Calm Minds & Bodies

Happy Friday! Sadly, it was just tooooo cold to go to the Forest this morning. Due to the cold and snow, we have been mostly inside for the past couple of weeks, and we are sure missing running around on the playscape and going for our walks. The Willow classroom has been working on new ways to calm their minds and bodies during these crazy times, and today they shared the Tapping Method with us. 

First, you decide how your body feels. If you are very angry, you hold your arms all the way out to the sides to signify a 10: the most angry. If you are very calm, your hands are folded together in front of your chest. This means zero: the most calm. Then, you  take a deep breath and begin tapping on different parts of your body. You start by tapping the side of  one hand with two fingers from your other hand. Then you move to your eyebrows, tapping the space in between. Then the sides of your eyes. Next, your undereyes, followed by the area under your nose, then under your chin. After tapping your chin, you  move to your collarbone, the area under your arm, and finally, end with tapping the top of your head. I'm probably not explaining this very well, so please feel free to check out the video below, which goes into more detail about Tapping! You can also ask your Acorn to share their tapping tricks with you this evening-- they were really interested in the whole process. When I got to school today, they couldn't wait to tell me all about how it works and they loved practicing it over and over. 

https://youtu.be/R0NUNNhosPU

Have a wonderful weekend!

Cabin Fever

 As most of you know, it is cold outside.  The Acorns love to be outside and we all love nature....  So, after we came back together yesterday (after a long weekend, and a snow day), we had a huge discussion about wanting Covid to be over, wanting it to be warmer outside, and wanting to explore the building our classroom is housed in.  Everyone had different opinions about mask wearing, the snow, the cold, and longing for summer.  The masks have been part of the conversation today as well.  I guess not having a mask on for 5 days, and then having to have it BACK on was difficult for us all. It was also difficult to remember, and follow all the rules we have at school. So, we keep everyone safe.   What is funny, is that the rules are

                     1. if you make a mess, you clean it up.

                     2. Siblings separated.

                     3. listen to your friends and your teachers.  

We do all group things as well,  so don't let them fool you about the siblings being separated..... ha ha

Like today, the habitat paintings we made needed more space.  Which meant the block area needed to expand.  We discussed as a class where to relocate the light table to make the block area bigger. And if any of you have ever moved furniture in your homes, if you move one thing, you end up moving a million things.  And have you ever moved furniture with 8 children??

After we made a plan, we put the plan in motion.

As part of the morning routine, some of the children had rulers and were measuring everything in the classroom.

                                          We are starting to clear the area for the light table.....

                                                    K and J measure the ABC train puzzle. 

                                              The new area with all the things out and about....

We had some stale bread, so we decided to feed it to the birds/squirrels, we are looking out the window to see if anyone is eating our bread.  

                                                                           Senory

                                                        More sensory, this is fake snow.... 

                                                                      The wooden area 

                                                               The new light table area....

                                                                A very busy habitat area....

                                                                   New quiet area....

                                                    Habitat area with all the things put away..... 

*Be Happy- Be Kind- Be Safe*

Ground

 Today we worked on the forest floor.  We read the book GREEN, to talk about all the colors we should use.  The children decided on different shades of green.  We mixed colors to come up with the different shades.  We also continue to discuss Black History month.  In honor of all people of color, we read All the Colors We Are.  The children then told me that they have been talking about Black History Month at home as well.

                                      The forest floor. Tomorrow we will work on vegetation. 

H and E worked tirelessly on the Polar Bear, Penguin Habitat...

C and J enjoyed the water colors....

Getting some sensory.....

*Be Happy- Be Kind- Be Safe*

Habitats, continued...

It was another busy day in the Acorn room! We have been finding lots of indoor activities to engage in when it's too cold to go outside. 

You may remember that we have been working on making habitats for our animals. This week, we've been creating the sky! Yesterday after reading "Sky Color," the class elected to use sunrise colors. It looks so beautiful! Today, after reading "Orion and the Dark," (another favorite), the consensus was that we needed a night sky as well. We also read "Be Kind," because a little reminder on what it means to be kind is always a good thing! The Acorns picked the colors for the night sky and then got to work. (There was also a white moon in the sky at some point, but as you can see, it got painted over quickly. We'll say it's a new moon night!) 

The Acorns have really been diving deep into the study of habitats and coming up with some very cool creations in the various areas in our classroom. They give detailed descriptions of their habitats and what the animals need to live in each of them. 

Have a wonderful weekend! Stay warm!

Walking Wednesday??

 Whatever happened to walking Wednesday?  The wind chill. That is what happened to walking Wednesday.  So, today we had planned to make the sky for our habitat.  First, we need to find the book Sky Color. The children helped me take all the books out and look for the book, we then put all the books away, and still no Sky Color. Then breakfast came.  The children washed up and ate breakfast.  While they were eating.... I pulled the shelf away from the wall, and guess what I found?   

I found Sky Color!  While we were looking for the book, we ran into a few of my favorites.  So we read those as well.  

There was a huge discussion on what color the sky should be.  We ended up voting on colors. The children finally agreed on three colors.  Blue, Yellow and Purple,  I added white to have different shades.....  

Everyone worked on the sky at one point in the morning as you will see from their clothing when they get home. Sorry in advance.

Here is the final product.

WOW!! Is all I can say!!!

*Be Happy- Be Kind- Be Safe*

Cold Weather Tuesday

 Wow, the weather really is not cooperating with us anymore.  We have spent the last two days indoors as it is too cold to be outside.  Today we started the day off reading 

We then explored some fake snow, Beans- to scoop and pour, floam, and we painted! Some of their paintings were amazing. 

                                                       She is trying to make a snowman!! 

                                      They are working together to go the length of the table.

                                                                        They made it!!

We needed to get some energy out, so we went to the hallway and took turns running back and forth.  We timed ourselves with the ipad stopwatch.  Then, they would read the number to us.  

                                                               *Be Happy- Be Kind- Be Safe*

Cold Weather Monday

Check Brightwheel for important information about Summer programming!!

Today we started off the day an inspiration video from the Kid President.  We then read a new book about  Birds and their houses. Where and how they live, since we are talking about habitats I thought it would inspire our habitat study.

                          Here a friend is working on a habitat for the frogs inside the sensory bin. " I made them a house under the leaves. "

                                                               A little fine motor hard a work.

Life skills of scoop and pour- it also helps to have a sensory outlet, when we can not go outside because of the cold weather. 

                           The boys created a game out of chips, cards and plastic colored discs. 

                                     Hard a work! Can you see all the work stations they created?

                                                        *Be Happy- Be kind- Be Safe*