Week 24 at Scott Carpenter

During the week of love here at Scott Carpenter, we got quite a bit done. We finished up our mini section on Belief Systems, and all the students got to present their final projects. They each had to come up to the front of the class and talk about their piece, which yet again was filled with hiding faces and giggles. This time students did significantly better standing in front of their peers and sharing their future goals, and I am incredibly proud of them.

 On Wednesday students were introduced to Hot Buttons and explored what makes them angry, what is at the root of that anger, and how do we calm ourselves down. We also had parent-teacher conferences this week, and it was so great to meet the parents of all the excellent students I get to interact with. Friday I was out town, but hopefully, the students had a great Fun Friday! I also wanted to share a video that all the teachers were asked to make. The theme was "What is your Why?"

Week 23 at Scott Carpenter

This week at Scott Carpenter we dove deep into our limiting beliefs and how to change them into empowering beliefs. On Monday the Mentors explored how much they really know about their Mentees and brainstormed questions they could ask to get to know them better throughout the week. On Tuesday we played a game where the students explored the limiting belief cycle and then had to create their own cycle based on a limiting belief they held about themselves. This activity was challenging for some as they really had to evaluate their own lives and actions. On Wednesday the students were introduced to the concept of Ubuntu, which is a South African concept that values community and compassion on a profound level. The students watched a video about the topic, link below if you would like to know more, and then came up with ways to use the concept in our classroom. This concept has already changed classes because whenever I see something that isn't compassionate, that isn't building trust or community in the classroom, I turn to the student or students and say, "Is this how we practice Ubuntu in our classroom?" The answer has repeatedly been, "No Miss, I'm sorry."

On Wednesday we also started our "pull it all together" projects, and from what I saw the next couple of days the projects will be unique and beautiful! On Thursday there were quite a few students missing due to the snow but we tried having our tutoring day later in the week this week and I think the students will utilize this time more efficiently throughout the year. On Friday we had a jam-packed day. First, we played a game called shipwreck where the teams had to knock over other teams pins to sink their ship. This game worked on communication, teamwork, and strategy. Mostly because once you get down to one pin an entire team would be guarding it, you really had to work together and sometimes with other teams! Then we played the cup game from Shaw Heights, thanks Megan, and we could only play it once, for three minutes, because Scott Carpenter kids get tired fast! After that, we played a new version of red light, green light where the Stoplight is a member of the opposite team. This game challenged the students to pay attention to each other and work together to get to the end before the other team. We ended the day with an all-class basketball game in which lots of laughter, traveling and missed baskets occurred.

         Ubuntu Video

Week 22 at Scott Carpenter

We had a great week here at Scott Carpenter Middle School! On Monday the skies above opened up and revealed an unexpected amount of snow which inspired a lot of students and families to stay home and enjoy each others company. On Tuesday we worked on finding a word that inspired us to be better throughout the school year, and the students loved doing a small art project and showing their creativity! Thank you Megan for this great activity!


















 On Wednesday and Thursday, we talked further about belief systems and dove into Empowering and Limiting Beliefs and how they help or hurt us. The students had to read various articles about beliefs and then create a poster that would help them teach the rest of the class about their material. Overall the presentations were a fun experience to help students work on literacy skills, teamwork, and public speaking. I do believe we will be doing more public speaking activities as some of the students either hid behind their posters or talked to the whiteboard instead of their classmates! It was adorable.



















 On Friday we had fun in the gym playing crab ball, soccer and scatter ball. Don't know what crab ball is? It is like soccer but below a student demonstrates how you have to "walk."

Week 21 at Scott Carpenter.

This week the YESS classes dived right back into YESS Curriculum after two weeks of getting to know each other and building trust again between students. On Monday, Mentors played a game that was like if Pictionary and telephone had a baby. The Mentors loved it, and we will be playing it later this week with the whole group. On Tuesday, Mentors and Mentees worked on homework, checked their empower and set goals for the week. Below is what the students had to fill out.

Then On Wednesday, the kids had testing, so we used our YESS period as a decompression session, and the students got to relax while we read The Hate You Give. On Thursday we started the Belief Systems unit where we explored how our family, the media and our thoughts impact how we view the world. We began with a musical chairs game where students had to stop at a chair when the music stopped and picked up a word on the chair and write about their ideas about each word. This activity gave the students an opportunity to discover how their own thoughts can impact their day. Such as, "If I go around school thinking I am stupid, then I will do stupid things in class and not pay attention. On the other side, "If I go around school thinking I am smart then I will have confidence in myself and I will try harder."

Then we talked about our Culture, lessons we have learned from our culture, and how our culture has impacted our viewpoints about different groups of people. I am continuously blown away by our students' ability to think deeper and question the world around them.

Week 20 at Scott Carpenter

Hope everyone had a wonderful 3 day weekend! Last week was a ton of fun. We sent the week getting to know each other and bond. On Monday, the mentors had a great time playing games and getting more comfortable with each other. Then on Tuesday, we did a speed dating style activity for the mentee to meet all the mentors and choose their top three students they wanted as their Mentor. On Wednesday the pairs were revealed, and the Mentor-Mentee pairs had a series of problems to solve together. 

They ranged from silly things like, "If aliens came down to earth and stole everyone's voice what would you do," to more serious problems like, "You cannot leave the city, but it has no water, what do you do?" This activity got the pairs talking to each other and was aimed to build a foundation of trust and comfort. On Thursday we had a class competition where Mentor-Mentee pairs had to go to the internet to find answers to a scavenger hunt. Some of the questions were easy, some, I had to search for the answer!

 Such a great week and look forward to having another week of building trust and community in all the new classes!

Week 19 at Scott Carpenter

Hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday break. Scott Carpenter Middle school students came back with such positive and exciting attitudes! What a happy and energetic way to start off the new semester! It has been a crazy week of trying to figure out everyone's new schedules and make sure everyone was in the right spot. All student schedules were changed to help ensure students were in tighter levels this semester. What does that mean? All new YESS classes!! While the majority of my students are still YESS students from last semester every class was mixed up. This means we spent the majority of last week getting to know each other's names, building trust, and building community. It definitely feels like the beginning of the year but we will get right back on track and continue working!

 
On Friday, we had our first all-school assembly that was full of games that the teachers eventually won! Last semester some of the teachers volunteered to take a pie in the face if we reached the fundraising goal for the Book Fair. In the last hour of the book fair, the community pulled through and we went over the expected amount! This past Friday the teachers had to live up to their promise. Below is a video of yours truly getting a semi-violent pie in the face.

Healthy Relationships Week 17

Scott Carpenter is filled with students who love each other, however, do they often keep that love throughout the year? Often something comes between friendships and sometimes students are able to work it out, other times not. So we had a discussion this week about how we handle conflict in our relationships and how we can make things better when they are not great. This week we talked learned about healthy relationships and what our role in those relationships are. I got a whole lot of sadness from previous YESS students when we learned about the Apple Pie Analogy and I didn't have apple pie for them to eat, (thanks Sara for setting the bar at real pie😁). Students then got to see what type of pie eater they were: Whole pie eater (controlling), Balanced Pie Eater, or Pie Crumb eater (Victim). I thought it was hilarious to see how many 6th graders turned out to be Pie Crumb Eaters and held the "nothing is my fault" attitude. As well, this is our second week on the Relationship unit and I still am getting snickers from kids because they think I am just talking about their boyfriend or girlfriend (shake my head). One day we will get past it, I can only hope. We continued reading The Hate U Give and I even started crying at a certain part in the book that all the kids said, "Miss, it's not that sad." It was, to my defense. On Friday we had a blast playing real life Hungry, Hungry, Hippo. It's days like this that makes everything you go through as a teacher worth it.