Chrysalis School

SC Field Trip to Wing Luke Museum

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The Friday Field Trip class went to the Wing Luke Museum in the Seattle’s Chinatown-International District today.  On our visit we had a chance to travel back in time to the year 1910.  We learned about what is it must have felt like for all the Asian Pacific immigrants who settled here so many years ago.  We then toured the Yick Fung Company Mercantile and the historic Chinatown hotel. While inside the Mercantile, we were transported back in time, as the store was preserved to it’s authentic state.  As we toured the 100 year hotel, we learned that the 103 room hotel would house up to 20,000 guests a night.  Talk about tight quarters.  It was amazing to see where so people from Japan, China, and the Philippines first lived when they immigrated to the United States.  After the conclusion of our tour, we walked to Uwajimaya Asian Grocery store and ate lunch in their food court.  Students tried various Asian cuisine, including udon noodles, tempura, yakisoba and sushi.  This was a highly enjoyable field trip for us all.

 

 

 

Ecosystems

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Currently the Honors Biology class is studying ecology, which is the study of organisms and the environment.  This is such a big topic that it is often difficult to do labs in class.  For example, we can’t got visit an African savanna.  Our solution was to bring the outdoors in by creating model ecosystems.  Each student or pair created two ecosystems which were identical, except one contained a common pollutant and the other didn’t.  Students got to build their models from scratch and choose what went in them.  We’ll observe them over the coming weeks and study how the presence of modern pollutants can affect an entire ecosystem.

Pete Carroll OR Karen Fogle?

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Pete Carroll or Karen Fogle?

ESPN Magazine recently published an article on the Seahawks that really resonated with us at Chrysalis. Pete Carroll, Seahawks Head Coach, takes a fundamentally different approach to managing his players than others in the NFL, focusing on individual well-being, mental health, mentorship, and optimism as key components to his team’s successes. He’s developed a reputation as a “buddy coach,” encouraging players to grow personally and physically to attain their optimal performance. He states, “I wanted to find out if we went to the NFL and really took care of guys, really cared about each and every individual, what would happen?” In his fourth season with the Seahawks now, players are responding enthusiastically to Carroll’s methods and the team is favored to go to the Superbowl this year!

If this sounds familiar, it might be because Carroll’s strategy parallels the Chrysalis philosophy. At Chrysalis we know that individual well-being is first and foremost to achievement, and that positivity and the development of confidence are central to rendering results. This is why we work so hard to ensure our students attain balance in their lives, develop positive relationships with their teachers and peers, and encourage engagement in their studies. It turns out that happy students make better students! Carroll notes, “we do stuff differently here!” We’re proud to do the same in the realm of education! See the full article here.

Seattle Aquarium, Last Field Trip Of The Year For The SC!

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The South Campus went to the Seattle Aquarium today for their final field trip of the school year.
It was a great success.  They started the day in the classroom with one of the Seattle Aquarium’s Biologist for the Hand-on Tidepool Wonders class.  In the class they learned all about marine invertebrates (animals without backbones) and then had a chance to study and touch these amazing living creatures.  The kids had a great time sticking their hands in the icy cold water and touching many cool creature including starfish, sea cucumbers, crabs, and mollusks.  Once the class ended, the kids had a chance to explore the rest rest of the aquarium.  We even were able to see the harbor seals eat their lunch: they were definitely a bit hit with everyone.
Before heading back to the bus, many of the students took a ride on the Seattle Great Wheel, located next door to the aquarium.  It was a memorable day.  A perfect way to end a great year of South Campus field trips!

Just Don’t Fall – Book Review

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This is an outstanding book review by one of our 8th graders, Maya.  Get her take on the book and see if it inspires you to read Just Don’t Fall. 

Just Don’t Fall is Josh Sundquist’s memoir of how he lost his leg to childhood cancer at age nine. Despite his disability he set his sights on to becoming paralympic skier, and in later life a motivational speaker. He also speaks about how he overcame the social, emotional, and physical challenges of having only one leg while growing up.

Josh writes the book in first-person, telling us what is happening rather than what did happen.  I like the way the reader experiences a sense of immediacy about his situation while experiencing the story.  As you read, you feel as though you are right there with him during every part of his journey. For example, when Josh is sitting in his parents van in his driveway, they explain to him that he will have to get his leg amputated. He cries, and although he is surrounded with the comfort of his family, he is devastated. (Keep in mind, he is only nine when this occurs.) Leading up to the amputation, Josh has a difficult time accepting the reality that he will lose a leg even at his young age, he deals with the setback with a determined and courageous attitude.

Sundquist, did a wonderful job of depicting his very inspirational memoir on how he elegantly and triumphantly overcame adversity. Josh was able to make the story enjoyable and funny, along with some lighthearted meaningful anecdotes. On the other hand, unfortunately, some of the retellings of events were bit over the top and exaggerated and some events I felt were unnecessary to the story. Sadly, because of this, the ending portion of the book didn’t manage to hold my attention. I deeply enjoyed the beginning of the memoir; his journey through cancer and his discovery for his love of skiing was intriguing and memorable.
I got my hopes up after reading the first part of the book, and was let down at the ending. Despite this imperfection, if anyone is looking for something inspiring and an easy read I would recommend this book to them. Just as a warning, this book would be considered a teen\young adult book.

Our Campuses

Chrysalis High School and Middle School
15900 Woodinville-Redmond Rd NE
Woodinville, WA p: (425) 481-2228

Chrysalis Elementary Campus
17005 140th Ave NE
Woodinville, WA p: (425) 481-2228

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