The Weekly Ranum: Edition #26

Hello!

This was a great week back from Spring Break!

We started off on Monday with creating individual motivation flowers. On the pedals, each student had to write a few things they did over break, an academic goal they have for themselves for the rest of the year and a social/personal goal they have for themselves for the end of the year. Students had fun with this and it added some much needed color to the classroom.

Tutoring Tuesday went well, as usual. Students caught up on missing assignments and this was also a great chance for students to "wake up" from Spring Break laziness.

On Wednesday and Thursday we talked about Nutrition. We learned how to read nutrition labels and what each category meant in terms of how it effects our body. Students know that most foods they are eating are bad for them, but this gave them a better idea of just how bad, and the possible long term implications of their decision to eat these foods now.

We had no students on Friday but overall it was a great four days and I'm excited to get this week started. Students will be taking their state standardized tests and I know they're all going to do awesome!

Thanks for reading!

The Weekly Ranum: Edition #25

Hello and welcome back to the Weekly Ranum!

Another fast week over here with Spring Break quickly approaching.

In Mentor Monday we started a project where mentor's chose a cause that they care about and they had to do some research and come up with a plan of action of some steps we can take in order to help their cause. Some choices were, Environment/Pollution, human rights, homelessness and organic food.

Tutoring Tuesday was good but had low numbers because of a choir field trip.

Wednesday and Thursday we worked on Conflict Resolution Steps. Students had plenty of examples of conflict in their life, but had not really tried any of the steps we went over as a class. I feel they came away with a better understanding of what to do when conflict arises in the future. Some of their bigger break through's were just understanding that both people involved will have strong emotions during the fight and sometimes it's better to just cool down and then re-address when both people have settled down.

No Fun Friday was a team builder involving spaghetti and marshmallows. Students were in groups of 4, had the same supplies and were asked to build the tallest tower. They had a lot of fun and it was nice to see students working well together and collaborating.

Overall another fun week....1 more full week until Spring Break!

The Weekly Ranum: Edition #24

Hello!

On Mentor Monday we focused on writing letters to our mentee's telling them how proud we are of them and all the growth we've seen. It's a nice little emotional boost before Spring Break begins.

Tutoring Tuesday was catch up and making sure that students were prepared to present their projects they had worked on the week prior.

Wednesday and Thursday was presentation day. Overall, the students presented well. Some need to work on eye contact and others needed to understand their topic a little more but I enjoyed the variety. Presentations ranged from self defense to origami to history of video games to a solo student led lesson plan on media and body image.

No Fun Friday was a throwback of a few team builders we've played in the past. Pictionary, Categories and Freeze were just a few of the games chosen.

Thanks for reading!

The Weekly Ranum: Edition #23

Hello!

On Mentor Monday we talked about some different topics that mentors were interested in learning about for the rest of the year.

On Tutoring Tuesday students finished their love cups and continued to catch up in other classes that they were falling behind in.

Wednesday and Thursday were dedicated to students researching a topic they were interested in and preparing a presentation for the rest of the class. The idea is for students to teach the class about something new or something they don't always get the chance to learn more about in school. Students enjoy sharing out their interests and hobbies with others so this gives them a chance to do so, plus the skills of presenting. They will present this week!

On No Fun Friday we played Anagrams. There were 4 random words posted on the board and students had to re-arrange all the words to create new words that fit into a particular theme. It got pretty competitive but very fun!

Have a great week!

Oh and here's a couple pictures of some Love Cups...

The Weekly Ranum: Edition #22

Hello!

Welcome back to The Weekly Ranum.

Monday we were off for President's Day.

Tutoring Tuesday I printed off some President's Day based worksheets so students could learn more about past presidents. They also had the chance, as always, to catch up in their other classes.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we worked on Love Cups. The idea that we have a happiness or love tank within ourselves that is always fluctuating. There are things that bring us happiness that raise our love tank levels and there are things that can wear us down and bring our levels lower. Students had some great answers about how there are things that both bring happiness/joy but they can also become too much at times. For example, family or friends. They had a great time creating their own loves cups and as soon as I clear out the space on my phone and am able to take pictures again, I'll upload some.

Thank you for reading!

The Weekly Ranum: Edition #21

Hello!

Mentors finished up their self evaluations and goals for the second semester on Monday. Tutoring Tuesday went well. Students were on task and trying to accomplish/catch up on as much work as possible.

On Wednesday and Thursday we talked about Hot Buttons. Students would try to figure out the words/actions of others that really set them off and "push their buttons". We tried to see why these comments/actions bothered us and how we could avoid any issues in the future. After figuring out our Hot Buttons, we moved onto our Cool Buttons, or the things in life that relax us or help us get through those challenging times. Cool Buttons can range from watching T.V to taking a nap to listening to music to going on a run. Everyone is different and only you know what works best for you in a given situation.

For No Fun Friday we played a game where students sat in a circle and I would say to one student, name 5 things that... then I would say go and we would pass a ball around the circle and if the ball made it back before the person could name 5 things, they would have to go again. An example would be, name 5 things that start with the letter M or name 5 emotions or name 5 different countries.

They had a lot of fun with it and realized that being on the spot makes it 10 times more difficult, especially when you see the ball going around the circle faster and faster. 

Overall, another great week!

The Weekly Ranum: Edition #20

Hello!

Short week this past week with a whole lot of catch up!

Mentor Monday was focused on reflection. I wanted the mentors to gauge where they are at with their mentee and also with their leadership level at this point. Most mentors were pretty honest and this week we'll try to come up with some action steps on how to improve.

Tutoring Tuesday was a great day for catching up in other classes. With students knowing that conferences were happening this week, it helped a lot with motivation.

On Wednesday we had to finish up the movie Inside Out because there were some DVD issues the previous week with the substitute teacher. We had a nice little chat about the different emotions and how important of a role each one of them plays.

Since there was going to be no students on Friday, we had No Thrills Thursday instead of No Fun Friday. We are nearing the end of talking about emotions so I had students complete an emotion word search. If they couldn't define an emotion, they had to look it up.

Student led parent teacher conferences were Wednesday and Thursday night. It was great to see a lot of parents and we're all excited to help the kids finish the year strong.

Thanks for reading!