Thank you Alex and Natalie Maughan for your faithful care of the garden all summer.
What will we decide to bring to our garden this year?
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As we return for another year. I returned to the garden. I thought about the CTEC group who planted and grew geraniums. Reading about sunflowers in Seedfolks and the choice to grow pumpkins and watermelons. Our herbs were the class of 2012 and many remain growing; parsley, sage, and thyme. Thank you Alex and Natalie Maughan for your faithful care of the garden all summer. What will we decide to bring to our garden this year?
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Every year the last weeks of school are so full of DRAMA! Peer tutors making up attendance or returning to the home base because the class is doing a "state test" which we DO NOT do as we have completed ALL testing already. Some are itching to be done. Others have the double edged emotion; want to be done but maybe not so much? I have found our sanctuary lies in our garden. Here we seem to be calm, happy, and friends. Today we planted our watermelons, pumpkins, and sunflowers. We used plugs to give the seeds a fighting chance. We used our seed package directions for how deep and far apart they should be planted. I have been really fortunate to have a "pair share" partner for my professional learning group that is top notch! Despite our many years into our career, I am amazed by her mindset. What that means is she is always learning, curious, and changing her teaching to match her unwaving passion for being a "highly effective teacher". Margaret is one of those teachers who reinvents herself and her knowledge base. She implements new lessons constantly. You would think she could just sit back and cruise. But when you are truly passionate and set high standards for yourself as a professional educator, sitting back is not an option, nor is being part of a problem instead of the solution. She teaches in the regular education arena and those "high risk" learners. She is always ready to take on the new initiatives "because you never know what you will get out of it" as she said. ******************************************* I hope as parents and community, you will have your students learn with such an educator. It is not the content but the real investment in learning that these types of people bring to the school setting. As you head into parent teacher conferences; think not about the grade as much as how your student achieved that grade. False praise and easy goals do not create highly successful adults. Hard work, perseverance and willingness to fail and learn from mistakes are what the latest research shows leads to achieving your potential. Being ready to learn is as important as content delivered. Just my thoughts .... One way I connect with others is by finding people who share my interests online. One interest is of course learning about special needs. Here is a blog that I subscribe to that is easy to read, and has good information for parents. http://www.friendshipcircle.org/blog/ As I find others I will add them. But with our busy lives I find I like to have one or two great sites that I can go to and get realistic information. We have just about finished up our "football unit" here at Jordan High. As the varsity football team plays next Friday for the State Championship, the ECC has been learning to play football. Why??? What does this teach them? First of all we had a great deal of fun! We divided into teams and learned to be a team. Learning to work as a team means everybody has the same goal, but not everyone has the same role. Being the receiver is very different from a defender. Cheering on your team and giving signals all are life skills. Football also meant we had to focus, give eye contact, listen for our signals, and run a route. We had to turn left and right and move our hands to match what our eyes saw. Inclusion also means you learn and get excited about the same things that are exciting for the school culture. Jordan High School is heading to the State finals! Now we know what the sport is, several of our peer tutors are football players and several are cheerleaders. Ball handling skills in context. To increase practice, our daily Yoga routine includes movements: surfer, mini lunge, and atlas that require looking "down field" and watching our fingertips, we work on shifting balance, left and right, and pivot turns. Our next unit is basketball! |
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