Mr. Gale's Advocacy Class
Assignment Calendar
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Gale's Advocacy 6-1-2020
Upcoming Events:
- Monday – Final Advocacy Movie Monday!
- Thursday – June 4; Goodbye Parade 10 AM-11:30 AM
- Friday – June 5; Last Day of School/Yearbooks/Return Equipment
Specials- Gym!!
Weekly Advocacy Meetings:
Monday is our final Advocacy of the school year!! We have having Movie Monday! Make sure to wear your pj’s and bring your favorite stuffy!! See you at 10:00 AM
End of Year Parade: On Thursday, June 4th, there will be a drive-through parade so that teachers and staff get a chance to wave goodbye! This will start at 10:00 AM and continue until 11:30 AM.
Yearbooks and Equipment Return: Friday, June 5th is our final school day of the year. You will be able to pick up yearbooks and return any equipment that you borrowed from the school on this day.
Moby Max- Finishing Strong:
Remember, the purpose of Moby Max is to make sure that you continue with the curriculum that you would have been receiving in the 4th quarter at school. It’s very important that you finish your lessons each week so that you are prepared for the next grade in the fall! Let’s finish strong!!
Remember: Moby Max will be available through the summer!!
Saturday and beyond: Enjoy your summer and see back in class in soon ❤️
Gale's Advocacy 5/25/2020
Upcoming Events:
- Monday – May 25; NO SCHOOL, Memorial Day
- Thursday – June 4; Goodbye Parade 10 AM-11 AM
- Friday – June 5; Last Day of School/Yearbooks/Return Equipment
Specials- Gym!!
Weekly Advocacy Meetings:
Remember, there is no Advocacy meeting tomorrow, Monday, May 25th due to Memorial Day. Our next Advocacy meeting will be Friday, May 29th.
End of Year Parade: On Thursday, June 4th, there will be a drive through parade so that teachers and staff get a chance to say goodbye! This will start at 10:00 AM and continue until 11:00 AM.
Yearbooks and Equipment Return: Friday, June 5th is our final school day of the year. You will be able to pick up yearbooks and return any equipment that you borrowed from the school on this day.
Moby Max- Finishing Strong:
Remember, the purpose of Moby Max is to make sure that you continue with the curriculum that you would have been receiving in the 4th quarter at school. It’s very important that you finish your lessons each week so that you are prepared for the next grade in the fall! Let’s finish strong!!
MayAdvocacyNewsletter_Wellness_WeekThree
As we continue to uncover the vast and complex topic of Wellness, it is important we continue to acknowledge that maintaining wellness during a global pandemic brings forth unique and unknown challenges. We are five weeks into distance learning and the routines are set, but even though there is a lot to do, we may be a feeling that things are getting to be “too routine” and the repetition is getting, well, boring. Boredom is not just a lack of something to do–because there is always something to do–but our inability to find meaning in a task and to pay attention to it.
With some of us now spending a lot of our time at or around home, where we used to find meaning– our friends, our work, school, clubs, going out to dinner, shopping or the movies–is no longer an option. But it’s just as likely that pandemic anxiety has also been shortening our attention spans. I like to think of boredom as a mindset where we are bogged down by our thoughts and can’t think of something fun to do. This can limit our thinking and lead to our attention wandering, having a lack of interest and feeling empty, tired and restless.
Luckily, we have the ability change our mindset and think about boredom in a whole new way. Crisis can bring out hidden reserves of human resourcefulness and times of struggle can bring out innovative solutions; constraints activate flexibility and scarcity of resources increases our creativity. If we let it, our boredom can help us be resourceful with what we have, it can lead to finding creative ways of seeing the routine in new and different ways, we can unplug and daydream, we can check in with ourselves and reflect on who we are, how we are feeling and find ways we can practice ways of being more resilient when we want to give up. So remember, boredom is ok and can be a good thing! So if you are feeling bored, 1) try to say to yourself, ”It is ok to be bored. How might boredom be a good thing?" 2) Try something totally new this week. 3) Check in with our feelings and see what you need. Get creative and feel free to share a picture with me about what you did as a boredom buster at [email protected]
David Rowan
Restorative Practices Coordinator
Westgate Community School
K-12 Gifted Education for the Whole Child
MobyMenuWk7
Please find this week's Moby Menu Attached.
Gale's Advocacy 5/18/2020
Upcoming Events:
- Friday – May 22; Virtual Conferences with Advocacy Teacher
- Monday – May 25; NO SCHOOL, Memorial Day
- Friday – June 5; Last Day of School
Specials- Music!!
Virtual Conferences with Advocacy Teacher-Friday, May 22nd
Follow the link to sign up for this Friday’s Parent/Teacher conferences:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050B48ADAA2CAAFE3-endofyear
Check out Rocky Mountain PBS-Read with me at Home!
https://www.rmpbs.org/education/colorado-classroom/
Weekly Advocacy Meetings:
Remember, this week Monday and Thursday at 10:30 AM, we have our Advocacy Zoom meeting! Make sure you join us!
Personal Narrative Writing: For your writing this week, brainstorm events from this past school year to write about and create a memory book. There is a free template in the link above.
Moby Max- Finishing Strong:
Remember, the purpose of Moby Max is to make sure that you continue with the curriculum that you would have been receiving in the 4th quarter at school. It’s very important that you finish your lessons each week so that you are prepared for the next grade in the fall! Let’s finish strong!!
Pictures, Pictures and More Pictures!
Hi families, we always do an end of year slideshow for 1st and 2nd grade at the continuations. Even though learning looks a little different this quarter, we would still love to put together a slideshow to share our year including Distance Learning, but we need your help! If you could share photos of your child through this fourth quarter, we would love to see them. These pictures could be of your child baking, building snowmen, building forts, learning activities or anything else using their wonderful imaginations! The link to share is below:
Gale's Advocacy 5/11/2020
Upcoming Events:
- Tuesday – May 12; Board of Directors Meeting
- Friday – May 15; Community Connect via Zoom
- Friday – May 22; NO SCHOOL, Teacher Work Day
- Monday – May 25; NO SCHOOL, Memorial Day
- Thursday – June 4; Virtual Conferences with Advocacy Teacher
- Friday – June 5; Last Day of School
Informational Writing: Reptiles!
Look for the informational read-aloud by your 1-2 teachers about different reptiles for this week’s writing.
Specials- Gym!!
Weekly Advocacy Meetings:
Remember, each Monday and Friday at 10:00 AM, we have our Advocacy Zoom meeting! Make sure you join us!
Moby Max- Finishing Strong:
Remember, the purpose of Moby Max is to make sure that you continue with the curriculum that you would have been receiving in the 4th quarter at school. It’s very important that you finish your lessons each week so that you are prepared for the next grade in the fall! Let’s finish strong!!
Pictures, Pictures and More Pictures!
Hi families, we always do an end of year slideshow for 1st and 2nd grade at the continuations. Even though learning looks a little different this quarter, we would still love to put together a slideshow to share our year including Distance Learning, but we need your help! If you could share photos of your child through this fourth quarter, we would love to see them. These pictures could be of your child baking, building snowmen, building forts, learning activities or anything else using their wonderful imaginations! The link to share is below:
MobyMaxMenuWeek5
Here is the Moby Max Menu for week 5 of remote learning. One of the options is to take a virtual tour of one of our national monuments paying tribute to our fallen soldiers, please follow the below link to find a list of available tours. It will also be posted to our advocacy webpages.
MayAdvocacyNewsletter_Wellness
Attached is the newsletter for May's Wellness lessons attached.
Gale's Advocacy 5/4/2020
Upcoming Events:
- Monday – Sunday, MAY 4 – MAY 10; Virtual Scholastic Book Fair
- Monday – Friday, MAY 4 – MAY 8; Teacher Appreciation Week
- Friday – May 8; Community Connect via Zoom
- Tuesday – May 12; Board of Directors Meeting
- Friday – May 15; Community Connect via Zoom
- Friday – May 22; NO SCHOOL, Teacher Work Day
- Monday – May 25; NO SCHOOL, Memorial Day
- Thursday – June 4; Virtual Conferences with Advocacy Teacher
- Friday – June 5; Last Day of School
Final Specials Rotation: Gym!
May Advocacy Topic: Wellness – Mr. Rowan is providing this month’s lessons. I will be attaching each week’s lessons to my advocacy page.
Virtual Scholastic Book Fair- This week, Westgate will host a Virtual Book Fair! Check out the link below:
https://www.scholastic.com/bf/…
Pictures, Pictures and More Pictures!
Hi families, we always do an end of year slideshow for 1st and 2nd grade at the continuations. Even though learning looks a little different this quarter, we would still love to put together a slideshow to share our year including Distance Learning, but we need your help! If you could share photos of your child through this fourth quarter, we would love to see them. These pictures could be of your child baking, building snowmen, building forts, learning activities or anything else using their wonderful imaginations! The link to share is below:
“Surviving the Struggle”
As we all try to navigate through our new normal it creates an unsettling time for our littles. We are asking students and parents to do things they have
never done and work through lessons on a program, they are unfamiliar with. This new normal causes a lot of frustration as they try to navigate these uncharted waters. During the 1st quarter, we talked a lot about, “Surviving the Struggle”, and realizing that "A problem is just a problem and not a reflection of who we are!" The struggle is part of the learning process and if we got everything right all the time, we wouldn't need school!! As teachers, we don't like to get things wrong either, but we know that learning from our mistakes helps us grow and that is what learning is all about!
Remind your child to get out of the "fixed" mindset of, “I have to always be right”.
Our brain is a muscle and mistakes work out our brain to make it stronger!! There are a lot of staff here to support you and your child such as Mr. Rowan and Ms. Washington just to name a couple. Please reach out if you need anything.
Gale's Advocacy 4-27-20
Medication Pickup:
If you have medications in the front office, you can pick those up between 9- 11 AM in carline. A staff member will bring your medication to your car.
Virtual Scholastic Book Fair- This week, Westgate will host a Virtual Book Fair! Check out the link below:
https://www.scholastic.com/bf/…
Pictures, Pictures and More Pictures!
Hi families, we always do an end of year slideshow for 1st and 2nd grade at the continuations. Even though learning looks a little different this quarter, we would still love to put together a slideshow to share our year including Distance Learning, but we need your help! If you could share photos of your child through this fourth quarter, we would love to see them. These pictures could be of your child baking, building snowmen, building forts, learning activities or anything else using their wonderful imaginations! The link to share is below:
“Surviving the Struggle”
As we all try to navigate through our new normal it creates an unsettling time for our littles. We are asking students and parents to do things they have never done and worked through lessons on a program, they are unfamiliar with. This new normal causes a lot of frustration as they try to navigate these unchartered waters. During the 1st quarter, we talked a lot about, “Surviving the Struggle”, and realizing that "A problem is just a problem and not a reflection of who we are!" The struggle is part of the learning process and if we got everything right all the time, we wouldn't need school!! As teachers, we don't like to get things wrong either, but we know that learning from our mistakes helps us grow and that is what learning is all about!
Remind your child to get out of the "fixed" mindset of, “I have to always be right”.
Our brain is a muscle and mistakes work out our brain to make it stronger!! There is a lot of staff here to support you and your children such as Mr. Rowan and Ms. Washington just to name a couple. Please reach out if you need anything.
Ms. Valenza Earth Day Activities 4-27-20
Dear 1-2 families,
This week is the end of April, the end “Earth Month.” I don’t see it like that. I see it as a path to greener ideas, simpler ways of living, and a heightened awareness of the beauty in our natural world.
I hope you enjoyed doing these activities. It was a lot of fun to put together and I thoroughly enjoyed staying connected with you this month.
I’m here if you need me. Nature is also always there if you need it.
1st & 2nd Advocacy Activities
Monday - Nature is magic! Today’s nature craft is to make a stick wand. Go find a really good stick that feels right when you hold it in wand position. If you can find some small sticks, leaves, or pinecones those may be nice to have to add to the end of your wand. Then ask your parents for some string and get to decorating. Wrap the string around the stick however you’d like. You can use some of the string to hang leaves, sticks, pinecones, or flowers off the end. Once your wand is done, decide which powers your wand has and how can you use those powers for good. Send a picture to Mrs. Valenza with your wand.
Tuesday – Head to Mrs. Valenza’s Staff Profile Page to hear her reading Not For Me, Please! I choose to act green by Maria Godsey.
Wednesday It has been hard to not be able to go where you want, see who you want when you want. Today make a list, journal, or draw a picture about all the places you want to visit once the “Stay at home” order has been lifted. Hopefully, this will keep your spirits lifted and remind you that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Share your list with someone you trust.
For Mrs. Valenza, she wants to go camping in Moab, have a picnic at Chautauqua, and buy a plane ticket to go see humpback whales in Hawaii.
Thursday Today, go outside! Here are a few ideas: You could build a bee water station https://carolinahoneybees.com/diy-bee-waterer/
Add some pollinator plants to your yard or porch. Call your local nursery to see if they have any of these plants. https://resourcecentral.org/5-plants-for-your-colorado-pollinator-garden/
Have a picnic outside.
Just sit on your porch and watch the world pass by.