Back to school Feb 12th

The first day of school after a long weekend is always unpredictable but we managed and had a productive day anyway.

I made an effort today to look at and observe my students and their daily challenges and skills from a neuro science perspective (brains at work). A good mentor and friend of mine reminded me about the work of Mel Levine- apparently there is a chart of skills an abilities that students can use to recognize the executive functions that they are challenged by- need to see if I can fine that.

Homework
did not set any tonight

Reminders
camp fundraising meeting Wed 7pm
camp froms by Feb 14th
hoodie orders ASAP

Our day...
Phys Ed basketball: warm up- half court scrimmage and rotation full court games
banned dribbling as I find certain students hog the ball and are less likey to pass- it is a treat to see how they need to rely on team mates when they can't dribble

SRA now that students are returning from illness and a long weekend some have reading activities to catch-up. The class use of this program will wrap up Feb 28th.

Math 7 review of probelm solving techinques using ratio, percentages, graphing and coordinates
9 students who have missed the writing sections will catch up on FSA sections tomorrow at this time while the rest will be in math class.
Thursday's class we will complete the written problem solving for the FSA and next Tuesday 19th we will finish with the multiple choice numeracy section. Then we will be done by the 22nd. Yay.

Silent Reading great job once we settled - very happy with our progress and understanding of the importance of this quiet time

Personal Planning
 Choices and consequences- recognizing risk and making good decisions
This was a hands-on opportunity to put some of my Friday learning into action- we played a game called How is the Weather?
and had the students examine, discuss and catergorize the risks involved in certain behaviours (lying to parents, dating older people, getting into a car with someone you don't know, trying alcohol etc.)- it is such a complicated procedure. How a student makes a decision is very dependent on who they are, the situation in question, their ability to weigh consequences and their maturity level- all, by the way, are exective functions handled by the pre-frontal cortex.
The lesson lasted longer than intended but I think the students really understood the intent of the activity and their categorizing was very impressive- a few were out of place but that is to be expected and will be part of a follow up. I understood why some found it just a little uncomfortable- we do not often talk candidly about these situations but research has coroborated that many of these situations (whether we parents like it or not) are likely to be faced by adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18.
I believe that if students can determine the risk and consider the consquences that they will be more likely to make the right decision for them in a given situation and will be less likey to do what everybody else is doing.

To finish we did a little novel related doodle art while I read chapter three of our class read aloud.

The day flew by and was productive and relatively calm. Get a good night's rest everyone- more brain work tomorrow.
Cheers, Mrs. J.