Friday, June 5th -
Yearbook Pick-Up and Equipment Drop-off
*Yearbook Pick-up: 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
*Computer & School Property Drop Off: 10:00 – 11:30 (please clean equipment w/alcohol swab/wipe)
*Alternative Time Needed? Please contact [email protected] to set something up.
We are in our final week of school! Keep up the hard work during this end stretch! Thank you so much for your support throughout the school year, especially through distance learning. The last day of school is June 5th. MobyMax will remain available throughout the summer if you and your child would like to continue to learn!
The days this week are still considered school days and we do count those days as instructional days. As a team, we highly recommend that students continue to do their MobyMax work and you can also supplement with reading, writing, specials work (check their pages for ideas), baking/cooking, or other fun hands on activities. I will not be assigning a writing prompt for this week, however, all past due writing assignments are expected by Wednesday, June 3rd. Our last day of school is slated for Friday, June 5. If you have any other questions, please feel free to let me know.
Important Dates
Monday, June 1st - Night of the Notables project due! Please email or share any files with your teacher.
Wednesday, June 3rd - 3/4 Pod “Goodbye” on Zoom! At 3:00pm, the entire pod will meet to see everyone’s faces to celebrate the end of the year. This will only be about 5-10 minutes. We are going to give kids an opportunity to see classmates from other advocacy classes and wish them a happy summer break! Please join the following link on Wednesday at 3:00pm!
Join Zoom Meeting https://us04web.zoom.us/j/5857924667?pwd=M1orTXVmeHhyaDV0b3poc2xBODBFQT09
(Meeting ID: 585 792 4667)
Password: Please see an email from your teacher for the password.
Thursday, June 4th - Goodbye Parade in the Westgate parking lot (10:00am - 11:00am). Please do not arrive before 9:30am.
Friday, June 5th - Last Day of School / Yearbook Pickup / Equipment Return (more details coming soon)
Advocacy Zoom Meeting
Our Advocacy Zoom meeting is on Tuesday at 10:00am. Students have asked to have a pajama party and a treat (optional). I hope to see all the kids there!
Final Office Hours
My final office hours for this week will be on Tuesday, 6/2/2010 from 9-10.
Prompt:Family Tales. What is the most interesting story that a family member has ever told you about their life? Retell that story to me. Don't forget to include dialogue, descriptive words, and a beginning, middle, and end.
It was a beautiful spring morning in Wadsworth, Ohio in the 1850s. Most of the flowers were in bloom and the sun was shining. There were no clouds in the sky, and it was a great day. In the house, Mrs. Betsy Turner was cooking a pancake breakfast. Her granddaughter, Maria, age 12, was helping. Mr. Alexander Turner was out back feeding their horses some carrots. When he came inside, the three ate breakfast and tried to act as normal as they could. No one outside of the house knew what was going on inside. Betsy made a large plate of pancakes for Alexander to take to the basement.
Hidden in the basement were four runaway slaves trying to get to freedom in Canada. Mr. Turner took the pancakes to the people in the basement. "Tonight is the night," said Alexander Turner. Tom, one of the slaves replied, "What's our plan?"
"After dark, I'll hitch the horses up to the wagon. Betsy and Maria will come to the cellar door and lead all of you out to the wagon. They will give you all a packed meal you can take with you on the ride. It will take several hours to get up to Berea, which is closer to Lake Erie. You can rest there tomorrow during the day, and another family will take you to Lake Erie tomorrow night. You can't even whisper and you all need to hide under the hay in the wagon. Do you have any questions?" No one had any questions, so Alexander left and went upstairs.
That night, the slaves got ready to go. Upstairs, Mr. and Mrs. Turner and Maria were also getting ready for the big night. This was their first time helping slaves get to freedom and they were nervous. Then, Alexander went to get the horses hooked up to the wagon while Betsy and Maria packed the food. The women went downstairs, gave the slaves the sacks of food, and led them out back to the wagon. "Thank you for your all of your help," said Tom. "This is a dangerous job and we all appreciate it." The slaves climbed into the wagon and hid under the straw. "Good luck to you all," said the Turners. "Giddyup horses," said Mr. Turner and they were off.
The ride was bumpy and luckily they didn't come across anyone on the way. A couple of hours later, they arrived at the home of another Underground Railroad stop. They were at the final stop before getting to freedom at last. Alexander Turner was happy that is was a success. He rode home in the moonlight and arrived home in time to see the sun rise.
My grandmother/Nana told me this story. Maria the 12 year old was her great grandmother.
It is now week 8 of distance learning! Keep up the hard work! We are in the home stretch! Staying engaged can be especially challenging right now. Please reach out if you would like any assistance in keeping your child engaged!
Important Dates
This week- This is a four day week!
Monday, June 1st - Night of the Notables project due! Please email or share any files with your teacher.
Thursday, June 4th - Goodbye Parade in the Westgate parking lot (10:00am - 11:00am)
Friday, June 5th - Last Day of School / Yearbook Pickup / Equipment Return (more details coming soon)
Advocacy Activities from Mr. Rowan
This month’s theme is Wellness! Please see the additional post with information and activities from Mr. Rowan posted below.
Night of the Notables
If your child is working on our optional Night of the Notables project, we have a few updates to share!
The project will be due on Monday, June 1st
Your child should be prepared to dress up as their person to the best of their ability
Your child should choose to present in one of the 2 following ways
Record an approximately 2 minute video presentation and email it to their teacher
Create a PowerPoint about their person, including pictures of them dressed up as their person and share it with their advocacy teacher and their social studies teacher.
In Advocacy this year, students have learned about and practiced skills related to self-awareness, self-regulation, bullying prevention, optimism, gratitude, mindfulness, self-compassion, healthy relationships, growth mindset, environmental appreciation, and finally, wellness. As we conclude the school year, let’s take all of these lessons and put them into action! In this newsletter you will find a note from Ms. Novak and Ms. Valenza as well as links to local volunteer opportunities, a message of optimism and an article that makes the connection between "good deeds" and "feel goods."
It has been an honor to share in social emotional learning with you all this year, and we wish you the best this summer. We can't wait to connect in the fall! Until then, remember that you can access the Social-Emotional Resources Page for resources found in the May wellness newsletters.
Sincerely,
Ms. Novak, Ms. Valenza, Ms. Washington, Mr. Chermak and Mr. Rowan
If your child is working on our optional Night of the Notables project, we have a few updates to share!
Welcome to week 7 of distance learning! I know this has been many weeks learning outside of school, but you are all rocking it! Thank you for persevering and helping your kids to continue to grow! If your child is having a hard time staying engaged or if you are having any struggles, please email me for assistance or visit my office hours on Monday and Thursday from 10-11 a.m. I am here to help!
Important Dates & Information:
Writing
For writing this week, you will find the rubric on which students will be assessed in Moby Max under the “Writing Assignments” tab and posted above. This is a new rubric since we are moving into narrative writing. There is a 3rd grade rubric and a 4th grade rubric.
Time Guidelines
Zoom
Our Advocacy Zoom meeting is on Tuesday at 10:00am. I hope to see all the kids there! The Zoom link and password is the same as last week.
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]