Future Voters!

As we finish up our unit on the U.S.government, we have been learning more about our rights and responsibilities as United States citizens.  One way we have done this is by learning about our right to vote.  Our class learned that even though we have a few years before we can vote, it doesn't mean we can't share our opinions and influence those around us.

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Class Meeting ~ Purple Pickle

This week the students and I discussed communication.  We talked about how to deal with difficult classmates and situations where they felt like they weren't being listened too.  We discussed how sometimes each one of us has times where we get so focused on something that we don't listen to those around us.  The students suggested  we have a code word that we can use as a class to help refocus someone who isn't listening.  They worked together and decided on a simple phrase that would catch someone's attention.  Purple Pickle was thought to be both funny enough and unusual enough to distract their classmate long enough to get them to listen. We then talked about what to do when they got the person's attention.  We discussed using "I" phrases such as I feel hurt when you won't listen to me, and I really don't like it when you won't stop when I ask you to. I am so proud of the way they discussed their ideas and listened to those of their classmates.  I look forward to many more of these enlightening class meetings this year. :)

Those Bothersome Grown-up Rules

We started a fun writing activity this last week that will help us increase our writing skills in the area of IDEAS.

We are writing the real reasons for some of the most notorious Grown-up rules.

 Did you know that the REAL reason we tell kids to eat their veggies is because once upon a time Veggies roamed the earth and were in fact meat eating beasties.  Now we must eat them to keep them subdued.

We read all about it in the tell all book The Secret Knowledge of Grown-Ups by David Wisniewski.

We are now adding our own spin on our favorite (and least favorite) grown up rules.