September 2017 – COUGAR PRIDE

9/28 Individual Reading Day

Articles have been sent to student emails. Have students read the article and, if time permits, answer the prompt at the bottom. Many students may not finish reading the article within the 10 minutes: That’s okay. We’re not grading this. It’s more of an enrichment opportunity and an opportunity for students to learn some new academic vocabulary.

There are several activities. You don’t have to do all of them obviously. Pick and choose what you think is most interesting and/or useful to the students. The prompt on the final page, for example, might make for a lively discussion.

Here it is again in case you want to make printouts:

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9/26 Expectations Review

After the video “Cougar Pride and Kindness” comes on after announcements (available to view in the left-hand column), please facilitate a discussion with your students around the foundational concepts presented in the video. Questions to the class might include:

1) What are some examples of how you could show kindness and empathy to others in school?
2) What is empathy?
3) What are some real-life examples of times you’ve seen classmates showing Cougar PRIDE?
4) Why should you tell teachers if you see a classmate showing kindness?

9/25 Connections Day

Tomorrow is our first regular Connections Day in homeroom. Here are a few suggestions for how to use the time:

Housekeeping (Color Run packets, changes to schedules, updates regarding expectations, introduce new students, etc.)
Class builders (ex: “How was your weekend? What was the highlight?”)
Looking ahead: Have students check their planners for upcoming due dates, quizzes, tests, etc.
7th/8th grades: Set weekly goals in their ePortfolios (Our goal is to have this set up by mid-term for 6th grade).

9/22 Academic Day Overview

Please share this PPT with your homeroom classes tomorrow. It is a brief overview of what students will be doing on Friday mornings from here on out. Read the notes section for more information and feel free to direct any additional questions at me.

7th/8th grade: After the PPT, have students check their agenda planners, binders, etc.

6th grade: Have students practice signing into StudentVUE. WEB Leaders will be assigned to your classes to help out.

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Cougar PRIDE Snack Menu

In case students ask, here’s the snack menu we’re going with for starters (kudos to Steve for the help with “pricing”). We’ll adjust for inflation in the future if need be. I will include this in the PPT for this Friday’s homeroom.

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9/21 Individual Reading Day Overview

Please share this short PowerPoint with your homeroom class Thursday morning after announcements. There are notes in the notes section. As always, if you have any questions let me know.

*Student responses will not be graded but make sure each student turns something in

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9/19 PBIS Intro Slides

I’m trying to make a video with voiceover for Tuesday’s PBIS overview in homeroom. In the event of catastrophic technical failure, please use these slides from a previous year as backup. Download or click through below.

After viewing the video/slides, have the students share ways that they have already received Cougar Pride Bucks and brainstorm ways they might receive new ones. Finally, ask students if they remember the three criteria (strong attendance, strong academics, and positive behavior) for being invited to Cougar Pride Celebrations.

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9/18-9/22 Homeroom Schedule

This week’s homeroom sets up expectations for the rest of the year’s homeroom schedule.

Monday: Bus safety video (9:05-9:15)

Tuesday: Cougar Pride and Celebrations overview video

Wednesday: No homeroom

Thursday: Tier II vocabulary, word wall, article overview

Friday: Academic Day overview, i.e. how to check StudentVUE, Brummet’s blog, and use agenda planner

Breakfast of Champions

At the end of each month, we’ll be holding a Breakfast of Champions for students who meet a certain themed criteria. Teachers will select one student from their class to participate in the Breakfast of Champions along with their parents/guardians for a special morning celebration. This month the theme is: Strong School Start.

Keep this in the back of your minds for now. More info to come.

Dates: 9/29 > 10/30 > 1/31 > 2/27 > 3/23 > 4/30 > 5/31

1st Week Class Builder Ideas

You’ll notice that the first full week of homeroom (9/11, 9/12, and 9/14) dedicates a lot of time to Class Builders. These are essentially icebreaking activities designed to help build relationships and get the school year off to a good start. Here is a curated selection of ideas. Feel free to use your own as well.

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