K-8 Stanton Time!

K-2 Stanton Time

Kindergarteners have started their unit on careers/jobs! They are learning about what jobs are, why they are important, what kinds of jobs are in our school and community, and what our job is as a student and member of the Lyme school and greater community.

First graders have spent the past two weeks exploring Diversity/Celebrating Differences. We discussed physical differences, differences in likes and dislikes, differences in how our brains work, differences in what our families look like, and many more. Our first graders have had some great discussions about how differences make us special and our world more fun and interesting and noted how BORING our world would be if everyone was the same. Cheers to that!

In second grade, we are learning about the “7 Habits of Happy Kids” - brought to us by author Sean Covey. We have read stories and participated in activities that introduce, discuss, and practice habits that will support them along their academic and personal journeys. We have explored three habits so far from stories about different furry woodland characters in “Seven Oaks” - Habit One: Be Proactive - “I’m in charge of me”, Habit Two: Begin with the End in Mind “Have a Plan”, Habit Three: Put First Things First “Work first, then play!”. Ask students about their Big Rocks and Little Rocks ;-). We are having a lot of fun learning about these habits!

3-5 Stanton Time

In third grade, students participated in a silly yet powerful activity about FAIRNESS, one of our Lyme School Values. We first came up with a student-generated definition of FAIRNESS - the majority of suggestions included the sentiment “everyone gets the same thing”. We then used that definition for the following activity: Each student got a card with an injury or an illness, these ranged from “dump truck ran over my big toe” to “scraped my knee while being chased by a zombie” to “Band-aid allergy”. As the credentialed and practicing physician for that 30-minutes, I went around to each student and gave them a treatment. Regardless of the injury, everyone received the same treatment - A BAND-AID (bummer for the kid with the band-aid allergy…sorry Lenin). Some students were relieved by this treatment, some argued that the treatment was not effective. The students were outraged! “Why are you giving everyone a band-aid?! That isn’t going to help them! That isn’t what they need!” I told students that I was a fair physician and we agreed initially that fairness was when “everyone gets the same thing”. We started to think more critically about this definition of fairness. Eventually, students revised their definition: Fairness is when everyone gets what they NEED. We agreed that this definition was more suitable. It was a very fun class and students provided some great examples of when students might not be getting the SAME things, but when they might be getting what they need, and that is ok!

Fourth Grade recently drafted and adopted their Declaration of FRIENDEPENDANCE! Students came up with this document based on two texts they read and discussed in their book groups around friendships and treatment of others. We made some text connections to ways we want to be treated and the ways we need to treat others in order to create our draft. Students will sign the declaration and have committed to doing their best to uphold this document.

Fifth Graders have started to work with Mrs. Skelly, our resident Maypole Expert. They will be working hard over the next month to prepare for the Maypole Celebration, a community favorite! I will be jumping in on some Fridays in Mrs. Burns’ class to have some more fun and do some team building to help launch these kiddos into the final stretch of 5th grade and get ready for middle school!

Middle School Stanton Time

Sixth graders have been working with Ms. Abbene these past few weeks, and I have had a chance to spend time with 7th and 8th graders. 7th graders are currently working on some career exploration. Based on an interest survey and reflecting on their own career values, students will continue to research a career of their choice. They will be researching the skills/qualities needed for their job, the education/training required, starting salary, work environment, and personal reasons as to why they might be interested in the career. Students will then present the information to their classmates. These students also had the opportunity to visit the Hartford Area Career and Technical Center last week. They visited and learned about 13 different programs from students and instructors which included STEM, Building Trades (high schoolers built a house!), Cosmetology, Business and Entrepreneurship, Health Sciences, and many more! It so fun to see students excited about these programs.

8th Graders have been working with me and Mrs. G on their identity masks in the art room during Stanton Time. Students reflected on what identity is, their own identity at this point in their lives, what some visual metaphors/representation of this might be, and how they want to represent that. Then students got with partners or groups and created plaster masks which was, for most, a very meditative experience. It has been illuminating and fun watching their process unfold. Stay tuned for a Design Lab/Stanton Time/Humanities integration with these students and their masks. Man, our school is SO cool! But you already knew that...

Cannot believe this year is winding down - it has been an absolute pleasure getting to know these students in my first year and watching them grow!