Recently we wrapped up our 3rd quarter contests - with Culp and Enns advisory partners coming out on top! They were treated to a pizza lunch yesterday here at school. Hennessy/Wilson took 2nd place and Guthrie/Mohr nabbed the 3rd place spot - those advisory groups had ice cream sandwiches delivered to them to celebrate! In order to be successful in the contests, advisory groups must cooperate, work together, and be enthusiastic. 4th quarter contests will begin after Spring Break.
One of our final contests for 3rd quarter was a Random Acts of Kindness challenge. Advisories were asked to spend a week completing as many Random Acts of Kindness as they could. Each act of kindness was represented using paper chains outside advisory classroom doors. Wilson advisory earned the top spot for this challenge with over 100 acts! Enns and Hoffman advisories also had some pretty long and impressive paper chains!
More recently, students were given the opportunity to take a pledge to stop using the "R-word." The r-word is the word "retarded." In the fall during our Awareness Week we dedicated a day to the Down Syndrome Guild of Kansas City and students across the school were touched by their Just Like You film regarding life with Down Syndrome (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M--xOyGUX4). Nationally each March organizations like the Down Syndrome Guild KC participate in "Spread the Word to End the Word," a campaign educating people about the harmful impact of using the word "retarded" in a derogatory way. This campaign was discussed in advisory and students could sign the online pledge to not use the "R-word." You can read more about this campaign here: http://www.r-word.org/.
Most recently our students are beginning to think about a school-wide community service project for next year. Each advisory has selected a current 6th or 7th grade student to represent them on the planning team. The planning team is hard at work brainstorming ideas and sharing them with their advisories. Advisory groups are then providing feedback that the representatives bring back to the planning team. Stay tuned to find out what our school-wide project for next year will be!
And finally, I am starting many of my days with the 5th grade for the next several weeks. During this time I am quickly interviewing the 5th graders. I ask about their favorite/least favorite things about school, what extra-curricular activities they like to do, etc. This information will be used to help match the students with their middle school advisor. So far I've been working with Mr. Davis' homeroom. It's so energizing to talk with the 5th graders! I can't wait to have them with us next year! We'll announce their advisory matches to them in late May!
Coming up after Spring Break: All school LEGO drive for The Giving Brick (http://www.thegivingbrick.org/index.html). *Please consider donating your LEGOs! Also, 8th graders will share their Professional Day presentations with their advisory groups.
