OUR GRAY HAWK FAMILY works together to help students feel safe, loved, and inspired so they can be empowered learners and engaged citizens.

Books: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2I63LHA3IDMP5?ref_=wl_share

Games: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/34ICIODDPF4L8?ref_=wl_share

Andrea Beaty grew up in a very small town in Illinois. She spent her summers running through fields and woods. She was one of 6 kids. She loved reading as a child and especially loved Nancy Drew and Trixie Beldon mysteries. She graduated from college with a degree in biology and computer science. She worked in a software company before she began writing books for children.

Andrea Beaty has written many books for children, but her most famous series is the Questioneers’ series featuring “Ada Twist, Scientist”. In this series you meet Ada Twist and her crew of diverse, curious, and problem solving friends. The series focuses on questioning, creating, experimenting, dreaming, problem solving and working together. From a scientist, an engineer, an architect, a future president and an illustrator the series celebrates everyone’s different talents and contributions.

Two of Andrea Beaty’s books have even traveled to space as part of NASA’s Storytime in Space program.

These amazing books can be used to inspire everyone to believe in themselves and the power of working together.

Featured Book: Ada Twist, Scientist

Ada Marie Twist is an inquisitive African American second grader and a born scientist. She possesses a keen yet peculiar need to question everything she encounters, whether it be a tick-tocking clock, a pointy-stemmed rose, or the hairs in her dad's nose. Ada's parents and her teacher, Miss Greer, have their hands full as the child's science experiments wreak day-to-day havoc. On the first day of spring, the title character is tinkering outside her home when she notices an unpleasant odor. She sets out to discover what might have caused it. Beaty shows Ada using the scientific method in developing hypotheses in her smelly pursuit. The little girl demonstrates trial and error in her endeavors, while appreciating her family's full support. In one experiment, she douses fragrances on her cat and then attempts to place the feline in the washing machine. Her parents, startled by her actions, send her to the Thinking Chair, where she starts to reflect on the art of questioning by writing her thoughts on the wall—now the Great Thinking Hall. Ada shines on each page as a young scientist, like her cohorts in the author's charming series. The rhyming text playfully complements the cartoon illustrations, drawing readers into the narrative. VERDICT A winner for storytime reading and for young children interested in STEM activities.

Monday: I was born a slave in Missouri in the 1860s. When slavery was abolished, I began living with a man named Moses Carver. It was on Moses’s farm that I became very interested in farming.

Tuesday: Growing up, people always called me the “plant doctor” because I knew how to nurse sick plants back to health. When I was 13 I left the farm and went on to get my education. In 1894, I became the first black person to graduate from Iowa State University. He studied Botany (which is the study of plants) and in 1896, Booker T. Washington offered him a teaching position at the Tuskegee Institute, a college for African Americans.

Wednesday: When I was at the Tuskegee Institute I was concerned about my students growing into responsible adults and so I created a list of 8 virtues for my students to strive towards. These were:

• Be clean both inside and out.

• Neither look up to the rich nor down on the poor.

• Lose, if need be, without squealing.

• Win without bragging.

• Always be considerate of women, children, and older people.

• Be too brave to lie.

• Be too generous to cheat.

• Take your share of the world and let others take theirs

Thursday: I worked on spreading my knowledge about peanuts and sweet potatoes to everyone, but especially former slaves that were trying to earn a living by becoming farmers. I had a mobile classroom called the Jesup Wagon that I traveled everywhere in. I created over 300 uses for the peanut including different foods, shampoo, makeup, and more and over 118 uses for the sweet potato.

Friday: I died January 5, 1943 after I fell down a flight of stairs. I am buried next to Booker T. Washington at Tuskegee University in Alabama. On my tombstone it says: “He could have added fortune to fame, but caring for neither, he found happiness and honor in being helpful to the world.”

This week I want to share some information with you about the Polyvagal Theory. The Polyvagal Theory was a term coined by Dr. Stephen Porges around 1994. It is absolutely fascinating and involves the role our autonomic nervous system plays in social engagement and connection. The video below explains it quite well.

The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) regulates the functions of our internal organs (the viscera) such as the heart, stomach and intestines. Generally, we are not even aware of our ANS because it operates involuntarily.

Our ANS is really important when we consider these two situations:

1. In an emergency that causes stress, our ANS is what directs us to "fight" or "take flight" (run away)
2. In a non-emergency, our ANS is what allows us to "rest and digest".

Check out the video below to learn more about the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)