Happy Veterans Day

Thank you to all the men and women that have served in the military. Mrs. Young, our music teacher, did a wonderful job preparing the students at Guadalupe and William Wood for their Veterans Day program. Many veterans were guests in the audience and honored for their service to our country. Below are a few pictures of the military men I am grateful for in my life: my father and grandfathers.

Generation TX Month

Generation TX month encourages students to look ahead at the college career. At the elementary level we focus on college exploration. Students learned about colleges and different majors based on their career aspirations: actress, doctor, scientist, etc. We then looked up top ranking colleges for these professions. We also looked up state colleges and local colleges in Victoria The students then made "College-Balls" (instead of poke-balls) with their college colors for our "College Go!! Gotta Set a Goal" bulletin board.

TRRFCC Character Awards: Responsibility

William Wood Aviators held their second ACE Awards (Aviatior Character Education). Kindergarten and first grade students were designated as "wingmen of character", Second and third grade students were recognized as "pilots of character". The fourth and fifth graders are pinned with wings as "aces of character".

Guadalupe Elementary Students were presented TRRFCC Character Awards for displaying outstanding Responsibility. Thomas Gwosdz, Victoria City Attorney, spoke to the students about the responsibilities of an attorney and the responsibilities expected of students in the classroom and at home.

Congratulations to all of our character award recipients!

The Weight of Responsibility

This month we are focusing on responsibility and making good choices. Students watched the following video clip about showing responsibility.

Amazing Kids of Character Responsibility Preview (0:00-2:21)

After the video clip, students participated in a Kagan Structure called "Think Write Round Robin" where the students think about the responsibilities that they have, write a list of their responsibilities, and then take turns sharing their responsibilities with their partner.  

We then discussed how some responsibilities like the classroom "electrician" who turns out the lights has a lighter responsibility than the "bathroom monitor" who ensures that the restroom is clean upon arrival and when they leave. As a class we gave "weight" to each of the responsibilities listed (1 or 2).

The students then played "The Weight of Responsibility" using their list of responsibilities, cards with responsibilities, unifix cubes, and a primer balance. Students chose a *card from the pile and placed the "weight" of the chosen responsibility (1 or 2 unifix cubes) on the balance. The student with the greater weight at the end of the game celebrates by cheering, "I am responsible!!"

Some classes had extra time and we read The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle. It was a great discussion with all grade levels about having to take care of their school and home responsibilities when others are encouraging you to do something else. It can be hard to be responsible when others are having fun or when you are tired. It's also important to be responsible so you can be the best you that you can be.

*Home Responsibility Cards from Confessions of a Homeschooler
*School Responsibility Cards from Mrs. Lirette's Learning Detectives

Unity Day 2016

Students reflected on ways to spread kindness throughout the school and made Unity Day flowers to plant in our "unity garden". Today we are united in kindness against bullying.

The Masks We Wear

Masks can be used for a variety of reasons. As people we don't have the ability to camouflage ourselves like some other animals. However, we often "wear masks" to protect ourselves or blend in to our environment. Everyone has a story and we don't always know what our fellow classmate is going through or dealing with on the inside or in their past. It's best to treat everyone with kindness and respect no matter how they appear on the outside. Third, fourth, and fifth grade students discussed the various types of masks that students wear: everything's perfect mask, it's alright mask, class clown mask, perfect student mask, I don't care mask. I shared my own story about why I became a counselor and how I wore the "everything's perfect mask" throughout most of my school life. I wanted to be a counselor for ALL students, no matter what mask they wore to school. The students listened to "We" by Joy Williams and then made their own masks. Some masks brought tears to my eyes and opened doors to friendships and understanding between us all. 

"We" by Joy Williams 

TRRFCC Character

William Wood Elementary recognized students with outstanding respect at their first Aviator Character Education Ceremony on Friday, September 23rd. Aviator Character Education Academy, or "A.C.E." Character Academy was started this year so students could focus on character development and be recognized for their outstanding character within the school community. Texas 956 JROTC is partnering with William Wood Aviators to present these prestigious awards. Kindergarten and 1st grade students are named "wingmen", 2nd and 3rd grade students are named "pilots", and 4th and 5th grade students are named "aces".

Guadalupe Elementary also recognized students with outstanding respect at their first TRRFCC Character Education Ceremony on Monday, September 26th. Community members are selected to present the awards at each ceremony. Mayor Polasek and Dr. Jaklich were invited to be our presenters for the character pillar "respect" because their character and respect leads our community and schools to success.

Character education is a part of the state guidance curriculum, but William Wood and Guadalupe have incorporated character in all subject areas. Teachers took part in professional development before school started and learned about character education. The schools are focusing on a character trait each month in their regular classroom lessons. Character isn't something that is added to the curriculum, but it is taught with "intention". All staff had the opportunity to nominate students that would be candidates to receive the award.

Guadalupe Elementary and William Wood are using the Character Counts Curriculum and they will focus on six character traits throughout the year. The six traits are trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship. The acronym for all the traits is TRRFCC, which is pronounced like "terrific", and helps our students remember to have TRRFCC (terrific) Character.

Congratulations to all of our character award recipients!