Goal-Setting in Grade 2 at PPS

What a challenging, yet fun month! We began discussing what a mentor is and the importance of mentors in our lives. We then watched Justin and Tristan's goal-setting video. They stressed the importance of setting goals in order to achieve success in our lives.

Following the sharing of the book "The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes", the children worked in groups to attempt to build their marshmallow and spaghetti tower. I was proud of the perseverance they displayed as the towers continued to fall due to the softness of the marshmallows. It turned out that this activity tied in so well with the main idea of the mentor text. They realized that it's okay to make mistakes and fail as long as you try again!

After again discussing Justin and Tristan's video, as well as watching two other mentor videos, we brainstormed possible goals that the students might choose. I did impress upon them the importance of choosing a goal that they indeed wanted to attain, rather than one that they just thought might be easy, or one that they chose because they couldn't think of anything better. I was so pleased that the students all chose something that they wanted to improve upon in school. There were several reading goals, as well as math and the desire to improve their work attention and focus during instruction.

Because of my passion for baseball, the children wrote their goals on large baseballs. They shared them with their classmates, as well as their parents. Now the work begins! I hope that the children work hard to achieve their goals. I know that they will be so proud when they attain them!