Willow earns a 3rd Program of Promise recognition for a Wisconsin School Counseling Program Accountability Report (WSCPAR)!!

I'm proud to share that for the 3rd consecutive year, our school counseling program at Willow has earned recognition at the state level!  Each year, school counselors can submit a Wisconsin School Counseling Program Accountability Report (WSCPAR) that includes data to demonstrate how the school counseling program has impacted school climate and student learning!
A huge thank you to Mrs. Osterhues for her leadership and support of our school counseling program as well as the amazing team of Willow teachers who continuously reinforce classroom lessons, small group skills, and collaboratively problem solve with me each and every day!  I'm proud to represent Willow River Elementary and get us on the map at the state level!
Select the link below to read this year's report!
Willow River Elementary 2018 WSCPAR

New BUDDY BENCH!!!

I am excited to announce that our upper playground will be getting a NEW Buddy Bench soon!  We had one 5 years ago that was made out of wood, but due to our Wisconsin weather, it just didn't stand the test of time.  On our Cinder Lot playground, we have a red Buddy Bench that students can use as well.  With our unique playground set up (how many kids get TWO playgrounds?!?!?) a second Buddy Bench is a treat!

Kindergarten and 1st grade students are learning how to use this tool, which was initially developed by a boy named Christian and included "rules" for using the bench.  Students are asked to "Have a plan" before heading out to recess and then if that plan doesn't work, they are encouraged to ask at least one other playground friend to play.  Ideally at this point, the problem will be solved because we also have the rule "Can't Say Can't Play", so if anyone asks if we can join in kickball, 4-square etc., we cannot exclude!  If for some reason or another this person says "no", we can then go sit on the Buddy Bench!  As we sit, we look around for someone to play with and if someone asks us to play while we are on that bench, we have to say YES!  I teach students that it is my hope that no one ever has to sit on our bench - because if our bench is empty it means that everyone is being included and is enjoying recess! :)

Ask your student about how our Buddy Bench works and see how it brightens up our playground!!!

4th Graders Test their Growth Mindset!

Fourth graders learned more about growth mindset - comparing it to "bubblegum brain" vs. "brick brain".  We discussed how to change "brick brain statements" into "bubblegum brain" words to help remind us how to handle challenges that come our way!
Growth mindset statements include:  adding "yet" to every "I can't", seeing challenges as an opportunity for our brains to grow, and persevering!
Students were put into groups and asked to solve word problems together.  These were challenging and students were asked to pay attention to how they were talking to themselves about it and how they were talking in the group to each other about it.  I heard many "We just don't have this YET, you guys!!!" :)

Here are some pictures of our groups working hard together and a video of that wonderful moment when they finally got the lock open to reveal brain erasers to remind us of Growth Mindset!

5th grade Learning Styles

Fifth graders are continuing with their Learner Resumes (parents, you'll get to see this in video form at the end of the year!) and learned what their learning style was!  Students did a "Scoot" form of the questionnaire to learn if they learn best through hearing (auditory), seeing (visual) or doing (kinesthetic).  Students were then given a list of different studying and learning strategies they could try and were asked to select two they thought they could try!  Ask your 5th grader what their learning style is and what studying strategies they are trying!

Wolfie At Work

Wolfie has been working awfully hard these past few weeks.  His job shadowing has taken him to salons, paper mills, U of M, Dorthy Day Place, and St. Croix county to name a few.
Can't wait to see what our other 4th grade parents teach us when it comes to types of careers, types of training, and learning what our parents wanted to be when they were in 4th grade!

This has been a really fun project and we are learning a lot about different types of training - college (words like Bachelor's degree and Master's degree too!), associates degree, apprenticeship, on-the-job training, and technical degrees.

Thank you to all of our 4th grade parents for humoring us a bit and for being so creative with your pictures!