September 30, 2010

The 7th and 8th  graders just returned from an assembly on internet communication skills and safety. I AM SO PROUD OF THE CAREERS CLASS!!!!!!! We are just finishing a unit on communication skills, these students had their hands up to answer questions and make comments every time the presenter asked for information. Careers class YOU ROCK!!!!!!

Weeks 2 and 3

Wow, the last two weeks have flown by! I have been really enjoying listening to and getting to know your children. They are amazing and at so many different levels of maturation that they constantly keep me on my toes.

The last two weeks in Careers we have been working on communication skills. Students were unsure what communication skills had to do with having a career. I think I can safely say that they understand the interconnection now.
Two activities were met with a great deal of enthusiasm, in the first one working in small groups, students had to build the highest tower they could with only non-verbal communication and they had to take turns putting the cards on the towers. The towers measured in at 53 and 48 inches by the time they were done the other 2 groups learned the agony of repeated defeat but they kept on trying. There was also a small dispute over the 53 inch tower group and their ability to adhere to the non-verbal communication rule.
In the other activity students needed to role play 3 different scenarios and then explain how the scenario needed to be altered to become good communication or, in some cases, explain how their good communication took the place of a bad scenario. 
Home and Careers has been working on babysitting skills and responsibilities. Today we are all going to crawl on the floor to get a child's perspective of how a home needs be baby proofed. It should be a great deal of fun and a terrific learning experience if they wear pants or shorts like I asked them too.This coming week they will be writing up a babysitting booklet with emergency procedures, responsibilities, guidelines, and activities for young children. Then we will be making sock or glove puppets and creating stories to go with them.


Textiles 1 in the H.S. has been exploring the differences between fashion styles, trends and fads. Next week we will be learning to use the machines and I hope to have every ones project order and check in so that I can order the projects the first week of October.

Week 1

Hello everyone. I wanted to update you on week one  for the AAK Home & Careers, and Careers classes. I am also going to include the Potsdam H.S. Textiles class on this blog.

This week went well. I am enjoying meeting all of my new students. This week my personal challenge will be to learn all of the students names. They have all been pretty understanding when I call them the wrong name! The AAK students have been very helpful when I get confused about the middle school schedule and procedures.

Home and Careers classes are working on parenting skills right now and have read chapter 9 in their textbook. Reading chapter 10 will be the assignment for this coming week.

Careers is working on communication skills, verbal and nonverbal. They have read chapter 4 in their textbook and will be assigned chapter 5 this coming week.

Textiles class has completed chapters 1&2 and been tested on it. They will be taking notes on chapters 3&4 this coming week. We should be sewing in about 4 weeks which means the students will need to choose their projects and bring in a check to cover the costs in 3 weeks. The checks should be made out to Potsdam Central School.