Skyhawk Awards - February

We got the opportunity to celebrate our Skyhawks of the Month this last Friday at our Skyhawk lunch. Students are selected for a Skyhawk Award for demonstrating character traits such as zest, perseverance, and gratitude, as well as for showing academic achievement or growth. Only two get this honor per class, so this is a pretty big deal.

Here are a few examples of the reasons they were selected.  These are actual snippets from their awards:

• ________ is a prime example of what Grit looks like in the reading classroom.
• ________ is being presented this award for always trying her hardest. She is always very focused...
• ________ has a knack for knowing how to break things apart in order to better understand... She accepts feedback with grace, and works to apply it consistently. The honest effort she puts into her learning will help her continue to blossom into a successful learner. 
• ________ is getting this award for self-control and grit.
• You show grit in a way few other first graders display.  You always try your best.  It takes bravery to speak up and be heard.  Y
• Your kindness is without comparison!

  

Thanks to our fantastic Sacajawea families for raising great kids, and for allowing us the privilege of watching them grow up into great human beings.  It is a joy!

#SkyhawkLeaders #SkyhawkAwards #SoProud

January 2020 Skyhawk Awards Lunch

4th Grade

We are proud of our Skyhawks.  These kids and some of their families and friends joined us for our Skyhawk Awards lunch in January.  They were selected for demonstrating character traits such as zest, perseverance, and gratitude, as well as for showing academic achievement or growth.  

Thanks to our fantastic Sacajawea families for raising great kids, and for letting us work with them each day.  It is a joy!

Kindergarten

1st Grade

2nd Grade

3rd Grade

5th Grade

5th Grade Students Create Anti-Bullying Projects

5th Grade workshop students researched some articles about bullying and worked on pulling important details from texts. They then spent a couple of days choosing and planning a project to bring awareness to the topic. You may notice a chunk of them wearing blue today since that's the color that represents the World Day of Bullying Prevention, which is today, October 1.
The self-elected projects included:

• Informational video
• Slideshow
• Posters
• Bookmarks (to be handed out at lunch)
• Homemade t-shirts

Thanks For Making Sacajawea a Great Place for Kids!

Sacajawea is a great place for kids to grow up.  We have such a great bunch of dedicated, creative, and caring adults who all work together to make it that way.  Each of them contributes their part, like pieces of a puzzle.

Mrs. Olsen and I took a few minutes on Friday to recognize each teacher and staff member at Sacajawea.  Each of them received an envelope with a puzzle piece inside. 

Each piece of our puzzle included a trait that represented them such as gentle, positive, and joyous. Each team member found their piece in the puzzle.  Our team includes all of our great teachers, but also includes our cooks, our aides, our SRO, and everyone in between.  Each adult at Sacajawea cares about kids and does their part to make it a special place.

Parents, I’d encourage you and your kids to take just a few minutes and write a note to your teachers or other staff members this week to let them know what it is you appreciate about them.  That would really mean a lot to them.  Send that “old school” (on a piece of paper) or you can reach their email at: https://sac.caldwellschools.org/apps/staff/

Thanks to all the caring adults at Sacajawea.  You are a great bunch of human beings.  You make our school a better place and you make the world a better place.

Mr. Webster and Mrs. Olsen

Be Optimistic - Character Traits That Lead To Success

We know that certain character traits make a difference in school and in life.  This next couple weeks we will focus on optimism. 

Optimism means that you expect the best.  It is a positive attitude.

Rather than expecting to fail at something, you determine to do your best and you expect it will work out great.

You have a choice of saying:

• I'll bet I'm really gonna hate this book.
• I'll probably fail at this too.
• Everything bad always happens to me.

Or …. You can live life with a more optimistic attitude.

• I'll bet this is going to be a great day.
• I have worked hard and I’m gonna do great on this.
• They say we can’t do it, but I think we can figure it out.

People like to work with people who have a positive attitude.  Be optimistic! It will lead to great things.

Connection Making - Character Trait Focus

Parents, we share this as one of our series on Character Traits for success.  Making connections is something that can happen at home as well.

We know that certain character traits help us be successful in learning and in life.  These next couple weeks we will be focusing on the character trait of "connection making."  Great learners are always making connections.  We think of examples.  We compare what we are learning now to other things we have learned or experienced.  Connection makers are constantly comparing and contrasting.  You might hear a connection maker say something like, "Oh, that is like that one time when ...."

Here’s the deal.  When we make connections between new ideas and other knowledge we already have, it helps the knowledge to stick in our memories.  Our brains need connections to make things stick and make sense.  A connection maker will automatically begin comparing stories with each other.  They will try to compare multiplication with addition and then will compare multiplication with division and division with fractions.  They will compare what they read today with what they heard their grandpa say about something.  There are so many fun ways to make connections.

Be a connection maker.  It makes learning more fun and makes you a better learner.

Metacognition - Thinking About Thinking - Character Trait

Metacognition is our character trait for the next couple weeks.  We know that certain character traits help us be successful in school and in life beyond school.

This trait can be kind of a stealthy one because it can be invisible, happening silently inside our heads. 

Metacognition means thinking about our thinking or thinking about our learning process. 

We will be looking for students who are thinking about their thinking and about how they are learning.  That means they are planning and reflecting about their learning.  They are organizing their ideas.  When they get stuck in the Learning Pit they look for strategies to figure things out and to solve their problems.

• When you are planning a strategy... that is metacognition. 
• When you are learning something new and you connect it to what you already know, you say, "Oh, that is like_________"... that is Metacognition.
• When you are reading a difficult passage and realize you don't really understand, you might stop and read it again... That is metacognition.
• When you ask questions to clarify your understanding...that is metacognition.
• When you draw a quick sketch to make sure you understand a math problem...that is metacognition.

Those are all things that great learners do!

Try to be purposeful this week about your metacognitive strategies.  Look at yourself and how you are thinking and learning. I'll bet you'll notice some of your friends also showing their own metacognition.

Sacajawea's Student Council Creates a Buddy Bench to Promote Kindness!

Sacajawea's Student Council is doing their part to promote International Friendship Week, February 11th- 17th. Student Council members have taken an old existing bench on the playgorund and given it a facelift with a purpose! The motto of the bench is "Be a leader by being a buddy and plant the seeds of kindness!". The bench encourages students to be a buddy to those who do not have a friend to play with during recess. The bench can be utilized a few different ways. Students can sit and wait on the bench for a friend to ask them to play, then go with that friend who offers. Two students sitting at the bench can turn to one another and invite each other to play. Playground friends who are not on the Buddy Bench, can look around from time to time, to see if they can invite someone on the bench to play. The Buddy Bench is a purposeful addition to Sacajawea that can unite students and grow friendship circles with a powerful message. "Be a leader by being a buddy and plant the seeds of kindness!"

Self-Awareness - Know Yourself

For the next couple of weeks we will be focusing on the character trait of self-awareness.  Parents, you can help your kids talk about this character trait. This is the message I will share with students.  - Mr. Webster

Like other important character traits, self-awareness helps us be successful in school and in life. 

Self-awareness is like a mirror in which you see your own strengths and weaknesses.  You know your passions, your likes, and dislikes.  You are able to see how you affect others around you.

All of us have strengths.  None of us is perfect.  To be your best, you need to know what you are best at and be able to work around the things that you are not so good at. Those are also specific areas you can work hard on improving. 

I have some strengths, but I also know that I have a couple weaknesses.  One of those is that I get nervous and forget things in front of big groups of people.  Because I know this about myself, I’m careful to write things down that I want to be sure not to forget.  Like some of you, one of my other weaknesses is that I can easily get distracted when I should be getting work done.  I take steps to work around this weakness.  I make lists of what I need to do and I set time goals to get them done (yes, I use a timer).  Sometimes I hide to get work done where there are no distractions.  Sometimes I stand up to work, as that helps me focus if I can stand up and move a little. 

That is self-awareness.  Get to know yourself.  Like me, I’ll bet you’re not perfect.  However, I’ll bet you’ll find out you really like who you are. 

Knowing yourself helps you to be your best.

Zest - Make Learning and Life More Fun! --- Entusiasmo - ¡Hace el aprendizaje y la vida mas divertida!

Zest is the good stuff from the lemon. Shave a little off and it adds a little bite or just enough sour to what you are cooking.    Zest is like that for humans too.  It’s the good stuff.  It makes life so much fun.

We know that certain character traits help make us successful in school and in life.  For the next couple weeks we will be focusing on the character trait of zest.

Zest means to have great enthusiasm or energy.  A person with zest is excited about life. They are fun. Sometimes people with zest are funny.  They are curious.

Students with zest are so FULL OF LIFE. They often have a smile and jump right into learning and life with that little zip of excitement.  Learning is fun!

Just like people, the zest of a lemon has a little bite, a little zing.

Try to live with Zip, Zing, Zest! Why not make learning and life fun?

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Entusiasmo es como lo bueno de un lemon. Le rallamos un poco al lemon y nos da la cantidad necesaria para darle sabor a lo que estamos cocinando. Asi es el entusiasmo para los humanos. Es lo bueno. Hace la vida mucho más divertida.

Sabemos que ciertas características nos ayudan tener éxito en la escuela y en la vida. En las próximas semanas nos estaremos enfocando en la característica de entusiasmo.

La palabra “Zest” indica alguien con gran entusiasmo o energía. Una persona con entusiasmo esta entusiasmada con la vida. Son divertidos. Aveces la gente entusiasmada es graciosa. Son curiosos.

Estudiantes con entusiasmo están LLENOS DE VIDA. Frecuentemente traen una sonrisa y participan en el aprendizaje y la vida con ese pequeño zip de entusiasmo. ¡Aprender es divertido!

Asi como la gente, la ralladura del limón tiene una chispa, un poco de brío.

Intenta de vivir con una Chispa, Brío y Entusiasmo!

Resilience - Bouncing Back From Hard Things

The character trait we will be focusing on for the next couple weeks is Resilience.  Parents, I'd encourage you to share stories with your kids about how you or someone you know have shown resilience in your life.

Resilience is the ability to bounce back after difficult or challenging things.  An object that is resilient will bend, but won’t break.  A resilient person will do the same.

A resilient person can bounce back from hard things.  I like to think of resilience like a rubber band.  You can squish it and it won't break.  You can stretch it quite a bit and it won't break.  In fact, because a rubber band is resilient, when stretched it will spring back and you can use that pent-up energy for good.  Maybe you can make a little car or machine go with it, or you can launch something.

Not everything in school or in life will be easy.  Not everything in life is fair.  Some things are upsetting.  When those hard things happen, be resilient.  Bounce back and be just as strong as you were before.  Go a step further, and, like a rubber band or like a spring, use that bouncing back for something good.

As an object lesson, I like this model and slow-motion video that demonstrate what happens with the shape of a ball, when it hits a hard object.

Credit: KT+ Tangent Stiffness and More

Photo Credits (In order of use):

• https://neerjasekhon.wordpress.com/2015/11/19/does-failure-bend-or-break-you-developing-resilience/
• https://www.gauravsprings.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/compression-springs.jpg
• https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-c9535f2db5288d92410bac38130c74bd-c
• http://kt2008plus.blogspot.com/2014/03/4d-impact-of-ball-in-slow-motion-golf.html

Zest - Character Focus at Sacajawea

We focus on a different character trait at Sacajawea every couple weeks.  I thought it would be helpful to share with parents what we are discussing.  This next two weeks we will be emphasizing "Zest." 

Zest is one of my favorite character traits because it is so much fun.  Zest means to have great enthusiasm or energy.  A person with zest is excited about life. They are fun. Sometimes people with zest are funny.  They are curious.  They are so FULL OF LIFE. They often have a smile and jump right into learning and life with that little zip of excitement.  "Wow, what are we gonna do next?"  

Zest is easy to remember because the outside skin on a lemon or orange is called the zest. It wakes you up.  It has a little zing, but it reminds you that you are alive.  The extreme opposite of zest is Eeyore in the story of "Winnie the Pooh."  He wouldn't be much fun to have in your class, would he?  Try to live with Zip, Zing, Zest! Why not make life fun?   

December Skyhawks

1st Grade

2nd Grade

3rd Grade

4th Grade

5th Grade