September 14th - 25th

The past two weeks have been extremely busy here at Scott Carpenter! Behind the scenes, the community liaison, CRC therapist, SCMS administrators, and I worked very hard to collect parent consent forms for the class, as well as parent surveys and student surveys. I was extremely relieved when we met our goal this week!

In the classroom, the mentors and mentees have been forming bonds with each other. We've done a lot, even though we missed the 6th graders this week, as they embarked on new adventures at Outdoor Ed.

Last week, our scholars explored how mentoring might be used in the wider community. Everything from training young police officers to mentoring new retail employees came up in their discussions. It was really fascinating to witness their creativity in this endeavor.

This week, we focused primarily on building mentor/mentee bonds before the 6th graders left for camp. The students practiced communication skills by creating Back-to-Back Drawings. This activity is great for building listening skills, as well as speaking skills.

The scholars also worked as mentor/mentee pairs to create bridges out of newspaper and masking tape. The challenge here was to build the longest bridge that could stand on its own and support a 4 ounce applesauce cup. They loved problem-solving and the longest bridge of the day was more than 36 inches!

September 8th - 11th

This week, the YESS scholars were very busy. They started by writing letters to themselves, which were included in time capsules. At the end of the year, each student will be able to open their letter and reminisce on their first few weeks of school. They had a great time deciding what other trinkets they might like to include in their capsules, as well.

Areli, Alicia, and Vanessa performing for the camera!

In the middle of the week, we explored who would make good mentor/mentee pairs. We used a lesson called Speed Matching to allow every mentor to meet each mentee. The scholars were then tasked with analyzing the potential relationship and providing private feedback to me regarding whom they would work well with. The kids' feedback was surprisingly insightful and is tremendously helpful as I assign partners.

On Friday, the students were given some time to design their 2015-2016 YESS t-shirts. They really enjoyed being given artistic license and I've already received some fabulous designs. They've been given this week to work on their creations at home and we'll vote on the students' favorite next week.

These are some creative kiddos!

August 31st - September 4th

Our second full week of school was another successful one, with students working collaboratively to identify their personal values, as well as their needs in the classroom. I was able to collect data regarding what individuals cared about using some Kagan strategies and will use this information as I pair up the mentors and mentees over the coming days. Each class also explored what it means to be a scholar and came up with lists of shared agreements. These agreements have been made into posters, signed by all the students, and hung in the room for reference.

Two awesome mentors!