Fall Carnival

Sixth grade did another amazing job creating fun for all!

Pilates

Michelle is a great teacher, with gentle words and touch, she can guide a student to make small corrections in alignment that make the pose safe and beneficial.

I think there's a message in there somewhere for our session on healthy relationships this week.

Grief

We had a tragic death in our community yesterday, and I've been pouring through my numerous books on grief for anything that might help. I've come up short mostly. Be there. Listen. Grieve.

We're never quite the same after experiencing a deep loss. But I hope what we are is better than we were before. More compassionate. More loving. More depth to our character. I found this quote that speaks to that.

"Sadness is related to the opening of your heart. If you allow yourself to feel sad, especially if you can cry, you will find that your heart opens more and you can feel more love."

S. Gawain

Personal Bill of Rights

Today in health class we talked about healthy relationships. To end our session, we each read aloud one of the following statements that is important to us today. Which one would you pick?

1. I have the right to be treated with respect.
2. I have the right to have and express my own feelings and opinions.
3. I have the right to be listened to and to be taken seriously.
4. I have the right to set my own priorities.
5. I have the right to say NO without feeling guilty.
6. I have the right to ask for what I want.
7. I have the right to ask for information and help.
8. I have the right to make mistakes.
9. I have the right to change my mind.
10. I have a right to all my feelings.
11. I have a right to carve out my place in this world.
12. I have a right to follow any of the above rights, to define my own happiness.

Bobbing For Apples

Really!
Beautiful day at our Harvest Party.

Today's Guest Speaker

One of the best parts of being a health teacher is introducing students to incredible adult role models. Michelle Reimer is a perfect example. She is a nurse at Clear Choice Clinic in Kalispell, who is willing to do school presentations about puberty, pregnancy, and fetal development.  She knows how to talk to teens, has accurate information, and years of experience as both a delivery room nurse, and as a counselor for young people facing an unplanned pregnancy. The students responded well to her expertise as well as her message about honor and goals and making informed choices. Looking forward to Michelle's return next week.

Why I like My Job

Four Days of LAFF

Love-Two hour phone conversation with Barbara
Achievement- Started a web site
Fun- Hiked to Glacier Lake
Freedom- Closed my eyes for all the scary parts of "Gravity"

The Little Choir That Could

There are only six students in the 7th grade choir, but they sang their heart out at their fall concert last night. Way to go!

B.Balanced Pilates

Michelle Wiggins had the health class with their backs to the wall, literally, so they could feel the

correct alignment in a lateral stretch.

Oat Applesauce Muffins

1 c. rolled oats
1 c. plain yogurt
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. baking soda
1/3 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. ground flax seed
2 T. coconut oil
1/2 c. applesauce
1 egg

Place oats and yogurt in a mixing bowl and let sit for 2 hours at room temperature.
Mix dry ingredients and add to yogurt mixture.
Stir in  coconut oil, applesauce and egg. Add 1/2 c. nuts or raisins if desired.
Divide batter evenly into 12 greased muffin tins.
Bake at 375 until nicely browned,  20-30 minutes.

New Playground

What could be better than a sunny day and a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate a new piece of playground equipment and the teamwork that made it all happen?

Fun Photo

Food Corps Volunteer

Zoe Tucker brought recipes and all the ingredients for a white bean red pepper dip, sweet potato hummus, pita chips, and vegetable dippers to health classes today. I was able to assist and take photos.

It's such a joy to teach middle schoolers how to cook. Some of them have basic kitchen skills, but lots of them have no experience cooking with raw vegetables. Zoe and I were able to teach how to cut a red pepper, how to rinse and drain a can of beans, and how to peel a garlic clove.

The food turned out delicious, with lots of kids asking for the recipe. Thanks Zoe for all your prep work!

Brain Test

Last week our guest speaker taught us lots of facts about the brain. I gave the kids a quiz today regarding the things I thought were important for them to remember and apply. I also wanted to know what tidbits of information they picked up, so the last question on the test was, "What else do you remember about the brain?"

Here are two of my favorite responses:

"its the sise of your phists"

"not alot other than cells die when you're sleep deprived and you go bonkers."

Made me smile

2nd grader: why am I here?
Me: your mom thought it might help if you had some time with me each week.
2nd grader: I'm glad. I really like you.

Try This At Home

Shared Drawing Experiment

1. Find a partner.
2. Get one piece of paper and one pencil to share with your partner.
3. Choose a song you both enjoy listening to.
4. When the song begins, you both take hold of the pencil and begin to draw on the paper.
5. No talking. No agreeing ahead of time what you are going to draw.
6. When the song ends, stop drawing.
7. Celebrate your drawing and talk about how you worked together. Did one of you take the lead and the other follow? Did you take turns leading and following? How did you communicate without words? Was the activity fun or frustrating? How does this activity relate to your relationship with one another or with others? Are you usually a leader or a follower or does it depend on who you are with?

I did this activity with 7th and 8th graders today and there were smiles all around. However, it can be very frustrating. Try it and see what you think. Under what circumstances might it be difficult? What concepts can it teach us? How can it make us more self-aware?

Brainy Lady

Bridget Martel, our local expert on how to take care of our brains to maximize teaching and learning, taught the health classes about their teen brains. Here's some of the things I learned.

• Young kids and adults have similar circadian rhythms. Their brains are most alert in the morning and tend to be a little sleepy after lunch. Teen brains tend to be sleepy until mid morning and are most alert in the afternoon and evening.
• We need to eat plenty of omega 3 fats for optimal brain function.
• The best way to slow down the stress response is to breathe.
• The easiest way to increase serotonin is to smile :)