We have had a great start to the new term! We are getting back into the swing of things and back into our routines.
On Mindful Mondays we’ve been practicing meditation and mindfulness using meditations from Headspace. Some crew members have downloaded the app and been trying it out at home as well.
On Tranquil Tuesdays students have been reading their Accelerated Reader books. Well done to George for being the ‘top borrower’ in the school for March as he has loaned and read 5 books from the ePlatform!
On Wise Wednesdays we have been continuing learning about a healthy lifestyle and how we can support our physical and mental health. This has led to some very important discussions and I’d like to appreciate those students who have shared their feelings about their mental health. Crew is the place for us to be vulnerable and honest because students can feel safe with each other and trust that they will be supported.
On Thoughtful Thursday this week students began self-assessing their HoWLs. This will now happen every week. After filling in the self-assessment form students looked at how others assessed their HoWLs and offered some thoughtful critique, both on helping adjust the assessment to be more accurate but also how crew members could improve their HoWLs next week. On average, our crew assessed their HoWLs for music as the lowest so they have challenged themselves next week to work harder in music. We will check in again next Thursday to stay accountable and see how they got on.
On Flexible Friday we have some choice about what activities to do. Our goal as a crew is to improve reading ages so we have decided to start a book club on Friday afternoons where we will read a book together so students can practice reading out loud. We will also discuss the book, learn some new words and use the book as a prompt for other activities. Our first book is Rosemary Sutcliff’s re-telling of the Anglo-Saxon legend of Beowulf, called Beowulf: Dragon Slayer.
Firstly we looked at the front cover image to try to guess what the story might be about.
Owen thought that the bright orange colours look like flames. George noticed the boat which looks like a Viking ship. We also noticed the dragon in the distance and Morgan said he thinks that a dragon will be killed as the title says ‘dragon slayer’!
We began reading the first chapter where we are introduced to Hygelac, King of the Geats, Hrothgar, King of the Danes, and Grendel, ‘the Night-Stalker, the Man-Wolf, the Death-Shadow’, who preys on Hrothgar’s warriors. We had a go at drawing what we think Grendel might look like from his description in the book. Take a look at Nadia, Henry, Faith, Alysia and Oscar’s drawings!
Scary stuff!
Well done crew for settling in so well yet again. I think our crew’s fantastic attendance during the online sessions has really helped them to transition back to school. Let’s keep it up.