Can you all believe that we have already been in school for 100 days?! It's definitely flown by! The students were so excited to day to see how far we've made it. I wanted to take some time today to give you just a quick update of some new things in our classroom and a reminder about our Valentine's Day party.
First of all, I have started letting the students sign up for read aloud. They are amazing! The students took to the idea so well. We actually have a student on the calendar for every day in February! If they come home and tell you they are doing read aloud, this is why. I told them they needed to practice a lot at home and school too before reading their book.
Second of all, I don't know if your children have told you or not, but we have started doing something called story time yoga to calm ourselves down and get ready for the day. This is also something the students have taken to really well! It is called Cosmic Kids. You can find the episodes on Youtube. Check them out! The kids have even been randomly asking me throughout the day if we can do yoga.
I have been reading a book about Responsive Classroom (this is something we will be using at Eastwood), and have decided I will probably start implementing "positive time out" in the classroom. You can read more about those things by scrolling over the underlined words and use the links. If you read about the positive time outs, leave a comment and let me know what you think about it. What are some things you do at home to help your child calm down and get back on track?
Our book is almost complete, and it is amazing! The kids got to see it with illustrations today and each of them read the page they wrote. I was almost in tears. I cannot wait for them to share it with you! Once I get the book turned in to the publisher, we will all discuss a publishing party. I'd love for you to hear them read it.
Next Thursday, the 14th, is our Valentine's Day party. The party starts at 2:00. Make sure you stop by the office to sign in and get a pass before coming to the room.
We've used Positive Time-outs at home for awhile now. It was taught to us by a behaviorist with WV Birth to Three. We have a space designated for "quiet time" which is where we send Chance to calm down when he's not being bad he just needs to chill out a little. He can sit and look at books or listen to music until he is feeling a little more calm and is able to come back to whatever he was doing a little more focused.
ReplyDelete