Does your family have any favorite trees? Maybe at your house or at a park? Maybe at a relative's house? Maybe trees from where you grew up? If so, please send in pictures! (They can be emailed to Ms. Sydney). We'd love to see the trees that are important to your family- or are just really amazing trees!
We are excited to begin a new Education for Sustainability unit in ECE: Use Less. This unit will kick off with next week's tree walk (weather dependent!) and Applesauce Party (most likely Wednesday- and less party than applesauce-making-and-eating), which will help us learn how important and wonderful trees are. We will take this new knowledge into a study of paper as a resource. We will be looking at paper use in our studio center as well as our paper towel consumption in the classroom.
Does your family have any favorite trees? Maybe at your house or at a park? Maybe at a relative's house? Maybe trees from where you grew up? If so, please send in pictures! (They can be emailed to Ms. Sydney). We'd love to see the trees that are important to your family- or are just really amazing trees!
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Recently, the class has enjoyed reading Applesauce Season by Eden Ross Lipson. When I told the class that I make my own applesauce at home, they asked if we could make some at school.
As we move into our new unit on resources (which is being kicked off with a mini Tree Study), we thought an Applesauce Party tied in nicely. The children agreed- apples come from trees, they reminded us. Today, as a class, they wrote you a letter. To ECE Mommies and Daddies- Please can we have an applesauce party of school? We want to make applesauce. We need apples. Each kid needs to bring one apple to school on Monday or Tuesday. Love, ECE A big thank you to everyone who was able to make it to Demonstration Night! We hope you learned a lot about how our choice time looks during the school day. Hello!
Thanks! Along with the mindfulness movement, a large push in education recently has been to teach students some of the basic form and function of their brain - and for good reason. People who understand the basic biological drives behind behavior, thoughts, and emotions experience greater self-control , self-awareness and emotion regulation; they are also less likely to associate natural responses like anger, stress and fear with feelings of guilt and shame. Mr. Wiggs brought nifty model of the human brain to our class to introduce two basic parts of the brain: the lizard brain (aka brain stem and amygdala) and the wizard brain (aka pre-frontal cortex). The Lizard Brain, very simply put, is responsible for processing threats and is activated in strong emotional situations. The wizard brain, on the other hand, is responsible for complex thought, planning, decision making and self-awareness. When children understand that they have “two brains” working at different times, they are better able to cope in difficult situations by working towards “getting their wizard brain back in charge.” Once children grasp the concept, we can start prompting them with questions like, “What brain are you using right now - wizard or lizard?”, or, “Wait until your wizard brain is in charge.” This might also help us as a adults by simply identifying when a child is in lizard mode and waiting for them to calm down. Still curious about the brain? Check out this quick video: Every Thursday, Cody Wiggs, our school counselor/social-emotional guru comes into our room to talk about feelings, making friends, etc. Today, Mr. Wiggs taught us about how to be Mindful. Being mindful is being here, in the moment. We sat criss-cross with our hands on our knees, and Mr. Wiggs played a note of music on a special metal bowl he brought.
We are excited to continue our discussion about being Mindful. Curious about learning more? Check out this website for more information! |
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