December 9, 2009
Steph's Pomegranate Jelly
A great stocking stuffer, Stephanie Jenniches' pomegranate jelly will be for sale in the front office next week. Still $5 a jar and payment is on the honor system. Get a jar before they are gone. It's a damn divine spread.
Parent Artists' Help Requested
We now know there will be no paid Visual or Musical Arts coming to Odyssey this year...So its up to those of us who can bring our creative skills to the picture! Now is the time.
Our community is rich in talent and experience in all of the arts and we can bring all kinds of enrichment to our kids. If those of us experienced in the arts- Visual Arts, Performing Arts- Drama, Dance, Crafts, Music... were to take on one project, we could fill the school with the Arts!
You can just let me (MaryLinda) know the kind of Arts you are interested in contributing (Drumming, Painting, Dramatic Play, Choral, Video, Dance, Collage, Creative Writing, Quilting, Claywork...) and I will find a project, or if you want to bring in a series for our Arts in Residence we will find a class to bring that to and support to make it successful. All of the classes have space in their schedule for Art and Music, they are just waiting for one of us to bring it to them.
I took a few hours this week and did paper mache planets with both Kindergarden classes, there are parents coming in every week to do music and movement for the K classes, Karen Merchant has done sumi-e painting for Lisa's class, Aunt Crystal has brought Art to Heather's class, Paula Solano is doing a 6 week dramatic series for Jessica's class...what would you like to do??
We are currently looking for holiday cultural arts to share in some of the classrooms; Storytellers, a project for a family unit, shadow puppetry, a great bookmaking project, portraiture, dramatic play to explore subject areas, California song to a different tune, sculptural creation of habitats, 3D landforms and DNA models...among many others!
Please do bring your talents into the pool, the school will be a better place for it. It's fun, challenging, and exciting. You will get whatever support you need to make it a fun project for all - yourself included.
So take a few moments now, respond with an email (imarylinda@aol.com) or a phone call. Help make Odyssey an incredible place for our kids by bringing a bit of you to them.
Thank you so much,
MaryLinda Moss
Our community is rich in talent and experience in all of the arts and we can bring all kinds of enrichment to our kids. If those of us experienced in the arts- Visual Arts, Performing Arts- Drama, Dance, Crafts, Music... were to take on one project, we could fill the school with the Arts!
You can just let me (MaryLinda) know the kind of Arts you are interested in contributing (Drumming, Painting, Dramatic Play, Choral, Video, Dance, Collage, Creative Writing, Quilting, Claywork...) and I will find a project, or if you want to bring in a series for our Arts in Residence we will find a class to bring that to and support to make it successful. All of the classes have space in their schedule for Art and Music, they are just waiting for one of us to bring it to them.
I took a few hours this week and did paper mache planets with both Kindergarden classes, there are parents coming in every week to do music and movement for the K classes, Karen Merchant has done sumi-e painting for Lisa's class, Aunt Crystal has brought Art to Heather's class, Paula Solano is doing a 6 week dramatic series for Jessica's class...what would you like to do??
We are currently looking for holiday cultural arts to share in some of the classrooms; Storytellers, a project for a family unit, shadow puppetry, a great bookmaking project, portraiture, dramatic play to explore subject areas, California song to a different tune, sculptural creation of habitats, 3D landforms and DNA models...among many others!
Please do bring your talents into the pool, the school will be a better place for it. It's fun, challenging, and exciting. You will get whatever support you need to make it a fun project for all - yourself included.
So take a few moments now, respond with an email (imarylinda@aol.com) or a phone call. Help make Odyssey an incredible place for our kids by bringing a bit of you to them.
Thank you so much,
MaryLinda Moss
December 8, 2009
Happy Holidays to the (extended) OCS community
Bear with us -- it's a crazy month with too much to do. But we want to send out all our best wishes to the whole community for a wonderful holiday. Check back in January for more news and pics.
November 29, 2009
Homemade for the Holidays
Just a plug to our students (and parents) to consider homemade holiday gifts this year. Here is a great one from the Food in Jars website for an easy and delicious apple/cranberry jam. It makes a ruby red jar of jam which looks even more festive with a green bow wrapped around it.
Other easy gifts to put together are homemade brownie mixes, waffle recipes, chutneys, batches of mexican pickled veggies (see an earlier post here to find that one) and jars of assorted dried beans that are turned into nourishing pots of soup to help restore balanced eating after the holiday feasting.
Apple-Cranberry Jam
8 cups of peeled and diced apple (approximately 5-6 large apples, 1/2 inch dice. Use a softer apple like a Golden Delicious. Firm apples won’t cook down as well.)
4 cups of whole cranberries
6 cups sugar
1 cup water
2 lemons, zested and juiced
Combine the apples, cranberries, sugar and water in a large pot (use a big one, this jam will bubble) over high heat. Bring to a boil, skimming off the foam that develops on the top of the fruit. Cook for 10-15 minutes, until the cranberries pop and the apples soften.
Add the lemon zest and juice and simmer until the liquid in the pot begins to thicken (because both apples and cranberries are naturally high in pectin, you won’t need any additional pectin to help this jam set, as long as you cook it until thick and syrup-y).
Ladle into prepared jars, wipe rims, apply lids and process in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes. Label nicely and distribute to those you love.
Makes 4 1/2 – 5 pints.
***I made this jam without the addition of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves or allspice. However, I do believe that the addition of one or two of those spices would be quite nice.
November 20, 2009
Free Art Classes
Here's some news contributed from parent Erin Gamble:
The Pasadena library system has been offering free Art Classes on Saturdays.
The classes run from 10:30-noon at the San Rafael Branch and from 1:30 to 2:30 at the Hill Branch.The classes are taught by students from Pasadena's Art Center and all materials are provided.
My kids have been going to the San Rafael one. It's good for kids from very little up to 5th or 6th grade (and older, if they're motivated. :) There are usually 2 or 3 teachers there, and they seem to do a very good job. So far they've stuck to the more basic paper-based crafts, but my kids enjoy it a lot -- so I thought other parents who are concerned about not losing art in school might want to know.
The Pasadena library system has been offering free Art Classes on Saturdays.
The classes run from 10:30-noon at the San Rafael Branch and from 1:30 to 2:30 at the Hill Branch.The classes are taught by students from Pasadena's Art Center and all materials are provided.
My kids have been going to the San Rafael one. It's good for kids from very little up to 5th or 6th grade (and older, if they're motivated. :) There are usually 2 or 3 teachers there, and they seem to do a very good job. So far they've stuck to the more basic paper-based crafts, but my kids enjoy it a lot -- so I thought other parents who are concerned about not losing art in school might want to know.
November 19, 2009
Helping Hand Food Pantry at OCS
As 2009 draws to a close, it's clear that many Californians had a brutal year. Unemployment is at a record high and the costs of living here -- mortgage, rent, car payments, clothing and food -- remain steep. Many families are tightening their belts to make ends meet and a little help now and then is deeply appreciated.
In that spirit, Brenda Davidge, Jude's Mom, would like to to create a small food pantry for OCS families during these tough economic times. She knows the need exists. For years Brenda has volunteered in food pantries around Los Angeles and this year has seen an increase in the numbers of families without sufficient means to feed themselves three meals a day.
Our school is likely no exception. Typically OCS has about 30% of its students elegible for free and reduced cost lunches, a proxy for low income families. This year, that means about 90+ students. This is just a proxy. The school does not collect or keep data on household income. Still, it is safe to assume that occasional food insecurity may be a fact of life for some of our families.
In order to better gauge what our community needs, Brenda recently sent out a survey (included in this week's Thursday packet) which asks a few simple questions. Please take a moment to fill that out and bring it back to the front office. You can also access the survey via the Survey Monkey Website at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=gq17TK2cGvjfeF9HkEOqvA_3d_3d Please feel free to also include your comments and suggestions.
For more information about hunger in America, please take a look at an article published this week by Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE5AF42220091116
Thanks.
In that spirit, Brenda Davidge, Jude's Mom, would like to to create a small food pantry for OCS families during these tough economic times. She knows the need exists. For years Brenda has volunteered in food pantries around Los Angeles and this year has seen an increase in the numbers of families without sufficient means to feed themselves three meals a day.
Our school is likely no exception. Typically OCS has about 30% of its students elegible for free and reduced cost lunches, a proxy for low income families. This year, that means about 90+ students. This is just a proxy. The school does not collect or keep data on household income. Still, it is safe to assume that occasional food insecurity may be a fact of life for some of our families.
In order to better gauge what our community needs, Brenda recently sent out a survey (included in this week's Thursday packet) which asks a few simple questions. Please take a moment to fill that out and bring it back to the front office. You can also access the survey via the Survey Monkey Website at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=gq17TK2cGvjfeF9HkEOqvA_3d_3d Please feel free to also include your comments and suggestions.
For more information about hunger in America, please take a look at an article published this week by Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE5AF42220091116
Thanks.
Food Forum
WHEN: Thursday Nov 19 ( 7 PM - 9 PM)
doors open at 6:30 pm
WHERE:Venice Center for Peace 2210 Lincoln Blvd, corner of Victoria Ave, one block N of Venice Blvd., Venice CA 90291- Free street and lot parking
COST $5.00 suggested donation to help defray cost of event. No one turned away for lack of funds
Venice Food Forum: Eat, Drink & be Wary! Who's growing our food? What's in it? Why it isn't safe!
Speakers: Jules Dervaes, Katherine Green, Nicole Johnson
Jules Dervaes is the founder of Path to Freedom, a family-operated, viable urban homestead project established in 2001 to promote a simpler and more fulfilling lifestyle and to sow a "homegrown revolution" against the corporate powers that control the food supply. Since the mid-1980s, Mr. Dervaes and his three adult children have worked at transforming their city lot in Pasadena into a thriving organic garden that supplies them with food all year round. Through the family's outreach efforts at PathtoFreedom.com and via their popular, award-winning documentary short, Homegrown Revolution, millions of people worldwide have been educated and inspired to pursue a more sustainable way of life.
Katherine Green is a television writer and producer. Most recently she's been involved with researching the state of the food industry in this country. She has edited together a short DVD which will help break down in a provocative and entertaining way what we're up against in the supermarket--nutritionism, gmo crops, labeling laws, silenced scientists-- and how Monsanto fits into the picture.
Nicole Johnson is a researcher, writer and activist living in Ventura County, CA. Her recent work has focused on the sustainable production of wholesome food, agribusiness and the globalized food supply chain, the impact of the industrial food supply on health, and safe drinking water issues. She has published critical articles on the new food safety legislation. As a mother she has the most compelling reasons of all for working to ensure our food and water supply is clean, safe, and toxin-free.
Q & A will follow after the presentations.
doors open at 6:30 pm
WHERE:Venice Center for Peace 2210 Lincoln Blvd, corner of Victoria Ave, one block N of Venice Blvd., Venice CA 90291- Free street and lot parking
COST $5.00 suggested donation to help defray cost of event. No one turned away for lack of funds
Venice Food Forum: Eat, Drink & be Wary! Who's growing our food? What's in it? Why it isn't safe!
Speakers: Jules Dervaes, Katherine Green, Nicole Johnson
Jules Dervaes is the founder of Path to Freedom, a family-operated, viable urban homestead project established in 2001 to promote a simpler and more fulfilling lifestyle and to sow a "homegrown revolution" against the corporate powers that control the food supply. Since the mid-1980s, Mr. Dervaes and his three adult children have worked at transforming their city lot in Pasadena into a thriving organic garden that supplies them with food all year round. Through the family's outreach efforts at PathtoFreedom.com and via their popular, award-winning documentary short, Homegrown Revolution, millions of people worldwide have been educated and inspired to pursue a more sustainable way of life.
Katherine Green is a television writer and producer. Most recently she's been involved with researching the state of the food industry in this country. She has edited together a short DVD which will help break down in a provocative and entertaining way what we're up against in the supermarket--nutritionism, gmo crops, labeling laws, silenced scientists-- and how Monsanto fits into the picture.
Nicole Johnson is a researcher, writer and activist living in Ventura County, CA. Her recent work has focused on the sustainable production of wholesome food, agribusiness and the globalized food supply chain, the impact of the industrial food supply on health, and safe drinking water issues. She has published critical articles on the new food safety legislation. As a mother she has the most compelling reasons of all for working to ensure our food and water supply is clean, safe, and toxin-free.
Q & A will follow after the presentations.
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