Mahalia Mouse Goes to College and No Name Calling Week

This week I was in all 3rd, 4th and 5th grade classrooms to finish up my lessons on careers. In 3rd and 4th grades, we read the story, Mahalia Mouse Goes to College. This story is about a mouse, who's family does not have much money, but she is still able to persevere and go to college. She doesn't give up and ends up earning her bachelor's degree at Harvard University. This story lead us to a discussion about the importance of receiving a college education and the many different options for how to pay for college. We then discussed what careers they are interested in and how they will probably want to choose a career based on their personal interests.

                                             

In 5th grade, we began our more extensive career unit, where we will be completing a booklet called "Moving on to Your Future". This unit will take 3-4 lessons and involves discovering their interests, so they can choose certain pathways to careers that may be a good fit for them based on those interests. It also has a focus on choosing electives and courses for middle school that might also align with their interests.We also discussed the difference between "jobs" and "careers" and how one is short-term and one is long-term. Our last lesson in this unit will include getting to go on an interactive website where students can look for careers based on the type of lifestyle they want to have when they grow up. They will choose their lifestyles and it will let them know how much money they would need to approximately make to have that kind of lifestyle. The website is called "Reality Check" and that's exactly what they sometimes get when they realize how much money they will need to make to have all the things they want. ;-) The kids have had a lot of fun with this in the past! More to come on that later!

Next week is No Name Calling Week! It will be our second school-wide activity that we are required to complete to keep our designation as a No Place for Hate Campus. The activities for next week are as follows:

Tuesday, Jan. 19- Compliment Day- Write a compliment down on a SMALL piece/strip of paper in your class today and place the compliments in the box that is outside my door. You can decorate around your compliment if you like, but keep the paper very small (no bigger than the size of a post-it note). The NPFH coalition will help to glue the compliments on a big banner that we can display in the school. Try to give compliments to others all day.

Wednesday, Jan. 20-Take a Stand Against Name Calling Day- If you see anyone being put down, made fun of, or called a name today, or any day, stand up for that person. Let the person who is name calling know that you don’t agree with what they are doing and it is not funny. You just might end up making a new friend.

Thursday, Jan. 21- Crumple Up Mean Words Day- Write a mean word you have called someone in the past (this can be anyone; it doesn’t have to be at school) on a small strip of paper. Crumple that paper up and add it to the trash bag that is at the front of the school, labeled “Mean Words are Garbage.” There is only one place at Oak Hill for unkind words and that is in the garbage. Let’s see how many mean words we can get rid of by filling up the bag and make a promise to not use that word again towards someone.

Friday, Jan. 22- Kind Words Day-Let’s spread the love at Oak Hill and forgot all our differences. Bring a nice to note to your friends and to someone who you don’t normally play with or hang out with. You could also give a nice note to your teachers, showing them your appreciation for them. Focus on saying kind and loving things to everyone you come in contact with today! Teachers can participate in this, too! 

The No Place for Hate Coalition and I look forward to spreading kindness next and taking the focus away from name calling an being unkind. 

Have a great three-day weekend!!