Over the last couple of weeks, K-5 has been focusing on understanding the brain and growth mindset.
We focused on stretching our Amygdala or how we can grow to be regulate our emotions when trying a new skill. I read Little by Little by Amber Stewart. Otto the Otter has to learn to swim, little by little. He starts by doing hops in the water, to floating to swiming the lenghth of the pool and beyond. I also read The Very Impatient Caterpillar by Ross Burach. This caterpillar is trying to follow all the steps to becoming abutterfly and he's not being very patient with himself or the process. These are the keys concepts I wanted to students to walk away with: 1. When someone offers you help because they see you are struggling be willing to accept help and follow directions. That means that they believe you can achieve your goals and want to help. 2. Ask questions and be specific about what part you don't get. Don't pretend to understand when you don't. It may look like everyone one else understands, but even if they do, the questions you ask makes sure you understand what to do and it likely clarify something for someone else. 3. Be patient with the process and yourself. Use your prior knowledge to help you, but learning is a journey and it does take time. Also be patient with the person that is helping you. 4. Believe in yourself! If you believe you can't, even when you could accomplish something - it will feel more challenging or you won't take the risk to meet your goal. If you believe you can, it will make the journey more tolerable. We are struggle and need to be encouraged and no one person can do all things at one time. Be patient, you can do hard things! Welcome back! I hope that you a refreshing and bonding winter break!
This week in with 3rd-5th Grade classes, we focused on learning more about the brain. Students shared what they already knew about the brain, then we read Your Fantastic Elastic Brain by JoAnn Deak. The book highlighted the major parts of the brain: Cerebrum - Thinking and Speaking Cerebellum- Muscle Coordination and Balance Prefrontal Cortex - Planning and Decision Making Hippocampus - File, store and recall memories Amygdala - Controls emotions and Neurons-- tiny brain cells that send messages to other cells to control body functions. We had fun checking our short term memory by having students memorize the number 2831908. I pointed out that hearing something multiple times, said in different ways, helps keep items in our memory. We stressed the importance of practicing to help memorization and muscle memory so that you can build on the skills when you need to. Students shared skills they were working on like cooking, dancing to jazz music, and riding a bike. A student shared that while he is confident bike rider he is now trying to do wheelies. We discussed the importance of pressing forward and continuing to try new things because even as we make mistakes our brains continue to grow. At points throughout the lesson students made connections to the text... a few shared that they have a favorite word...I look forward to find out what some of those words are during our next lesson! |
AuthorLena Sheets Archives
January 2020
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