Acrostic Poems, Senior Buddies, Student Council, Our Needs, and Fossilization

We've really been cruisin' since we returned from Westminster Woods and I have so much to share with you. First of all, these are the beautiful acrostic poems that the students wrote as gifts for their senior buddies at Bello Gardens. They brought them to our first meeting as a jumping off point to introduce themselves and as a gift to decorate the residents' rooms. They are absolutely so sweet.

 

I was very excited to be back at Bello Gardens to introduce my students to some wonderful people whom I've known for three years now and some great new friends. The kids were brave and compassionate. I was truly blown away. I know it can feel quite overwhelming for a kid to step into such a new experience full of question marks. I was extremely proud of they way they gave of themselves. They started out by being paired with a buddy. Then they had some time to share their poem and get to know one another a bit. Dena, the program coordinator from LITA's Bridging Generations program, gave the kids some fun conversation starter questions to work with. Then we played a rousing game of BINGO, said goodbye, and headed back to campus.

When we got back they students shared what they learned about their partner. They also shared what was fun and what was challenging. We talked about hearing loss and dementia. We talked about why visiting Bello Gardens is a wonderful gift for us and our senior partners. Many of the seniors have chosen to participate in the program year after year and the Bello Gardens program coordinator shared that it is such a highlight for the residents. The place is buzzing with positive energy after we visit!

And back on campus...
Division challenges in small groups:

Claire's fantastic class meeting: What do we need to collect for our haunted house? And should we create the classroom job of "substitute" to cover important roles when someone is absent?

 

Big-time congratulations to our Student Council Representative candidates! They were poised, prepared, genuine, and passionate.  We're a lucky class to have Will representing us on the council for the entire year and William and Charlie sharing the responsibilities of the second representative as a pair! !!!!! Just AMAZING !!!!!

This weekend I went to the Teachers 4 Social Justice Conference in the city. The overarching theme was on challenging a culture of violence and I left feeling very inspired to continue to grow our social justice curriculum and introduce my students to movements for social change that are inspiring, important, and developmentally appropriate. 

Along those lines, we started to discuss the language of "needs" that comes from Non-Violent Communication.  According to the Center for Non-Violent Communication, "Non-Violent Communication (NVC) is based on the principles of nonviolence-- the natural state of compassion when no violence is present in the heart. NVC begins by assuming that we are all compassionate by nature and that violent strategies—whether verbal or physical—are learned behaviors taught and supported by the prevailing culture. NVC also assumes that we all share the same, basic human needs, and that each of our actions are a strategy to meet one or more of these needs. People who practice NVC have found greater authenticity in their communication, increased understanding, deepening connection and conflict resolution."

One of my favorite elements of their work is helping people identify the need behind the action. The big idea is that every choice we make is done to fulfill a need that everyone can relate to. They may have made a choice that doesn't work for you at all or that seems counter-intuitive to the need behind it, but the need is the root and the need is something that we can all relate to. Why not start challenging conversations or conflict mediation from that place of common experience?

So... today we identified some of our most important needs and the students worked to identify the need behind the action in a series of scenarios.

And lastly, we've been learning all about fossil and the fossil record in science! I thought it would be a great starting point for the year because it's a fantastic segue into studying the early natural and social history of California. Also... fossils are way cool!

Here students are modeling the process of forming permineralization fossils with sponges taking the place of porous dinosaur bones.