This week's topic was stress. The minute the topic was shared, the room changed. The kids were still kindly participating, but there was a new level of engagement. All eyes were on Ms. Keane. Everyone had something to say. The kids shared about stress making them feel anxious, like they have a bag of weights on their shoulders, like they can't get their mind to focus... Everyone admitted they had felt physical, mental, emotional and behavioral signs of stress. We all shared a moment when we looked around the room to see that stress affects everyone.
Stress at this time of year is normal for a sixth grader. They've just visited Washburne, and that new endeavor has become very real. They have a million questions about teams, the building, exploratory classes. This time in their lives is filled with friendship ups and downs, changing groups, and lots of questions about who's going to stick with them through thick and thin. It's a time when team sports start to become more and more competitive; suddenly it's not always okay to just love the game-you've got to be good. All of this is compounded by the time of the school year we're in. Homework is increasing, classwork is becoming more demanding, and we're in "testing season". Just when the kids need to be the most present, their minds are drawn away to all these stressors.
So, what can we do? Well, Ms. Keane's discussion this week focused on the signs of stress. Her next discussion will lead the kids into coping mechanisms. We'll have time to practice coping with stress in healthy ways. We take time to discuss and work through these stressors with kids on a daily basis. Everything is a learning experience, and we're happy to help. If you notice your son/daughter is feeling stressed, don't shy away from asking questions and helping him/her plan ways to cope. Also, it's great to share your stressors and how you cope with your kids (as long as your coping mechanism is healthy;). We share our stories with them all the time so they can see that the practice they're doing now will transfer to "real life" and help them later. And, as always, please don't hesitate to get us involved! We're always here to help.
Nonfiction Text Structures
Through our integrated LA/SS unit, Characteristics of Civilization, we're learning about common text structures you might find in piece of nonfiction text. We focused our attention on: Question & Answer, Problem/Solution, Compare & Contrast, Parts, All About, Cause/Effect and Start to Finish. After learning the characteristics of these types of texts, students headed to their Junior Scholastic magazines to hunt for examples. On Thursday, Ms. Bozikis, joined the Warner advisory to offer word clues for each structure, and those will be added to our characteristic signs in the classroom.
As students have begun their research, they've been challenged to identify the type of text they're reading. Students are realizing that knowing the type of text gives them a sort of road map to the text, making it easier to read. If they can identify the text structure, they can more easily know what the author means to say. Students are also gathering examples of each of the text structures so that they will have them as mentor texts when they have to write their own pieces after they research.
Nonfiction Reading Strategies
Through our current events work, we've been reviewing what strong readers of nonfiction notice and note as they read. Starting next week, you'll notice that students are now being asked to annotate the articles they're reading to prepare for our current events discussions. This week, we practiced annotating together.
Strong nonfiction readers notice:
- When an author uses a word or phrase that is unfamiliar
- When an author contradicts or contrasts something they know as readers OR something said earlier in the text
- When an author quotes an expert or authority
- When an author includes statistics or exact numbers
- When an author uses extreme or absolute language
Once they've noticed these things, strong readers of nonfiction ask questions to try to figure out what they can about the meaning of the text, the author's purpose and what they can infer. Then they jot notes in the margins of the text to help them record their thinking.
Students will continue to practice annotating in their current events reading. They will also be annotating the articles they're reading in science with Mrs. Barbaro.
Book Recommendation: A Scary List from Mrs. Gordon
Every week we get to visit Mrs. Gordon in the library! She gives us great reading suggestions each week. This past week, in the Barbaro advisory, she focused on scary books. Many of the kids seemed interested, so I thought I'd share her list with you in case your child likes to be frightened! Read if you dare...
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