Our Wacky Wednesday topic last week was led by Mrs. Roberts. We discussed showering in depth. We had a guest visitor, Nelly, all the way from Knottsville. Nelly helped us demonstrate why it is important to wash our bodies from the top down. We do not wash our midsection and then our face.....ewwww!!!!! We also watched some cool videos, one of them starring some familiar faces, on youtube. Check them out!
Apollo High School welcomed some of the Air Force Thunderbirds to our school this morning. We enjoyed getting to know more about their jobs and asking them questions!
We were blessed today with the opportunity to have a guest speaker, Jem Hall, from Cheshire, England. He is friends with one of the assistants on our hall, so he took some time out of his vacation to Owensboro to come and talk to us about the culture in England.
He's been to Owensboro 15 times. He looks forward to being able to practice shooting his handgun here because that is not allowed in England. He really likes Texas Roadhouse and wishes he could take it back with him. He also enjoys Buffalo Wild Wings.
His time zone is about 6 hours ahead, and he typically flies out of England to Chicago, and then to Evansville, and drives to Owensboro.
He works on the railroads. The trains he supervises on travels 125 mph.
Most people drive cars. However, they travel on the right side of the road. The cars are a lot smaller because of the gas prices. Gas is about $10 per gallon. The steering wheel is on the other side of the road. They call gas stations, Petrol Stations.
Their government is different. They have a prime minister. There is only a Queen at the moment. Her name is Queen Elizabeth.
All museums are free in London. They have lots of different animals. Some of them are like ours like squirrels and rabbits. They also have things like zoos and aquariums.
They call some things different names. They call french fries chips! They do have a McDonalds and when they go there they call it fries not chips. Their meals are a little more expensive there than they are here. They have pizza, too. They even have a Papa Johns now, too.
Soccer is called football. The trunk of the car is the boot and the front of the car is a bonnet. The restroom is called the toilet. Pants are called trousers. When they go to supper, they say they are going to have tea.
The schools are pretty similar to ours, but you graduate at age 16.
Their housing is slightly smaller than over here. One big thing is they don't have air conditioning. It is rare to get a long spell of heat and humidity. For a couple days last summer it got to 96, but that doesn't happen very often.
We really enjoyed having Jem come talk to us and share his culture with us! Maybe he will pay us a visit the next time he is in town. :)
The students were showing him how to whip and nae nae.
Personal space....it can be a difficult topic, but it's very important. I can hug my mom, but I need to ask if it's okay to hug my friend, and the cashier at Kroger....I shouldn't hug her. Many people understand how to respect people's personal space through their body language. However, body language can be difficult to read and understand. Our Wacky Wednesday lesson for today was about personal space and not being a space invader. A few teachers performed a skit about respecting personal space. It is not okay to walk up to someone and start touching them, playing with their hair, hang all over them, etc. We went over the different types of body language people display when you are invading their personal space. We discussed keeping people an arms length away, especially when you are at school or in public. As high schoolers, having a boyfriend/girlfriend is a big deal for our students. It is more natural for boyfriends/girlfriends to be in each others personal space. We discussed with the students that hugging on your boyfriend is not only invading his personal space, but at school it is a form of PDA (Public Display of Affection) and could result in a DM.
Following our skit we broke into three groups and discussed different personal space scenarios. Some examples are:
What should I do?
One of your friends keeps tickling you. She thinks its funny but you don't like it.
Role Play
Act out what it should look like when you are standing behind someone in line.
Are you a personal space invader?
You walk up to the lunch table to sit down but notice that there is no more room. You decide to sit at another lunch table.
Look for clues (stay or back away)
You see one of your classmates on a bench by themselves. You decide to sit next to him. He turns his body towards you and starts a conversation.
I found all of these scenarios and much more on the "School Counseling is Magical" teacherspayteachers store. :)
At the end of the lesson, we watched a video from Despicable Me!
We completed an exit ticket determining whether or not we thought Vector is a space invader. I encourage you to watch this again with your student and talk about personal space. Next week's Wacky Wednesday topic will be over hygiene/showering!
Today was our first Wacky Wednesday switch. We practiced Sharpening Our Saw. We played BINGO, minute to win it, karaoke, and made cards for our former Eagle friend, Katie-John. Her service dog, Hudson, passed over the summer. We had an awesome time! Next week we're going to learn about respecting personal space!
What's that phrase....it takes a village to raise a child??? The same is true for the classroom. Not only do I have awesome teacher teammates, Mrs. Roberts and Mrs. Higdon, but I also have some other amazing staff working with me in my room. I could not do it without their help and love for students. On the far left, Mr. Kevin or Coach Farris as some of our football players call him. In the white is my classroom assistant, Mrs. Robin, also known as my right hand. Next to her is my classroom RN, Mrs. Kim. AND of course all of my awesome Eagle students. We are closing up an awesome first week of the 2015-2016 school year!
A big thanks to all the staff, student, and parents who came to the back to school get together. We enjoyed seeing our friends and meeting new faces! I can already tell this school year is going to be awesome!
