Bonjour!
We had a wonderful first day of school in 5A. As you may have heard, we will be getting agendas later this week. In the meantime, I will use this as my primary source of outgoing communication. Please feel free to contact me by email if needed: [email protected]
As part of a get-to-know you activity, students each received a paper bag and were asked to fill it with three items that represent who they are, making it a "Me Bag". In addition, students are asked to write 3 sentences in French (for tomorrow, the 6th) that explain what the items represent. For example, I used a headlamp to represent my love of going on outdoor adventures, which I described in the sentence J'adore les aventures dans la nature (I love adventures in nature). The majority of students spent time in class working on their sentences, with many completing the activity. Those who did not complete their sentences in class are asked to write them for tomorrow, as we will be doing an interactive activity with them.
After we went over the Me Bag assignment, we did a Je me présente activity in which students interacted with each other while posing and responding to questions about interests and basic information. This was to serve mainly as a refresher, starting the year off by using French in an interactive communicative setting. At the end, each student completed a self-evaluation, which is a tool we will be using frequently this year as a way to help foster engagement and autonomous learning.
In our first Mind Up* lesson, students were introduced to three structures in the brain: the amygdala (labels information as a threat/non-threat), the prefrontal cortex (helps make good, reasoned choices) and the hippocampus (stores and retrieves memories). As a demonstration, students were shown a jar containing beads, sand and water. When the bottle was shaken (representing a stressed-out mind), the sand and beads were scattered and the water was murky. When the bottle was still (representing a calm mind that is ready to learn), the materials were settled in three separate layers. We will be continuing to reflect on this visual as we go forward. The main take-homes from this lesson are:
When we are in a negative emotional state (ex. stressed, tired, uncertain), the amygdala labels non-threatening information as a threat, causing a reflexive reaction: fight, flight or freeze. On the other hand, when we are in a positive emotional state (ex. relaxed, calm, comfortable), non-threatening information is sent to the prefrontal cortex, which allows us to learn and make good, reasoned decisions. To maximize our learning potential, we want to approach our academic tasks with a calm mind, and will be discussing strategies for doing so in future lessons.
We concluded the day by brainstorming strategies for listening, speaking, reading and writing in French. We will elaborate on these during the week, posting them up in the classroom for reference. Examples of strategy posters from my previous classroom can be found in the Les stratégies link on the left.
À demain!
Madame Davies
*The Hawn Foundation. (2011). The MindUP Curriculum: Grades 3-5: Brain-Focused Strategies for Learning and Living. New York: Scholastic.
Note: I may need to switch to a new server, since I just discovered that the TDSB no longer allows access to Weebly! I will keep you updated in that regard.
We had a wonderful first day of school in 5A. As you may have heard, we will be getting agendas later this week. In the meantime, I will use this as my primary source of outgoing communication. Please feel free to contact me by email if needed: [email protected]
As part of a get-to-know you activity, students each received a paper bag and were asked to fill it with three items that represent who they are, making it a "Me Bag". In addition, students are asked to write 3 sentences in French (for tomorrow, the 6th) that explain what the items represent. For example, I used a headlamp to represent my love of going on outdoor adventures, which I described in the sentence J'adore les aventures dans la nature (I love adventures in nature). The majority of students spent time in class working on their sentences, with many completing the activity. Those who did not complete their sentences in class are asked to write them for tomorrow, as we will be doing an interactive activity with them.
After we went over the Me Bag assignment, we did a Je me présente activity in which students interacted with each other while posing and responding to questions about interests and basic information. This was to serve mainly as a refresher, starting the year off by using French in an interactive communicative setting. At the end, each student completed a self-evaluation, which is a tool we will be using frequently this year as a way to help foster engagement and autonomous learning.
In our first Mind Up* lesson, students were introduced to three structures in the brain: the amygdala (labels information as a threat/non-threat), the prefrontal cortex (helps make good, reasoned choices) and the hippocampus (stores and retrieves memories). As a demonstration, students were shown a jar containing beads, sand and water. When the bottle was shaken (representing a stressed-out mind), the sand and beads were scattered and the water was murky. When the bottle was still (representing a calm mind that is ready to learn), the materials were settled in three separate layers. We will be continuing to reflect on this visual as we go forward. The main take-homes from this lesson are:
When we are in a negative emotional state (ex. stressed, tired, uncertain), the amygdala labels non-threatening information as a threat, causing a reflexive reaction: fight, flight or freeze. On the other hand, when we are in a positive emotional state (ex. relaxed, calm, comfortable), non-threatening information is sent to the prefrontal cortex, which allows us to learn and make good, reasoned decisions. To maximize our learning potential, we want to approach our academic tasks with a calm mind, and will be discussing strategies for doing so in future lessons.
We concluded the day by brainstorming strategies for listening, speaking, reading and writing in French. We will elaborate on these during the week, posting them up in the classroom for reference. Examples of strategy posters from my previous classroom can be found in the Les stratégies link on the left.
À demain!
Madame Davies
*The Hawn Foundation. (2011). The MindUP Curriculum: Grades 3-5: Brain-Focused Strategies for Learning and Living. New York: Scholastic.
Note: I may need to switch to a new server, since I just discovered that the TDSB no longer allows access to Weebly! I will keep you updated in that regard.