, avoiding a pretty good shower that drenched anything not already wet from the day.The campers cooperated to make dinner and stay warm and dry. By morning the rain had let up, though it was foggy and damp.

We made a day hike to Gem Lake at 4900 feet where the students ate lunch, did some writing in their journals and an art project. They also learned a good lesson about leaving no trace on the clean up from lunch. The 2.5 mile hike back to camp took and hour and 40 minutes.

The highlight of the day was a silent hike down to the lake shore once back in camp. The kids sat quietly at the edge of Snow Lake for close to an hour. Later in the day we reflected on that time and students saw the value of experiencing "awesome nature" up close and in person.

The second night we were mostly dry at lights out - and despite a downpour in the middle of the night and some pretty fridgid temperatures, we awoke to blue sky. We broke camp after breakfast and discussed what we had learned about hiking together and taking less breaks. The hiking time on the way out was two hours and ten minutes, quite an improvement from the first day.

6th grade at Fort Worden

The 6th grade class experienced front-country camping at Port Townsend's Fort Worden State Park this fall. Highlights included a 3 AM tidepooling-by-flashlight experience, a hands-on invertebrates class at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center, and of course, exploring the bunkers and getting to know new classmates. This trip was Mr. Hundley's initiation into the world of EW outdoor education and was also the second trip led by alumni Willi Sears ('99). Students also performed community service in the form of litter patrol. Our good deeds and enthusiasm didn't go unnoticed as six different people made an effort to come over from their motor homes to congratulate us on how well behaved and enthusiastic the students were - even when it was pouring rain!

Outdoor Ed Trips: Big Fun in the Fall!

Last week students returned safe and happy from the first round of '07 Outdoor Ed trips: 6th grade to Camp Worden on the Olympic Peninsula, 7th grade to the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, and the 8th grade to Mt. Rainier.

This blog is a quick summary of the 8th grade trips, with photos from Ben and Meghan's group at Summerland. Each of three groups hiked 2-4 miles from separate trail heads to alpine sites just above the tree line with views on the shoulders of 14,410 ft. Mt Rainier.


Each hiker carries all they need in order to be warm and safe, in addition to substantial group gear and food. Hiking and camping leadership rotates so that all may share the responsibility of decision-making and looking out for the group.Typical activities over the three day trip include student-made gourmet dining (such as hot oatmeal breakfast, cheese and bagel lunches, and pasta dinner), day-hiking, glaciation journals, drama games, nature watching, storytelling, and council style discussions.

In addition to hearing an elk bugle (it's the fall rutting season), groups spotted mountain goats, deer, a bear, plus innumerable squirrels, chipmunks, pika ("eepers"), and marmots.




Fall at Mt. Rainier can bring all sorts of weather, and it did! After sunny mornings the clouds rolled in. There were rain and snow showers, proving the need for warm and waterproof layers.






One of the trips even featured application of henna tattoos by Explorer West's trip guide (and administrative assistant) Meghan Harris!






No trip is complete without ice cream on the way home!

Thanks to unflappable Outdoor Ed Queen Kristin Moore, intrepid trip guides, supportive parents, and willing students for making the fall trips successful. Exacting gear checks, dramatic Leave No Trace skits, and "I'll try" spirits all paid off.

We can all look forward to getting out again this winter for snowshoeing, x-country skiing, and alpine slope fun!

Explorer West Sustainability Initiative – Year Three!

Last school year, 2006-2007, was the second year of the Explorer West Sustainability Initiative. We enjoyed campus wide progress in the form of green advisories, curriculum integration around the theme of “family”, and our third annual sustainability festival.

The Sustainability Initiative brought Explorer West regional honors in the form of the King County Earth Hero Award, as well as national recognition through the National Association of Independent School’s Leading Edge award for environmental sustainability.

For the present school year, 2007-2008, we intend to deepen our understanding and practice of sustainability. After all, it is this current generation of students whose careers and lives will sway our success with major issues such as global warming.

Already this year, in addition to preparation for fall trips and regular classes, significant new efforts have taken place to further the Sustainability Initiative. During August In-Service sessions, the faculty benefited from the expertise of Kim Bernier and Dave Wilton from Facing the Future. Kim and Dave led the faculty through a history of sustainability education and core concepts.

With impressive team spirit the faculty also arrived upon Sustainable Design and Structure as the theme for 2007-2008. We helped each other get a jump on this by brainstorming possible curriculum and projects around this theme in each subject area.

Then, in the first two weeks of school, in advisory students completed a set of core lessons on sustainability. They mapped ecological footprints, defined and analyzed the sustainability of objects and activities, explored how global issues are interconnected, played systems thinking games, and envisioned what a spaceship would need to survive for thousands of years as a closed system. We intend for our students to be the architects of a bright future for this planet – which is also a closed system, gaining nothing from outside except for solar energy.

Each advisory also spent over three hours conducting audits on either garbage, recycling, energy or water use at Explorer West. They tracked uses and logged data, then set goals and suggested methods for reducing usage, reporting their findings to the whole school. As the year evolves we will keep you posted on our progress with the “greening” of the campus.

Finally, you can look forward to the establishment of a small native plants demonstration garden in the circle of maples planted last fall just south of the upper parking lot. Students will vote on their own student-generated design of choice. Work will begin in earnest this fall so that plants can take root this winter and spring. As our garden takes shape, look for shrubs, benches, walkways…

We are happy to report that all twenty trees planted by students last spring are happy and healthy, thanks to attentive weeding, watering, and mulching by students, as well as a devoted team of families that watered the young trees over the summer.

The Sustainability Initiative is a work in progress at Explorer West. We are glad to report that, in just the first two weeks of this year we’ve seen both work and progress in substantial measure!

Coming Soon: Native Plants Garden!

Ben Wheeler, History and Global Studies