Do You Dare to Dream?

Image from @ThePowerfulPics

Do Your Job Well

How are you doing at your job Reading Workshop students? Are you working to be a successful student?

Don't Wait to be Great!

Be Awesome

Be awesome to yourself. Be awesome to everybody else. Now everything is awesome. Thanks! @iamkidpresident

Are You Going to Reach Your Potential?

Potential--Capable of being but not yet in existence; the inherent ability or capacity for growth, development, or coming into being.

As we start a new school year, do you know how successful you can be? In your mind, can you picture an outstanding year? Can you see yourself on the Honor Roll? Can you see yourself as an amazing writer that makes your readers think, and feel, and wonder, and care? Can you picture yourself reading great books with comprehension and thought?

Write a blog post, Reading Workshop students and describe yourself as a student this year. Tell your readers about your goals and how you plan to make this year your best ever.

Have a Great Monday

Image from @grammarly

Where Do You Learn?

Teamwork

An article, Benefits of Teamwork in Sports says:

No sports team is successful without working together to reach a common goal. Teamwork is essential to a good performance from any sports team, professional or not, and is a great way to teach children certain life lessons, such as cooperating well with others and taking responsibility for actions. Such lessons are applicable to life outside of sports and can be applied to work or school, such as focusing without interruption on the school paper that needs to be written or working with a less-than-pleasant colleague on a project.

You can read he rest of the article HERE.

An article from Time Management Guide says:

A team building success is when your team can accomplish something much bigger and work more effectively than a group of the same individuals working on their own. You have a strong synergy of individual contributions. But there are two critical factors in building a high performance team.

You can read the rest of the article HERE.

Sled Dog Teamwork is discussed at the Wilderness Classroom:

Every sled dog has a different personality. They are kind of like people. Some of the dogs are outgoing. Some dogs are shy. Some of the dogs are hard workers and some are lazy. The musher of a dog team needs to find the best position for every dog on their team. When the dogs are all working together as a team, they can travel far and pull a lot of weight. Teamwork is a very important part of dog sledding. Do you use teamwork at school? I bet you do!

You can read the rest of the article HERE.

Another resource with several articles can be found at The Happy Manager.

Could This Be You?

He came to me extremely upset. It was almost time to turn in his assignment and he had really messed up. He figured it out, but it was too late. He didn't have enough time to make it right and he was tore up.

He said, "Mr. McGuire, I don't know what to do. I think I did this all wrong." He was shaking and distraught. He so wanted to do well and he knew what he had done wasn't good enough.

We talked over the assignment, I showed him an example (See the post below), and then he asked if he had to turn it in right then. He chose to stay in from recess and work on his post during study table. Great job J.C. You got an A!

The big question that anyone seeking success should ask is, "could this be you?" Do you have the drive and determination to do your best? Will you make the extra effort to be a winner? Could this blog post be about you?

"You Gotta Have Heart"

Eric Thomas is a former NFL player who played for the Cincinnati Bengals, NY Jets, and Denver Broncos. Eric fought through an extremely difficult childhood, including dropping out of high school. Eventually he followed his dreams, and went to college at Tulane University. Now, he speaks at conventions, high schools, and colleges. He preaches about success, passion, and driving to achieve your goals in life.

In this video, Thomas talks about three keys to success:

1. You gotta have heart

2.  Be able to sacrifice what you are for what you will become

3.  Pain is temporary but if you quit it lasts forever. At the end of pain is success.

He is also famous for his quote on success:

WHEN YOU WANT TO SUCCEED
AS BAD AS YOU WANT TO BREATHE..

How does this video and Thomas's message relate to you Reading Workshop students? What are your thoughts about success?

Great OAA Scores!

The sixth grade students in Reading Workshop did an amazing job on the Ohio Reading Achievement Assessment. Over 94% passed the reading test. I watched them work so hard in May when they took the test and hoped it would reflect the awesome work I had witnessed all year.

When the results came in I was pleased to see that last year's sixth graders showed so much growth and success. Super job to all the students that made last year so great. I truly enjoyed having the chance to work with such a great group.

Success Post

Reading Workshop students, please submit your essay for grading in the form below. To see all the essays go HERE.

Do You Connect the Dots?

As students work on writing their Success project, one of the challenges will be to connect the dots. When using three sources and personal experiences, tying everything together will be extremely important. 

When writing an essay you need to consider the reader. When someone reads your essay, does it make sense? Does one point lead to another? Do examples support main points? Do you stay on topic from beginning to end? A good writer always connects the dots.

Want more information on using transitions to improve your writing? Check this site at Aims Community College. 

The Road to Success

We have compared the message about the struggles to success as they are shared in the song Let it Go from the movie Frozen with lyrics from the song Monster. In both, the main character (writer) achieves success. In both, they face their fears/demons to achieve it. This video is another piece of work detailing this struggle.

The assignment, Reading Workshop students is to write an essay about success. Please use the five paragraph essay format with introduction, body, and conclusion. Use at least one specific detail from each source. You may also use other resources. Be sure, at some point in the essay to include your "monster" and how success relates to your life.

Some things to consider:

1.  What is your point/focus?

2.  What do you want your readers to learn from your essay?

3.  What opinion do you hope to share and convince your readers?

4.  What details can you use to best back up your message?

5.  How can you begin in a way that will hook your reader?

6.  How can you end in a way that will leave your readers thinking about your message?

7.  How can you best organize your essay to help the reader gain by reading and understanding your essay?

8.  What (or how you say it) can you say to set your essay apart and make it the most meaningful?

9.  Does your essay have a first person look at success in your life?

A Little Extra

At the end of each day we stack the chairs. This makes it easier to clean the room. Yesterday three students worked a little harder than everyone else to make sure all the chairs were stacked and stacked neatly. I didn't ask them, they just took it on themselves to make sure it was done before they left. 

As Colton, Clayton and Alexis walked out, I started thinking about this. Why did they take on this responsibility? Why did they make the extra effort?

Several times through the evening, this kept popping into my thoughts. When everyone else was standing in line waiting to leave, these three students were working a little harder and a little longer than anyone else. The more I thought about it, the more I started to relate it to their performance in class. Eventually I came to the conclusion that this type of behavior is why they are so successful in school.

I don't have to tell them to work harder, they just do. I don't have to tell them to be more responsible, they are. I don't have to tell them to help others, they do it on their own. I don't have to tell them to be a role model, they live it.  It's funny how such a little thing like stacking chairs can be such a big sign of someone who knows all about success.

Success Blog Post

Students, please submit your blog post to be graded in the Google Form below. For the last question use the Student Blog Rubric to support your response.

Do You Want Success?

I had this conversations with a student:

Student:  My aunt doesn't care if I work hard.
Me:  Seriously?
Student:  No, she doesn't care. As long as I get a D she is happy.
Me:  I don't believe it.
Student:  Test it out.
Me:  Whattttt?
Student:  Test it out. Call her and see.
Me:  OK we will.

And so we did and she really did care. She expected him to work his hardest and get good grades.

Thinking about this later, I wondered about how bad sixth graders want success. Have a look at the video below. How does this relate to sixth graders? Is success important when you are twelve? How can ideas from this video help a middle school student reach their goals?

Dear Parents

Thank you for the opportunity to spend the year with your child in Reading Workshop. We had a great first day. I saw a lot of smiling faces and good attitudes. Students seemed glad to be back. 

Today's schedule was different than it will be the rest of the year. We started with a whole school assembly and had a walk through to discuss expectations throughout the building. We also spent a lot of time discussing routines and procedures. A major portion of the day was spent preparing students to have a successful year while explaining things like the assignment book and student handbook.

Tomorrow we will begin our regular schedule in Reading Workshop. We will start some of our regular classroom activities. Different pieces of the class will be explained and students will start to work on some of the things they will do all year.

For tomorrow, students must get a parent signature on the Blog Permission form. Soon we will be setting up an individual blog for each student. This will allow them to write essays for teachers, parents, and fellow students to read. This is an exciting learning activity that is extremely beneficial in building students' writing ability.

As the year progresses, I look forward to getting to know your child. My hope is that each sixth grader can have the best year possible. If I can help you in any way, or you have questions or comments, please let me know. Once again, thanks for sharing your child with me and all the staff at Salt Creek. 

Are you Nervous?

New grade, new teachers, new classmates, new shoes--it's a new school year. Everyone is nervous. All the teachers are nervous. All the students are nervous. It happens every year. It even happens to old teachers that have seen many new school years. 

Should you be nervous as you start this year in Reading Workshop? Maybe, maybe not. It all depends on you.

It's really easy to succeed. It all comes down to just three things.

1.  Work hard--always do your best. Set a high standard for yourself and give it your all. Never turn in work until you are sure it is your best.

2.  Respect others--treat people kindly. Show friendship and care towards others. Help your classmates when they need it. 

3.  Be responsible--take care of yourself. You aren't a little kid any more. It's not up to me, or your mom, or dad, or grandma. Your success depends on you.

If you do these three things, you really have no reason to be nervous. You will have the best year of your life this year in sixth grade. You will learn a lot and have fun doing it. You will be successful. Your parents, grandparents, and teachers will be proud of you. 

No need to be nervous--YOU WILL SUCCEED!

What do People Say About You?

What describes you? Are you courageous, kind, caring, awesome, amazing, beautiful, cool, smart, hard working, funny, winsome, cute, pretty, friendly, smiley, thoughtful, responsible, confident, quiet, honest, loving, outgoing, leader, sincere, reliable, brave, jovial, super, great singer, joyful, good student, generous, imaginative, creative, artistic, energetic, inspiring, athletic, open minded, majestic, terrific, fabulous, keeps trying, motivated, never gives up, successful, poetic, positive, great attitude, truthful, faithful, determined, kindhearted, unforgettable, outstanding, intelligent, incredible, helpful, gifted, wise, polite, mannerly, always does her best, helps classmates, does all his work . . .

Your assignment is to write a blog post that tells of seven things people at Salt Creek say about you.