Social Emotional Learning

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is the foundation of the TK curriculum. SEL is at the heart of everything we do in my classroom. When students develop confidence in themselves and empathy for others, they’ll be ready to explore the world, absorb what they discover along the way, and tackle tough problems with creativity and tenacity.

According to Edmodo.com, “There is a growing body of research that provides evidence that emotional regulation is critical to academic success.” Regurgitating facts and formulas can be impressive, but are not effective job skills. Employers need workers who can think creatively and collaborate with others for a common purpose. Those are the skills that take time (years!) to develop and sharpen, but we rarely allow all the practice needed to become proficient.

Here is a link to that body of research. You can read the data for yourself. Let’s rethink education and focus on developing the whole child.

Pennies for Patients Update

penniesGood Morning Carroll Comets! My name is Janelle Gates and I am one of your Pennies for Patients Representatives.

Congratulations on a great job with the Pennies for Patients campaign! Some highlights of our campaign were:

• 40 classrooms earned a bronze pennant for raising at least 100 dollars.
• 18 classrooms earned a silver pennant for raising at least 200 dollars.
• 8 classrooms earned a gold pennant for raising over 300 dollars.
o Ms. Burnat’s class raised $364.95 and earned a pizza party
o Ms. Ellis’ class raised $699.26 and also earned a pizza party

We should all feel very proud of ourselves because every penny, nickel, dime, quarter, dollar, and check donated will help save the lives of cancer patients!

Our schools grand total raised was $10,011.01(ten thousand eleven dollars and one cent). That is 111% of our goal! That is also $2300 more than we raised last year as a school.

WAY TO GO CARROLL COMETS!

A note from Mrs. Petuya: I am very proud to announce that our class total was $204.34.

Pennies for Patients Update

Good Afternoon Carroll Comets! My name is Faith and I am one of your Pennies for Patients representatives. We have had an amazing 2 weeks of giving. WE have raised $5,053.90. That is more than 50% of our goal. 17 of our classrooms have raised over $100 and have earned a bronze pennant. 2 of our classes have raised over $200 and have earned a Silver Pennant. Remember the primary and intermediate classes with the highest amount raised earn a pizza party. Right now Ms. Burnat’s class with $244.76 and Mr. Stults’ class with $207.55 are in the lead. It is not too late to catch them.

Today we delivered materials to our C-Track classes and welcomed them to our challenge. We have 2 more weeks to meet our school goal of $9000.

We will be selling wristbands again for $2. For $2 you get a wristband and a raffle ticket for a class donut party. Representatives will be selling them each morning when they collect your money. This Friday, the class who collects the MOST money this week will earn a nacho party. Lastly, it is not too late to buy a $5 raffle ticket for Principal for a Day. Let your representative know when they collect your change.

Happy Collecting and remember EVERY PENNY COUNTS!

Additional note from Mrs. P: In case you are wondering, our class total so far is $63.67.

Pennies for Patients

penniesOur guest blogger today is one of the sixth grade students in charge of the Pennies for Patients Fundraiser.

Good Afternoon Carroll Comets! My name is Sahra and I am one our your Pennies for Patients representatives. We have had a GREAT first week. In our first week, which was only 4 days long, we have raised $2,464.70. Give yourselves a HUGE round of applause.

Next week we will be selling wristbands on Monday for $2 on the outdoor stage. This will be your last chance to buy one until C-Track returns on February 1. The winning class will be announced at the end of the 4 week campaign.

Also, next week we will begin selling $5 raffle tickets for the Principal for a day. You can buy as many raffle tickets as you want. Your class representatives will give you more information and a flyer on Monday when they come to collect your donations. Remember ALL money raised goes to our school goal.

Lastly, our current classroom leaders are Ms. Burnat’s class with $154.64 and Mr. Stults’ class with $166.83.

Good luck collecting money this weekend and we will see you on Monday!

Noisy or Quiet?

Do you expect a classroom to be noisy or quiet? Do you expect students to be sitting politely and waiting for the teacher to direct the instruction? If you visit my classroom, and I hope you do, you will find out very quickly that my classroom is a noisy and active place most of the time. It may look messy and be louder than you are accustomed to, but that is learning in action!

In my roles as teacher, employee, boss, daughter, wife, mom, gramma, or friend, I realized that I don’t have all the answers and needed to ask questions, lots of questions. Shouldn’t we expect students to have the same need? Of, course! So I structure every lesson to include many opportunities for students to talk. By encouraging my students to practice putting words together to communicate their ideas, they are building strong relationships with me and their classmates. When my students feel safe and connected and valued, they are then free to explore deeper and make better learning connections. They practice collaborative strategies and learn to negotiate with and listen to others just like they will have to do in their future careers.

So now you know a bit about why my classroom is a noisy place. Learning thrives when relationships develop. I hope you’ll stop by soon and practice learning with us.

I found these resources recently. I’d like to know what you think, so please leave a comment, too.
Atlanta Speech School
Thirty Million Word Initiative

The Promise from Atlanta Speech School on Vimeo.

Mrs. Flohr is Retiring!

I am sad to say that one of the most important people on our campus is retiring next week, Mrs. Lori Flohr, our school secretary.  Since we can’t stop it from happening, we can at least send her off with some love.
Second Grade will be “showering her with flowers” on Monday morning.  Please come to school with any sort of flowers to celebrate the wonderful woman she is.  Garden flowers, silk flowers, paper flowers, drawings of flowers…all will make the moment more memorable.

Mrs. P