Celebrating Differences

Health-  Today, we continued our lesson on self-concept and self-esteem.  We began class by reviewing the discussion questions from our Sneetches lesson.  The class talked about cliques, the importance of including others, and ways to develop a positive self-concept.  This lesson lead to many great conversations, which I love!  The class had a lot of great input and suggestions.  I then wrote a name on the board.  The class worked in teams to come up with an animal that starts with each letter.  The teams received points for each animal named, and bonus points for unique animals that no other team wrote down!  There were many very creative animals listed.  We totaled up the points,and discussed uniqueness.  Not only were our answers unique, but each of the different species of animals were beautifully different from each other.  Even when the animals were similar, there were differences between the species.  The class talked about how, even though a clam is different from a scallop, neither is a better or worse animal than the other.  Our activity lead to a great discussion on physical differences, abilities, interests, and more.  Further, the kids talked about how those with disabilities are equally beautiful and precious as everyone else.  To continue the flow of the class discussion, the class will be reading about Stephen Hawking in their at-home assignment.  They will also be working on their own name activity to share with the class.

Spanish- In Spanish, the class played a very fun game!  Santa had lost his hat... and one of the children had it!  A panel of three students had to ask questions (in Spanish) to figure out who had the hat.  This not only helped the ones asking the questions to practice speaking, but also the rest of the class as they translated the questions and came up with responses.  I love the interactive learning that goes on in this class!  Fun!

Art- Ms. Nancy and the kids have been working on multiple Christmas crafts.. and today they began "hanging them" on the trees!  Some students decided to work on individual trees, while others preferred to work on a large collaborative project.  They learned about contrast, as they created bright ornaments of layered colored paper.  They also finished up their angel projects, which turned out great!

Social Studies- Mr. Dennis and the class discussed the Soviet take-over of Eastern Europe.  They learned about Stalin, the spread of Communism,  and the "iron curtain".  They read about and discussed The Truman Doctrine, The Marshall Plan, and Stalin's Cominform.  As I listened to the students, I was very impressed by their ability to break down political cartoons from the time period.  They finished up with a review.  There are only two more classes this semester, and this will conclude American History.  We will begin the new year with the beginning of World History!  Don't forget to bring those World History textbooks!