Emotions Unit

Hello!

Last week we started our emotions unit. This will be an eight week unit where we will be talking about a variety of emotions, and what causes us to feel those emotions. Last week we started with simply talking about five things that make us happy. This week, we are diving deeper into what are the things that make us sad. We will be doing lots of role playing and video modeling to show these different emotions over the next couple of weeks in our class. I will do my best to get pictures up by the end of the week!

Hope everyone has a great week and please let me know if you have any questions, concerns, or comments - I love to hear from y'all!

Extracurricular activities!

Hello!!

This week we have been talking about extracurricular activities. I am amazed by just how many extracurricular activities these guys are involved in! We compiled a list of activities that we are involved in that are associated with Notre Dame School. Here is that list:

Then, we moved on and began compiling a list of extracurricular activities that we are involved in that are not associated with Notre Dame School. We struggled with this list and a lot of students said they were not involved in any activities outside of school. If we missed any activities that your student is involved in please let me know and we can add it to the list before we make our iPad movies. 

Our iPad movies are coming along beautifully - I can't wait for y'all to see them! Let me know if you have any questions or concerns - I love to hear from hall!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Heroes week!

Hello everyone! This week we have been talking all about heroes. We spent some time defining what a hero is, explaining who our heroes are, and even writing some letters to the heroes of 9/11! It has been an amazing journey watching your students explain who their heroes are and the reasons they look up to them! We made posters talking about our heroes; here are a few examples -

We are also making videos on our classroom iPad that will be compiled into one big video of each student at the end of the year! We have made a lot of progress on these so far and I can't wait to keep adding to them! Please let me know if you have any questions, concerns, or comments - I love to hear from y'all!! 

Have a great weekend!

Time Management

 

Hello!!

This week we have been spending a lot of time talking about time management. The class has been learning how to use time more wisely and we have begun to learn how to prioritize important tasks. One of the activities we did this week was a "bridge building" activity. Each team was supposed to build a bridge out of newspaper and masking tape that was strong enough to hold a large textbook. Each team was given exactly 30 minutes to build the best bridge that they possibly could. We had one team that was successful with their bridge! Here are some pictures from this week:

 

Our winners were Michael and Jenny!!!! Awesome job and great time management guys!!!

 

Hope everyone has an awesome Easter break!! Please let me know if you have any questions or comments - I love to hear from yall!!!!

 

Flash Cards Week 3

Hello!

 

On Monday, I took a small group to the EmployABILITY Job Fair at City Place Conference Center. This was a huge job fair with more than 50 companies, resume workshops, and mock interviews. The students that I took spent the entire morning networking with companies and participating in various mock interviews. I think it was a positive experience for all of us. At first, they were a little shy, but as the morning passed the kids got very involved and talkative with the representatives. Here are a few pictures from the job fair:

 

This week our job skills were trustworthy, interested, and improvement. We worked very hard all week to learn the meaning and importance of each of these traits. Understanding the difference between interested and improvement has been a challenge for some of us, but we will keep working at it! These are the flashcards from this week:

The presentations are going so great - I am so happy with how they are turning out! The students seem to be learning a lot from each other during their presentations. Here are a few of the presentations from this week (we are working on talking louder during skits, so I apologize if you can't hear the videos very well): 

Trustworthy

Interested

Improvement

Trustworthy

 

 So, as you can see the kids are getting more and more creative every week! I am so excited for what the rest of the year has in store for us in employability skills! Please let me know if you have any questions, concerns, or comments -- I love to hear from yall! 

Have a great weekend!

Flash Cards Week 2

Hello!

This week we have been working on our second set of flash cards. The traits this week are proper grooming, alert, and stamina. We have spent a lot of class time talking about why these traits are important to have and how to show that we have these traits. Here is a picture of this week's flash cards:

 The groups have been working so hard and I am so happy that they have been working together and being extremely creative! Here are a few pictures of them in action:

Here are a few of the presentations from this week:

Stamina

Alert

Proper Grooming

Alert

Proper Grooming

Stamina

 

 I am really enjoying the presentations so far, and the kids seem to be learning a lot from their classmates! Please let me know if you have any questions, concerns, or comments! I love hearing from yall!

 

Have a great weekend!

 

 



Flash Cards Week 1

Hello!

This week we started a new lesson segment. We are making flash cards of job traits that employers view as desirable skills. Every week we will have 3 new job traits and we are breaking up into groups and creating presentations to teach the class about a particular trait. Here is a picture of this week's flash cards:

We have been spending a lot of time talking about why these traits are important to possess, and how they can help us get/keep a job. They are then responsible for creating some sort of presentation to teach the class - whether it be a collage, skit, poster, song, etc.  I am so excited about the group work the students have been doing and the presentations are going so great!

Here are a few of the presentations from this week:

Puncutal

Appropriate Dress

Good Attendance

 

Punctual

 

So, as you can see your students are having a lot of fun with the presentations and they are being so creative! I love to watch them work in their small groups and figure out how to work together. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!! I love to hear from yall!

 

Have a great weekend!