Week of April 6

Welcome back to school! I hope everyone got plenty of sleep last week and is all rested and ready to go for the final 9-week stretch of 6th grade.

This week the students will read an excerpt from a story entitled The Mysteries of the Cabala. This story takes place in Warsaw, Poland during the early 1900s. At that time, Poland was home to a large number of Jews, many of whom were members of the Hasidic sect. This story involves two Jewish boys who are friends and who enjoy inventing fantastic stories. One of the boys tells the other that he has learned a spell from the Cabala (a mystical commentary on the Torah) that can destroy the world. Realizing that he has taken his "story" too far, the boy struggles with what to do with his conflicting feelings. As always, the students will read and listen to this story and then proceed with taking directed notes, participating in a shared inquiry discussion and completing a written assignment. Each of these steps will help the student gain a deeper understanding of this story.

At week's end, we will conclude with a look at Habit #5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood. In this habit, the students will learn about the importance of, among other things, good listening skills and why they are so important to being able to get along and truly understand other people.

Week of March 30 - April 5

ENJOY YOUR SPRING BREAK!!

Week of March 23

Welcome to our final week of school before the much anticipated SPRING BREAK. This week the students will be learning more about how to "think win-win." We will also return to our story, A Likely Place, and search for a deeper understanding of why the main character, Lewis, was able to find encouragement in a new relationship with an unlikely acquaintance. The students will make and defend arguments about how and why Lewis was feeling encouraged or discouraged at various junctures throughout the story.

As we approach the end of this shortened week, the students will try to incorporate a theme from the story into their own personal paradigm as they use their imagination to create their own "special place" that allows them to feel good. While doing this exercise, their goal will be to "think win-win" as they then work in groups to come up with one group "special place."

Some of our students will be off on a field trip on Thursday. For the remaining students, this final day before spring break will be used to do a fun activity involving the 7 Habits. The students will create a rebus (a puzzle using pictures, letters and/or words that demonstrates a word or phrase) that describes one or more of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens.

I hope everyone enjoys a fun-filled, relaxing and safe spring break!

Week of March 16

Beginning this week, the students will move outside of the "private victory" zone of the 7 Habits into the "public victory" zone which encompasses habits 4, 5 and 6.  On Monday of this week, they will learn about a Relationship Bank Account.  A Relationship Bank Account is simply the amount of trust and confidence you have in each of your relationships.  Why is it so important to have healthy RBAs?  Simply put, your ability to get along with others will largely determine how successful you are in your career and your level of personal happiness!  For this reason, it is crucial that young (and old!) people understand how to get along with others.

Besides learning about the RBA, this week the students will also begin to learn about Habit #4:  Think Win-Win.  We will begin our study of this habit on Friday.  Prior to that day, I will also introduce our next story in the Great Books series, "A Likely Place."  The students will listen to and discuss this story on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  

Week of March 9

FCAT week is finally upon us!  As you well realize, this week is FCAT testing for our students and, as a result, most of the children will come to my class only 4 days this week.  On Monday, the students will complete their study of "My Greatest Ambition" with a shared inquiry discussion.  In this discussion, the students will discuss why the main character chooses not to pursue his greatest ambition by delving deeper into the context of the story and analyzing the events that led to Morris's decision to give up his ambition.

I will be leading a discussion on the topic of leadership on Tuesday and Wednesday.  On Thursday we will be reviewing what we have learned so far this semester in preparation for the mid-term exam.  I will administer the mid-term exam on Friday.  This exam will cover all of the Covey (7 Habits) material discussed so far, the requirements of an accurate written response and the vocabulary words from "Through the Tunnel" and "My Greatest Ambition."

Week of March 2

We began and ended this week continuing to focus on Habit #3: Put First Things First.  While last week the students were introduced to the concept of prioritizing their time and putting their "big rocks" in life ahead of their "little rocks", this week they began to practice this habit by creating a monthly planner.  For the entire month of March, the students are required to create and utilize "to do" lists each day.  By getting in the habit of thinking about and writing down how they spend their time each day, the students should begin to see whether or not they are using their time wisely.  If not, they can see where changes in their schedules need to be made and decide whether or not they want to become "highly effective" and make the necessary changes.   This may require a good deal of discipline for some!  Lack of discipline, as the students will learn, is the number one reason why people have difficulty with this very important habit.  At the end of the week, the students will also be learning that both fear and peer pressure often stand in the way of mastering this habit.

Besides studying our Covey habits, the students will be reading a new story, "My Greatest Ambition."  This is a story about a 13-year-old boy who has the opportunity to pursue his greatest ambition.  He encounters several setbacks along the way and eventually decides to stop the pursuit because, as the author admits, he "grew out of it."  We will go deeper into this story next week.