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Ms. Calder, Advocacy

Posts

Jan. 23-27

I hope that you had a great weekend!
 
Many things happening this week!
We have the Book Fair going on at Westgate.  As a class we will be going to preview the items at the Book Fair on Monday during our Advocacy time and then going back on Thursday for the opportunity for students to purchase items.  The Book Fair will be open from 3:30-4:00 for you to attend with your child if you are interested in checking out the Book Fair with your child. 
 
Tuesday we will be attending the Drums Around the World.  If you haven't filled out the permission form sent via email, please do so as soon as possible.  What a wonderful opportunity for the students at Westgate.  
 
We will begin talking about Self Care during Advocacy and identify feelings and what triggers us into each feeling.  We will be learning ways to handle all of the triggers to be successful!
 
Have an amazing week!
 

Jan. 17-20

January Theme: Empathy for Self- Care
 
This week we will be focusing on using feeling words; both positive and negative and what triggers these feelings with the next step how to use strategies to process through each feeling. 
 
Have a fantastic week!   

Jan. 9-13

Happy New Year!
So excited to welcome back the students tomorrow!
 
January Advocacy focus this month is...

Empathy in the form of caring for self. Students will identify things that trigger negative emotions as well as tools to care for themselves when they feel negative emotions like stress, anger, sadness or confusion.  

To start the week, we will be reviewing R.I.S.E expectations and practicing getting into Infinite Campus so we can continue checking grades every Tuesday.

On Wednesday and Thursday of this week we will be taking the MAP reading and math to check for progress.  The testing will start at 12:30. Please make sure that students are eating a good breakfast and lunch, staying hydrated and getting enough sleep.  Thank you for your support!

Have an amazing week!

Dec. 12-14

Advocacy this week we will finish working on our Greater for Good projects.  The students came up with three specific projects:
1. Create positive and motivating posters to hang around the school.
2. Clean up our community with Ms. Charlie
3. Create carry packages for those in need. 
         On Friday afternoon, the whole class went out and picked up trash on the playground! I loved seeing their thoughtfulness and helping out our community. 
 
On Wednesday, we will be having our Holiday party starting at 1:30 until the end of the day. Below is a signup sheet if you are interested in donating treats or drinks for our party.  There was a Holiday committee that has been working on creating activities for the 5th/6th POD. 
 
 
The students last day will be Wednesday, December 14, and they will return on January 9, 2023. I hope that your Holiday Break is fantastic

Dec. 5-9

Wowza, December is already here!
 
The theme for the month of December is the "Greater Good".  Last week we started by watching a Ted Talk on how kids can make a difference and World Projects that kids started.  After the videos we had a discussion and brainstormed what we could do as an Advocacy class to make a difference in any or all of our communities.  The kids appeared to be excited and engaged in doing Greater Good in our World. 
 
The end of the Quarter will be December 9.  Any missing assignments need to be turned in by Wednesday, December 7 in order to allow grading and updating grades.  
 
Our Holiday Party will be December 14 in the afternoon.  More information to come next week. 
 
Parent Teacher Conferences will be Thursday, December 15 from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm at Westgate Community School in the 5th/6th classrooms, and Friday, December 16 from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm virtually.  Look for the sign-up sheet this week. 

Nov. 28 - Dec. 2

Welcome back!
I hope that you all had an amazing break!
 
In Advocacy, we will finish looking at the social emotional skills of Accept, Value and Respect.   We have been taking about emotions.  The different types and strategies to accept your emotions and make good decisions while you are feeling a strong emotion. 

Nov. 14-18

The focus for this week will be Accept, Respect Value, with the following objectives.
  • Identifying emotions with nonverbal cues
  • Naming emotions to tame them
  • Identifying varied perspectives
  • Asking others how they feel
On Tuesday we will be checking grades.  If you child has missing assignments, they will be sending you an email with the specific assignments. 
 
Reminder: 
  We will be off the week of Thanksgiving, November 21 - 25.  
 
I am wishing you and your family a wonderful Thanksgiving!  
 
 

Nov. 7-10

The focus for this week will be two things. First reviewing student expectations and tools to help motivate students to meet with success every day at Westgate. 
 
We will continue to discuss Bullying and strategies to help stop this behavior and replace with Kindness.
 
Reminder: November 11, Veteran's Day there is No School!
Thank you to all the Veteran's that have and are currently serving our country!  We appreciate all of you!

Oct. 31 - Nov. 4

Today is the Halloween carnival and party to follow.  Thank you for your support with materials and treats as well as filling out the movie permission form. 
 
Focus lessons for November:
Bully Prevention and spreading Kindness and Accept, Respect and Value. 
 
October was Bully Prevention; however, we were focusing on preparing our Halloween Carnival games. So, we will have lessons on Bullying, how to identify this behavior and replace by spreading kindness to self, others and the community.  
 
We will then move into the themes of Accept, Respect and Value:
 
Specific Skills:
  • Identifying emotions with nonverbal cues
  • Naming emotions to tame them
  • Identifying varied perspectives
  • Asking others how they feel
 
Learning Goals:
  • Students will learn to recognize and kindly acknowledge the feelings and varied experiences of their peers.
  • Students will use compassion to value others’ opinions and experiences and view differences as strengths.
  • Students will learn the differences and similarities between tolerance, acceptance, respect, and value.

Oct. 24-28

Wowza, last full week of October. 
 
The students have been working delinquently on their Halloween Carnival games. Thank you for your support!  This week we will be putting the finishing touches on the projects and getting organized to ready for the Kindergartners through fourth grades Halloween festivities.  
 
If the students finish with their carnival game, we will be working on ways to show kindness to others. 
 
Below are two links for Halloween.  After the carnival, the students will have four choices of movies.  Please look at the choices and let me know what you give your student permission to watch. 
 
The second link that I am including is a sign up for any treats that you would like to donate for our Halloween party.   If you are interested, please complete the sign up.  Thank you for your generosity. 
 
Halloween Costumes
 
Students are encouraged to bring costumes to school on Halloween and will be allowed to change into them after lunch.  Full face paint or masks, as well as real or model weapons, are not allowed.  Keep an eye out for the full costume policy coming from admin for additional details.
 
Advocacy Theme - Bullying Prevention
 
October is Bullying Prevention Month.  Since we are spending our time on planning the carnival this month, we will be teaching lessons around this theme during the first weeks of November.
 
Original Works
 
Ordering information was sent home on Friday.  Please reach out if you have any questions
Have an amazing week!
 
 

October 17-21

I hope that you all have an amazing Fall Break!
 
October is Bullying Prevention Month, and we will be focusing on ways to stop bullying and replace this with Kindness!
 
In addition, the 5th and 6th grade POD will be creating and organizing a carnival game that they will be in charge of on Halloween for the K-4 students.  Ask your child about their project.  
 
Have a glorious week!

Sept. 26 - 30

We will focus on "I am strong" for the last week of September. The students will be taking a strength survey and discovering what their strengths are and brainstorm how they can celebrate their strengths. 
 
Ms. Charlie, the Environment Education specialist will be coming in on Tuesday to talk about our year project for Service Learning with the emphasis being on Kindness. We will be following up on  Thursday with a lesson on what Kindness to our Community looks like.  
 
Ms. Kinslow, the counselor will be coming in on Friday with a lesson to connect with the students. 
 
Reminder Parent/Teacher Conferences will be at Westgate on October 3, 8 am to 8 pm, and will be virtual on October 4, 8am to 12 pm.  Please sign up using the link that is in the post below. 

Sept. 19-23

September is flying by!
 
Our focus for this week is "I Am Strong!"  splashed in with a few other things. 
The students have been working on their Original Art work that is due by Wednesday.  Their unique artwork will be turned into items that you can purchase. More information to come as far as when their artwork will be ready. 
 
Every Thursday is our Service Learning day.  Our focus for the month is Kindness.  Kindness to Self, Others and the Community.   We are going to be doing Random Acts of Kindness to at least 3 other people in order to spread sunshine to our Community. 
 
Reminders:
Quarter 1 ends on Friday and there will be information soon about Parent Teacher Conference sign up.  Parent Teacher Conferences will be October 3 and 4.  More information to come. 
 
Have an outstanding week!

Sept. 12-16

     For the Month of September the focus for Advocacy is "I Am Strong! "  We will be celebrating self strengths.  There will be a series of lessons that is encouraging students to look at themselves and use their strengths to celebrate who they are! 
    We will also be partnering with Ms. Charlie, Environmental Education Specialist, on our Service Learning Project in the  month of September. Every Thursday we will be working on our Service Learning Project on Kindness.  
 
Reminders:
Students are only to bring water during the day to drink. No caffeine please.  This is also stated in the student handbook on p. 11. For lunch students can bring other drinks such as juice or any other non caffeinated drinks.  Thank you for your help in the matter. 
 
Every week students will be checking their Infinite Campus for grade updates as well as any missing assignments.  If your child has a missing assignment, they will email you and myself to keep the communication rolling between us all and holding themselves accountable for their work.  
 
As always, if you have any questions, please reach out to me.  
Have an amazing week!