Conquistador Corner
Arroyo Seco Junior High School -- August 30, 2019
Staff Stuff
Happy Friday. We have made it through the first three weeks of school. Back to School Night is next week and the first progress reporting period ends on September 13.
Every day I see evidence of what a talented, caring, and knowledgeable staff we have here at Arroyo Seco. In this week's Corner, we have quite a few contributions:
Marisa Heflin's application of the "Power of Yet."
The Culture focus group's contribution from Amanda, Lesley, and Sarah F., including a video on "How to Improve 1% a Day."
Another "Weekly Wellness" installment from Rachael.
Kevin Fulleman hosted the Instrument Petting Zoo in which beginning band students had the opportunity to try out different instruments with experts from the community.
Thank you to everyone who contributed and to all of you for your hard work and for another great week at Seco.
No school on Monday due to Labor Day. Have a great three day weekend!
Upcoming Events
September 2: Labor Day -- no school
September 4: Late Start schedule -- Departments
September 5: Minimum Day dismissal at 11:35 am
September 5: Back to School Night
September 11: Late Start schedule -- Teacher Work Day
September 13: End of 1st Progress Reporting period
September 13: Back to School Dance 6-8 pm
September 16: PAC meeting 8:30 am K Hall
September 16: Progress report grades due by 12 pm
September 18: Late Start schedule -- Focus Groups
September 19: District wide minimum day & PD
September 20: Make up picture day/Staff photo
September 25: Late Start schedule -- Departments
Question of the Week
In response to the lockdown question, understandably, most people wanted to be with family and friends. The most creative response was, "JK Rowling - she could tell stories, Dwight Schrute - he always knows what to do in an emergency; Captain Marvel - she could take care of the threat; and Emma Watson - I admire her and would love to sit and chat with her!" And the winner of this week's drawing is Sarah Ford! Thank you to everyone who participated.
The Power of Yet
Marisa Heflin has devoted a bulletin board to encouraging her students to remember "The Power of Yet." What a great way to remind them of the value of a growth mindset, which is essential in the era of NGSS and our strive to engage students in inquiry and investigation. Here's the Mindset Guru herself, Carol Dweck, telling us why Marisa's bulletin board is so cool! https://youtu.be/J-swZaKN2Ic
Culture Group
Weekly Wellness
“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” - Winston Churchill
When you choose to be optimistic and reframe your thoughts, you become better equipped to face challenges that come your way. Von shared this great little video about staying optimistic. It illustrates how we have the power to change our perspective! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFZaCHJCkyc
There are many ways you can strength your optimism, but Elena Aguilar specifically mentions affirmations and intention setting as powerful ways to increase positivity every day.
Affirmations:
Try using positive self-affirmations every day. You can even write them down and stick them places you’ll see to remind yourself to say them. Tailor them to make sure they resonate with you, keep them short and positive. They are most powerful when you create them yourself but some examples to try are:
I’ll get through this
I’m valuable, and I belong
I am enough, I do enough
*Saying affirmations increases your “feel-good” hormones and causes your brain to form new clusters of “positive thought” neurons, basically rewiring your brain.*
Intentions:
Every day this week try to set positive, healthy intentions. You can set them before you do anything by making a statement to yourself about how you want to experience something or be in a situation. Ultimately how we experience and think about events, is what we have the most control over. Setting intentions gives your mind direction and primes it to make decisions that will help you fulfill your intentions. Some examples are:
I’m going to be calm and patient with my D period class today.
I’m going to listen to understand and learn from our department meeting today.
Here is a link to the full article and video from the meeting Wednesday:
Instrument Petting Zoo
Arroyo Seco Junior High School
Email: akeyne@hartdistrict.org
Website: www.arroyosecojuniorhigh.org
Phone: 661-296-0991