Happy Monday! 

I hope that everyone had a great weekend! This week in clasHappy Monday!

I hope that everyone had a great weekend! This week in class, we really won't be doing much of anything lol!!! With the PSSAs having finally arrived, students will be using their time to focus on that! The students also DO NOT have ANY homework for me this week! 

With the tests, I know that students can get a little stressed out. One thing that I want to do with the students is remind them just how bright they are! Before each test, we always go through our little affirmations with the lucky stars. I want students to keep this in mind before the tests this week too! Because of this, I have a teeny tiny little present for each of them. This was something I was going to give them at the end of the school year, but it seems like an appropriate time now...

✨Students will now have a permanent lucky star that they can keep with them for as long as they would like! I want students to remember that even after they leave me at the end of the year, that they are ALWAYS capable of amazing things. It has become such a little tradition for us to have these before tests that I wanted students to be able to have one to keep with them next year if it has been something that helps pump them up and build their confidence! ✨

These students have shown such amazing and tremendous growth all year, and I couldn't be prouder of them! It truly brings me to tears thinking back to the start of the year and looking at how far they've truly come. At the end of the day, I'm not worried about the score that they receive on their PSSA. What I care about is that the student put forth their best effort, and are proud with what they were able to accomplish. 

I have attached pictures of their forever lucky stars as well as the affirmations that we read before every test. I truly believe that the students ARE each of those nine statements, and I think they have begun seeing it in them too! 😊💖

If you should have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out! 

I hope that everyone has an amazing week!

s, we are going to be continuing with some PSSA prep! This is going to involve us reading passages and answering questions based on the passage. Students will be using skills that we have been talking about all school year to help with this! 

I know PSSAs are around the corner, and that they can cause some anxiety/nerves in students. While these are important tests, I have let the students know to not stress over these tests too much! I understand just how daunting and difficult they can seem, but I absolutely do not want them to stress out so much that they begin to lose sleep. Anxiety and nervousness is something that a lot of people go through (including myself!), so here are some tips and tricks that help me that the students might find beneficial as well!

✨Mindful Breathing: Taking time to actually WAIT to breathe in and out forces our body to relax and release tension. A strategy that I like to use is the 5-5-5 finger taps. Inhale through your nose for 5 seconds, hold for five seconds, and exhale through your mouth for five seconds. While doing this, it helps to "tap out" the second with your fingers. I'll place one of my hands on my arm or leg and tap each second out so that I can "feel" the seconds going by. Here are two of my other favorites that I have used with my students in the classroom https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTN_MtV5TFw AND https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIbBI-BT9c4

✨JAM OUT: This one is a bit silly, but it helps SO MUCH! Finding a playlist of songs that you can dance or sing at the top of your lungs is honestly one of my favorite things to do when I start to get in my own head. Spotify has a bunch of really good ones, but they're on YouTube as well! Singing at the top of your lungs and dancing crazily can let your body "let loose" of those worries!

✨5 Senses "Walk": I use walk in quotes because you aren't actually getting up and walking, but rather, using your eyes to do the walking. While working, assess your surroundings. Name or think of things around you that you can experience with the five senses: What do you see? What can you smell? What can you touch or what do you imagine something that you're looking at feels like, etc.

✨Words of Affirmation: This is part of the whole reason we do the lucky stars!! Sometimes we can get in our own heads when feeling nervous, and we begin to have thoughts of "I can't do this!" or "This is impossible!" One simple positive thought goes a LONG way. Thinking sentences like, "I can do this!" or "I am capable!" 

✨Do Something You Enjoy: (Obviously lol!) Doing something that brings you joy is an amazing way to distract your mind. One thing that I like to do is bake! It completely erases my mind while I'm doing it, and I actually enjoy it! By the time I'm done, I basically forget the whole reason why I was feeling stressed in the first place!

These aren't things that are the "end all, be all", but my hope is that they might give some ideas of battling those testing scares! I also found this video on YouTube that gives a couple other tips as well! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDYx9qM_ygg

Homework for this week is as followed:

1️⃣ Spelling Packet due 4/18

2️⃣ AR Log due 4/19

✨ Spelling Test 4/19

That's about it! If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out! I hope you all have an amazing week!

🔗 Study Links (I don't have the Blooket up yet, but I'll have it done by the end of the day!): https://sites.google.com/richlandsd.com/missholtzer/study-links