| Many thanks to all the families who contributed in so many ways to a great
school year. You have faithfully supported our field trips, science labs,
feast, and olympics. You covered the journals with fabric. You sent us your
children each day. We are grateful for your support. We hope that you all
have a wonderful summer. You will be missed.
1. The children have used SIRS and InfoBits in computer lab. Hopefully these
and other sites on the ODC homepage's Portaportal can be accessed.
I found these three sites that look awesome. The National Geographic site
plays videos that may take a different player and could take hours to view
if you don't have cable internet. (I finally dumped the dial up this year.)
Since the sites are not showing up as blue "hotlinks", you may have to paste
them into the address bar and bookmark them. Thanks for letting your child
have the opportunity to explore these sites. :)
National Geographic for Kids
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/
wild life conservation
http://www.wcs.org/
The following site allows students to ask scientists questions IF they have
already researched it and can't find an answer.
Mad Scientist...
http://www.madsci.org/info/using.html
2. Conscious Discipline: Today we met as a group to talk about logical
consequences when class rules were broken. There are three logical
consequences.
a. "If you broke it, you fix it." This could address hurting others
feelings, interrupting a group, etc. The student needs to take
responsibility for the action and make the other party feel better or fix
the problem.
b. Loss of priveledge. If a student does not work correctly in a group or
does not use material correctly a short term, logical consequence would be
not to work with a group or partner or use the material in question.
c. Take a break. A student may voluntarily decide to take a break in the
classroom "Safe Place" until he or she is calmer and ready to work with the
group. If the teacher suggests to a student to take a break, she will direct
the student to an area in the room until there is time to discuss the reason
for having a break and planning a way to successfully rejoin the group.
Before these logical consequences, a student may wish to do an individual
refocusing activity such as STAR (smile, take a break, and relax...with a
deep breath), Drain, or Balloon.
We are looking forward to sharing more with you at Open House on the
Tuesday, Sept.18.
1. The K-9s and the Crazy 8s used the Creative Problem strategies of WIBNI
(Wouldn't it be nice if....) and WIBAI (Wouldn't it be awful if...) to help
think of the classroom atmosphere that we should create to be successful
learners at ODC. The students worked in collaborative small group teams to
develop rules that would support these ideas. Then each student used a
Creative Problem Solving Tool called Hits and Hot Spots to select the most
important rules from the list of about 25.
Both classes then met Friday afternoon to create these rules that support
our beliefs that we should care and support each other and create a strong
learning environment.
Rules of the Road
1. Treat others with respect.
2. Think before you act.
3. Listen to others by facing the speaker, keeping your body still, and
engaging your mind.
4. Be organized and cooperative so we can have more time for learning.
5. Use and care for materials properly.
6. Do your best.
7. Be right on track in the right place doing the right thing at the right
time with the right tools.
| |
