Odds and Ends of the Year

These last two weeks of school are really important for our young learners in an unexpected way.  A big part of developing a sense of oneself as a learner is taking the time to reflect on what you've learned and how you've grown.  In this great post, Zarretta Hammond makes a strong case for why the end of the school year is a key time for our students to find themselves as learners and thinkers.  She writes, 

The brain remembers the first and last parts of an event more vividly then what happens in the middle. What we do at the beginning and end colors how we feel for years to come because it imprints the brain and leaves a biochemical tracer tied to emotions and neural pathways.So, just like we spent dedicated time at the beginning of school building learning partnerships, we should be using the last few weeks to reinforce important non-cognitive skills that can help students maintain a positive mindset and set them on the path of summer learning.

So we will be using these last days to take account of the journey so far and map a course for the future.  Hammond has a lot of ideas about how to do this, and we are going to focusing on two in particular. The kids are going to create a reflection piece that deals with "what they learned, how they learned, what was challenging, how they dealt with those challenges, what they feel proud of, how they changed."  The second part will be to give themselves what Hammond calls a Summer Assignment.  They will choose work that they want to focus on and choose some activities to keep themselves growing.  Look forward to those assignments and reflections to come home soon!

And below behold the mayhem of bridge destruction.  Reta's structural mock-up of the Marquam bridge withstood 60 pounds of text books before finally crumpling.  Mind that it is made of only craft sticks and hot glue.