Texas History Goes Jedi Mind trick on Your Kids

 Happy Friday Texas History Parents! 

#Warning #AlertAlert #GradesCloseThursday

First things, first. The first nine weeks report card period closes this upcoming week on Thursday. (We know, We know.. it seems like just yesterday we were all starting school in 104 degree weather and now its a crisp Texas fall of 90 degrees in the shade. Chili recipes welcome!)  But we digress, seriously please sit down with your student as soon as possible and check Skyward together for missing or failing grades that need to be addressed and email those teachers! 

Ms. Oricchio and Mr. Young both offer after school tutoring on Mon, Tue and Thursdays. There is no tutoring after school on Wednesdays due to teacher meetings. A reminder about district grading policies. Students have five school days to make up a failing a test grade or hand-in late assignments for partial credit. 

 #CivilDiscourseWeWillTeach  

So we're up to something, parents. Kids had a lot of fun in Texas History this week. Mr. Young rolled out the "barter game" with groups trading to acquire a specific set of colored markers. Meanwhile in Ms. Oricchio's class, we played another group game competing to create historical timelines. 

It wasn't just the stickers that took it to the next level, however.

We are working really hard on learning how to interact with each other in a more structured way. For both activities, students got a lot of practice slowing down to think before they speak, listen to each other more, explain their views more thoughtfully and stay on topic. 

Both teachers are also rolling out what Mr. Young calls "Kid Talk". This is a specific protocol of expectations and sentence starters to help develop their contributions in our class discussions. It looks like this.. 

We're showing you this in case you want to practice this at home. What a great excuse for conversation at the dinner table! 

#TheRules #HowTo

Pick a topic. One person starts by stating an opinion or offering their insights about the topic. They call on the next person to speak who agrees, disagrees, asks for clarification or states their own opinion. Everyone listens. No one reacts out loud. No interruptions. Make sure everyone gets an opportunity to speak and be heard. These are not only important conversation skills to craft for positive and meaningful class discussion, but they are also essential business and life skills. 

#TalkingSticks #YepWeNeedThem

File this under "the kids are schooling us while we are schooling" them. Lol. What we learned this week - the kids need talking sticks. In fact, most of them know that too. Without prompting, they were using everything from broken pencils to rolled up math homework as an impromptu talking stick to help them speak one at a time in their groups. 

We're thinking on that. We need to come up with something a little bit better and more fun than a broken pencil to serve the purpose. If you have any ideas or craft supplies laying around the house you think we could use to turn into talking sticks, drop Ms. Oricchio an email at Renee.Oricchio@pfisd.net. It needs to be something that is easy to wipe down with disinfectant.

We will be using this strategy throughout the year. Mr. Young used this extensively last year in the classroom. Student growth in interpersonal communication was such a rewarding thing to be watch in action and it quickly became the kids favorite part of class. 

#UpcomingWeek #Agenda 

Monday

Mr. Young - Historical Timeline Game

Ms. Oricchio - Cabeza de Vaca DBQ (document based questions), Talking Sticks

Tuesday

Mr. Young - Age of Exploration quiz

Ms. Oricchio - Cabeza de Vaca DBQ (document based questions), Talking Sticks

Wednesday

Both - Spanish Missions, Colonization

Thursday 

Both - Spanish Missions, IXL Skills practice, Talking Sticks

Friday 

No School

#PhoneConference? 

Friday is a teacher workday. We are available for parent calls. If you want to set up a time to talk during the business day on Friday, please drop us an email. This is totally optional, but we love getting to know our parents better and we are always interested in any insights you can offer how to better serve your kids in the classroom. 

Have a great weekend!

Ms. Oricchio and Mr. Young