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Saturday, January 20, 2018

Fruits and Seeds

Fruits and Seeds

There's no better way to help kids understand where seeds come from and are located than going them time to explore some fresh produce!!

Get my simple observation log here:  Oberservation Log



Round 1:  Touch and describe the outside.








Round 2: Carefully look at the inside to see how the seeds are attached when slices 2 different ways.









Round 3: View, and for some touch, the seeds! 




Here's our veggie display at the end.  

We passed it on to another class to learn and explore with them too!



Monday, June 5, 2017

Empathy and Beyond: Making Schools and Communities Whole

Empathy & Beyond Making Schools and Communities Whole


Sessions Offered:


Day 1: Keynote Speaker - Spencer Gorin
Navigating Relationships: Essential Foundations for the Art of Empathy and Courageous Conversations"

Day 1, Session 1: Playing with Spencer Gorin author of Learning to Play, Playing to Learn



Begin with "Why we play?".  The circle in the middle was the "correct" answer and we had to guess until we said the circle answer.  Once we got it right we added more ideas around the circle.

"What is the most important part of the game?"
Rules for building empathy and taking the power away from the negative or uncooperative students.

PLAY TIME!  Variations of tag to make a finalist, many finalists, or all are in at the end.


Day 1, Session 2: Shari Attaberry, School Counselor - Teaching Empathy... One Book at a Time,

Reading with expression and pulling in students to "feel" and understand the characters.  This helps them to understand their own emotions and build empathy towards others.


Story Time:  Ishi: Simple Tips from a Solid Friend
Rocks to take home as a reminder.


Day 1, Session 3: Debi Neat, YWCA - Is Your School Trauma Informed - Should it Be?!?!

Looking at the causes and who is affected by trauma.  About 25% of children have experienced trauma that affects them.  This guidebook is very useful as it shows things that may cause trauma and how responses can be loud or go unnoticed.

This is how to assist in trauma (grouped kind of like reading interventions).  
Green - Majority of students, no change of plan
Yellow - A Few students, group counseling
Red - Couple students, need 1-on-1 attention




Day 1 Closing: Mary Bouley - World Cafe

Reflecting and sharing our learning from the day



Day 2 : Resource Fair - Medical, financial, and supportive community resources were available at tables

Day 2: Welcome - Mayor Jonathan Rothschild



Day 2, Keynote Speaker: Jeannette MarĂ© - Founder and Executive Director of Ben's Bells


Beyond Empathy to Kindness




Day 2, Session 1:  Emotional Intelligence: What is it? Why is it important?
 - Lots of research presented
 - Can be taught, very important for success at school and workplace

Day 2, Session 2: Yvette-Marie Margaillan - The Power of Reinforcement: A Scientific Approach to Motivating Students and Understanding Behavior

Knowing there is a reason for every behavior and some ideas on what to at school to keep students motivated.

Simple check sheet for Behavior ABC's

Day 2, Session 3: Shelly Hubman - Fun Ways to Help Students (and YOU) Tune-In, Focus, and Connect 

Stress relievers, movements, and thinking activities to for mindfulness, bring back focus, and lower stress at school.




Thank you Pima County's Superintendents Office and the many sponsers for the great 2 days filled with ways to begin to understand and support students and our community!



Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Creative Crayons

Narrative writing is tough when all you teach most of the year is informational, but because you KNOW it'll be informational on the state test.  Here's a fun way to get kids being creative....

I began with a a read aloud of course!  The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt really got the kids excited to write .

Then I handed students a color with the personality/character traits that are associated with each color.

The prompt was:  You are now a crayon and somehow you get lost from your box.  You will have to go on am adventure in 3 locations of the school and then hopefully find your box again.

The kids went crazy!  They couldn't contain their excitement!! They finally started writing :)

All good writing should be shared, so we did. The kids got really into it and wore shirts of their Crayon color and I helped the make simple pointed hats (Google party hat template).

I will add some student examples later, but here are some pictures!

They were "in character with those silly faces .









Friday, July 1, 2016

Back To School Sales Have Started!!


THE SALES HAVE STARTED! THE SALES HAVE STARTED!

If you need: Crayons, Pencils, Pencil Sharpeners, Scissors, Glue Sticks, Liquid Glue, Construction Paper, Lined Paper, Printer Paper, etc. this is your secret source to get the best prices!!

With my many years of experience of smart back to school shopping I wanted to help you all out! Follow my blog and check back here regularly for the BEST deals and where to find them.  I am only posting the items that are really discounted, but if there is something you would like message me and I'll look for it and add it on.



Teacher Appreciation Events:

STAPLES: click the link to find your store's event. https://m.staples.com/sbd/cre/marketing/teacher-appreciation-week/


More to come...



Office Depot & Office Max:

Find the weekly and preview ads at officemax.com OR officedepot.com

Ad begins: August 5

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Staples:
Find the weekly and preview ads at staples.com

Ad begins: July 22

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Walgreens:

Find the weekly and preview ads at walgreens.com

Ad begins: July 22





Target:

Find the weekly at target.com 
The Cartwheel App also has percentages off of supplies

Ad begins: July 15







Big Lots
Find the weekly and preview ads at Biglots.com

Ad begins: July 



Walmart:

Find the weekly and preview ads at walmart.com

Ad begins: July 

No ad but many super deals in store like...








Dollar General:

Find the weekly ads at dollargeneral.com
Ad is for the Summer






Kmart:
Find the weekly and preview ads at kmart.com

Ad begins: July 




Dollar Tree:
There are always great supplies and teaching tools at the Dollar Tree.  Buy bulk online to get a class or team set.




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