Music Class

by Conner (grade 8)

 Music class is fun to experience, but not as much to write about. Still I’m going to try my best in this article. Our teacher, Benji Nagel teaches us with enthusiasm. Music class is every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. We are starting by learning the ukulele. Older students might progress to guitars.

I’ve learned that the ukulele was introduced to Hawaii in 1879 from Portuguese. It has 4 strings. A guitar can have 4-18 strings, though usually 6 strings. Guitars were a part of the European renaissance, though scholars disagree how it was introduced to Europe. I’m really glad we are starting out with 4 strings and not 18 strings!

We’ve started by learning basic chords like C, D, G, and F. Smoke on the Water is one of the songs we’ve practiced using the chords. I’m looking forward to practicing more. Writing this article wasn’t so bad, but still music class is much more fun.

Writing For You

by Cody (grade 7)

For over a year Black Butte School has been writing articles to learn how to get new writing skills. This program was introduced by Ms.Sharp last school year, and this year has been taken over by Mr.Sharp. The articles have been about what happens in the school year and events that happen in the world. The school's process of writing is  brainstorming, making an outline, making a rough draft, peer editing, then making our final draft which goes out to you.

For class time we are given a hour to work on our article and after we have a week to work on our final draft. To decide, each 4th grade and up student comes up with an idea and then is called out to choose which idea they want. When working on editing each student is grouped up with another student then looks over the article while filling out a forum. After that, they talk and go over what could be better with each other’s articles.

Some articles get published on our blog (like this one), and others get published in our newsletter. That's the Black Butte School's journalism process. We will keep doing this for years to come to deliver our thoughts on the news of our school to you.

Students working together in journalism class

A Blast at Hoodoo!

By Shane (grade 5)

It is snowing a lot this year.  That is good because we can ski and have fun. It covers the dirt, rocks and stumps.  If there is powder it is soft when we crash.  If there is not enough snow, Hoodoo can't open the runs. With lots of snow we can make snowpeople and have snowball fights.  Lots of snow makes skiing fun.

In order to ski you need a helmet, skies, jacket, boots, snow pants, extra layers, gloves, and goggles. Equipment keeps you safe, for example, the skies can pop off your boots if you crash, so you don’t go down with your skies.

Skiing is fun because we get to go really fast. Some of us get to go through the trees and that is really challenging.  We can jump up in the air which is scary, but lots of fun.  When I ski I am with my friends and it keeps me healthy.

Lunch time is when we refuel our bodies and take a big rest.  I like lunch so I can talk with my friends and share stories of skiing. Lunch time is a good time to change wet clothes into dry clean clothes, and go to the bathroom, because there are NO bathrooms on the mountain! It is really important to stay hydrated and drink lots of water too.

Know your limits on the slopes, so you don’t get hurt. If you're a beginner then stay on the beginner runs, don’t go on the black diamonds. Always ski with a friend, so if you do get hurt, they can go get help from ski patrol. Its is important to know skier etiquette, so you don’t hurt another skier. I researched about skier’s etiquette online and learned about it from an article on TeensHealth.org. Skiing is a blast, so stay safe and keep it a blast!