Week 33 @ Scott

What a week here at Scott! On Monday the school finished up testing due to the missed day of school the week prior and classes were short so students worked on missing work. Then on Tuesday, we were on a special schedule to accommodate the Social Celebration of the end of testing, so students finished their mask activity. On Wednesday all classes participated in a circle talk. In this talk, I used some time to reset expectations around being in class, reiterated that even though we only have 4 weeks of school left we are still working and being the best scholars possible and to address the increase of bad words used in my class. Each YESS class decided on their own unique consequence for what happens when someone uses foul language in the classroom. The ideas ranged from $20 in a cup to tape on their mouths or wearing funny hats in the corner for 5 minutes. We settled on things like 2 warnings and then a minute gets taken away from Friday and 10 jumping jacks where the entire class counts them out. Then the rest of the circle talk was spent talking about school culture and what we as a class could do to improve it.  Two classes decided that throwing a YESS social would be a great way to spread school spirit and we got approval today! On Thursday each student wrote an outline of things they are missing, things they could be working on in tutoring, and learning targets they could work on. This will be used for the rest of the year and the students can check things off as they finish. On Friday each class voted on what they wanted to do for Fun Friday. In one period they wanted to play card games and watch La Rosa de Guadeluope.


We had fun playing Egyptian Ratscrew and learning a new game called golf. In third period we went to the gym and played a 3 on 3 basketball tournament and even I played! My team took the cake! Another class voted to stay inside and watch superhero movies to prepare for the weekend blockbuster hit "Avengers: Endgame." And the last class voted to spend our time running around and playing outside in the beautiful weather! I look forward to planning the social with the kids this and next week and hope our energy flows high this week!

Week 32 @ Scott

This week was full of testing and high emotions! On Monday the Mentors talked through some struggles and successes they are having with their mentees and got started on their masks early.

 On Tuesday all classes started their masks. On the front of the mask students decorated based on what they show the world and on the back they put all the things they hide from the world.

 Then at the end of the day, we had a controlled release due to a threat in the city. This led to no school on Wednesday. On Thursday we had testing which only gave about 25 minutes for each class. We spent Thursday talking through questions, fears, and lingering thoughts about the events of the week. Students were able to work through some of the feelings that had kept them up through the night and learned how to recognize what was real information and what were rumors. We also had some great conversations about how we represent different groups of people in the media. On Friday we had fun in the gym and played Mentors/teacher versus Mentee dodgeball and some all class basketball games. This week we are finishing up testing and have a fun social and dress down day tomorrow! Hope everyone has a great week!

Week 31 at Scott

Hi Everyone,
This week was very jumbled. On Monday Mentors worked on finishing their Mentor slides for the end of the year celebration. We had some really great photoshoot moments!

With Testing Season in full bloom, the students are working hard and getting a bit of time in YESS to decompress. Because both the students were exhausted from testing this week we played card games, especially Egyptian Ratscrew, which was my favorite game when I was young and now becoming a huge game in my classroom. We also played board games and watched the beloved show La Rosa de Guadalupe. This show is a great show that teaches very valuable life lessons and can be used as a literacy tool when we put the subtitles on! This week we are working on our final project for the Belief Systems Unit and will be making masks. I hope everyone has a great week this week and look forward to seeing great artwork from our students.

Week 30 at Scott Carpenter

Well, this week was interesting. Testing season is upon us and this week was yet another short week for students! On Monday the Mentors reviewed 9 different quotes from famous leaders around the world, picked their favorite quote and had to do some activities around the quote. One of the activities was a drawing contest to create a visual representation of the quote and some of them were incredible. On Tuesday we spent some time reading the Hate U Give. On Wednesday we had mock testing day and had shortened classes where we read more of the Hate U Give and played some clear your mind games. On Thursday we had our fun Friday and some classes went to the gym to burn off their energy. Other classes opted to stay in the room to have card tournament games. I want to let everyone in on a little secret. If you are struggling with a student or even your own child, teach them a card game and beat them! Not only does this stimulate a positive, sometimes competitive, relationship with the student, but it also stimulates them wanting to learn from you in a fun way and makes them want to keep coming back to play!

Week 29 at Scott Carpenter

What a week! This week the students had amazing energy leading up to Spring Break! We finished talking about the Wheel of Burnout and the Wheel of Caring. The students had great insight into what makes them feel like they want to give up and how they can break that cycle and advocate for what they need. On Thursday we started exploring different social justice issues because the students will be doing a class project at the end of the year to create change in their neighborhoods. This week we watched some videos that explored what causes hate to continue, what is global warming, the current state of water in our world, and what is it like to become a US Citizen. On Friday we had an assembly with a Police Officer from Boulder who is also a comedian and the kids loved him. He brought a friend who was a former Denver Broncos player who gave our kids a little Hawaiian culture lesson. And of course, fun Friday where we had some pretty intense card tournaments!

SHORT Week 28

Hi Everyone,
This week was incredibly short due to not one, but two, snow days! On Monday the mentors learned about values and brainstormed ways we can use our strongest values in class to show leadership. The most important value across all classes was family so we talked about ways we could make our classes feel like a family. I look forward to seeing how this plays out this week. On Tuesday we talked about boundaries. We discussed how boundaries are based on agreements about what is okay to do and what is not okay to do in any type of relationship, and also who is allowed to do what. We then played a game to determine what we think is ok and what is not ok with some fabulous scenarios I made up. Wednesday and Thursday we, of course, had off. On Friday another class needed the gym so we played games, watched silly videos and listened to music as our fun Friday. Heres a fun video of us playing with a unicorn game I got at a staff Christmas party a couple months ago. Look forward to a lot more fun and pictures next week!

Week 27 @ Scott Carpenter

This week was a whirlwind! Monday the Mentors got to work on our end of the year celebration powerpoint. The mentors had to pick a picture of themselves, a powerful quote, and their future career. On Tuesday we started talking about accountability and what taking responsibility for our own actions looks like. We explored excuses, how our attitudes or belief systems impact our choices and the difference between an explanation and an excuse. On Wednesday we did something a little different and had a circle talk. Circle talks give every person a voice and allow students to talk without fear of being interrupted. We started the talk out by discussing everything the students were frustrated about school and essentially they had about 30 minutes to just get it all out. Then I turned the conversation around on them and asked them to come up with ways that they can be accountable for what is happening at school. Then asked them, for the things that they can't be accountable for, how can they self-advocate for themselves to make things better. This part of the conversation was where the gold was found. For instance, students want to fight for a student council, or some type of structure, that gives the students a voice in decisions made here at Scott. In our Period 2 class, the students took it very seriously and already chose Ms. Amy, pictured below on the right, as student body president.





















 On Thursday we started talking about social justice themes in a very specific way. I showed the students a couple videos of modern "protest songs." We then discussed the themes in the videos, digested what Social Justice means and then I sent them on their way to find their favorite protest song. Music historically brings people together and what better way for the kids to start exploring social justice than through music? After they were done picking their song, telling me why they chose it, and what was the message, students worked on missing work. On Friday we had a lot of fun. We started the day off with a minute to win it challenge, where table groups competed against each other by trying to win 4 silly games. Then we played balloon volleyball, which was so slow it made them laugh. And last, we brought back the wonderful game of kickball, which a lot of students did not know how to play! What type of elementary school deprived these students of kickball... I will be investigating! Hope everyone has a great week this week!