Mindfulness

Over the next several weeks, we will be learning about mindfulness in Swooper Citizens. Being mindful means calming your body and your brain, and focusing on the moment. During this very busy time of year, mindfulness is the perfect thing to practice!

Our lesson began with students identifying what happens to their bodies when they are feeling excited, nervous, mad, sad, or happy. We asked students to discuss what happens to their bodies when they are feeling calm. What happens to your mind when you are calm?

To further introduce the concept of mindfulness to the students, we showed them this short video clip:

“The owl stopped. She noticed her stomach didn’t hurt anymore. She was calm, and her heart felt open.”

One could hear a pin drop during this video. The students’ bodies were calm. They were practicing mindfulness, and they did not even know it yet!

I then mentioned that in order to be mindful, one needs to be able to pause or take a break. I read aloud a book called A World of Pausabilities, by Frank J. Sileo

We also talked about when we might use mindfulness in our every day lives. Students suggested it might be helpful in situations where they feel nervous, angry, frustrated, or sad — or when they’re trying to fall asleep at night!

Then it was time to practice. Using GoNoodle.com, students participated in a wonderful exercise called “From Mindless to Mindful.” We enjoyed it so much, that we completed three other mindful activities.

Here are some short videos of the students participating in mindfulness activities:

We will continue our study of mindfulness in the weeks to come. In the meantime, if you would like to practice mindfulness, head over to youtube or GoNoodle! and search mindfulness activities for kids. Have fun!

Special Olympics Update

I received some great pictures and a video of Andrew participating in the Special Olympics that I thought I would share! Enjoy!

Long Jump

50-yard dash

Medal ceremony

Congratulations to Andrew and all the athletes who competed!

A Special Day for Special Athletes!

We had our big field trip today to the Santa Barbara Special Olympics! Our cheering squad brought their enthusiasm and some very special posters and flags to wave to cheer on the athletes!

Once we were seated, the students spotted Andrew running by, practicing before the event!

Cheers erupted from the Laguna students!

We also enjoyed the Opening Ceremonies.

I am hoping to get some “on the field” pictures and videos of Andrew from his mom that I will post! What a special day!

Spring Musical-A Job Well Done!

The kindergartners are still glowing from the excitement our musical play performance created! We are astounded by what the classes accomplished in three short weeks. Ordinary Mary’s and Ordinary Jerry’s Extraordinary Deed taught an important lesson that the students will hopefully remember to use in their own lives: a child’s compassion and good deeds CAN change the world.

“Blueberry Hill”

I brought my old school Blackberry in for Dr. Tom to use….he got such a kick out of it!

“Honesty, is such a lovely word. And that is what I heard from you….”

I want to give a BIG thank you to Ms. Atkinson for her clever song writing and adaptations of the book and music. It was extra fun for me to work with music that was recognizable and so upbeat. And, who doesn’t love a little Billy Joel?!

Here is a link to ms. Atkinson’s blog…she has some additional video footage you will enjoy.

Bravo, First Grade!

There’s an Athlete in the House!

We were very lucky today to meet an athlete who will be participating in the Special Olympics next week. Andrew and his mom dropped by to teach us a bit about Special Olympics. We also got to learn about Andrew himself. He is six years old, like many of the students in our class, and is in kindergarten. Andrew loves ice cream, swimming, running, and playing, also like the kindergartners. The students were excited to learn about these similarities and were eager to share with Andrew what they like to do. Andrew’s mom, Amber, also mentioned that there are some differences that Andrew has, like he has just one hand, and he has Downs Syndrome which means his brain and body are a little different than theirs. It makes it hard for Andrew to talk. Andrew has learned to do many activities with his one hand, like cross the monkey bars, swim, or swing.

Next Friday, Andrew will participate in three events including the 50 yard dash, the softball throw, and the long jump. He quickly won over the hearts of the students and received many hugs and high fives before he left. The kindergartners are already planning what their banners and flags that they will make for the Special Olympics will say!

Enthusiasm

Our Swooper Citizens theme of the month is enthusiasm, the perfect character trait to learn about as we work together as a team to put together our musical play. Ms. Atkinson and I also have planned a very special field trip for our classes where students will have the chance to demonstrate enthusiasm. At the end of the month, the Special Olympics will come to La Playa Stadium. The kindergarten and first grade students will be official “fans in the stands,” where they will cheer on the athletes. In preparation for this, students will paint banners that will offer encouragement and show enthusiasm.

I was delighted to hear that my friend Amber’s son, Andrew, will be participating in the Special Olympics this year.

Amber paid a special visit to our classroom last year when we were learning about the character trait of understanding. Here is the post I made about that visit:

Understanding

I was even more delighted when Amber accepted my invitation to bring Andrew to Lower School for a visit. It will be a wonderful opportunity for the students to get to know Andrew before cheering for him and the other athletes!

Creativity-Part 2

We followed up our Beautiful Oops lesson on creativity with the read aloud Have Fun, Molly Lou Melon, by Patti Lovell.

Molly Lou Melon’s grandma taught her to be happy with herself no matter what, but that’s not all she learned. Molly Lou heard all about how her grandma didn’t have fancy store-bought toys when she was little. She made dolls out of twigs and flowers and created her own fun in her backyard.

So Molly Lou does just that, proving that the best thing to play with is a huge imagination! -Amazon

Molly Lou makes a car out of a cardboard box. She creates a doll house from a backyard tree and watches “tv” in the sky. Ultimately, she teaches her new neighbor how to not be bored by creating toys using ones imagination.

We then segued into our service-learning project for the month of March….Art Kits! We want to put together Art Kits to donate to the Cottage Hospital Pediatrics Department. We asked students to help us compile a list of arts and craft materials to include in each kit. Here are the items we are hoping to collect:

We will be collecting items for the Art Kits over the next two weeks and would appreciate any items you may be willing to donate. The kindergartners and first graders will be assembling the kits before Spring Break.

The students did their Creativity journal writing today. Here is how they show creativity:

Isn’t creativity a wonderful thing?!

Swooper Citizens

We discussed citizenship this week. Citizenship means being a part of a community and taking pride in it. The lesson began with students brainstorming the communities to which they belong: Laguna Blanca, Santa Barbara, California, Girl Scouts, United States, and so on. Then we discussed ways in which we show pride in our communities, like by picking up trash, or saying “please” and “thank you.” This discussion was followed by a read aloud, If Everybody Did, by Jo Ann Stover. This books shows what might happen if everybody did something that was unhelpful, like if everyone picked flowers, the plants would be bare, or if everybody left their toys on the stairs, there would be a huge mess.

We took this idea of If everybody did and paired students up to create a poster depicting what would happen if everybody did something positive, like pick up trash or clean up their dishes. The students did a great job working with their partner to come up with and illustrate their idea.

We made the posters into a class book that the students can enjoy.

That reminds me….I eagerly awaiting the bright pink compassion slips to be returned. You may remember last week, each student was given a slip of paper with an act of compassion on it, and they were encouraged to complete that simple act. If your child did, please have them bring the slip of paper back to me with their name on it so we can record how we showed compassion. Thanks!

Swooper Citizens Use Teamwork!

Our Swooper Citizens lesson this week focused on Teamwork. We began the lesson under the Pavilion where the giant parachute was set up. First, we brainstormed the meaning of teamwork: working together for one common goal. Students gave examples of times they used teamwork. (“Remember our play, The Rainbow Fish, Mrs. Delwiche? That was an example of teamwork!”) Next, I asked students to pick up a side of the parachute and try to make it work.

Next we added a ball to the mix to see if we could work together to get the ball to go into the hole in the middle of the parachute.

Would you believe that as soon as I stopped filming, the ball went through the hole?!!

We discovered that teamwork for this challenge required us to watch where the ball was and to either shake the parachute if the ball was close to us or to stop shaking the parachute if the ball was on the other side.

Back in the classroom, I showed students three videos and asked them to decide which videos showed teamwork.

Anyone else cringing at the thought of the one boys fingers getting too close to the door?!

It was clear to the students how each video clip did or didn’t show teamwork and what the common goal was. In order to give them one more example of teamwork, I read aloud The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza, by Philomen Sturges.

“The story of the industrious Little Red Hen is not a new one, but when this particular hen spies a can of tomato sauce in her cupboard and decides to make a pizza, the familiar tale takes on a fresh new twist. Kids will love following along as the hen, with no help from her friends the duck, the dog, and the cat, goes through the steps of making a pizza-shopping for supplies, making the dough, and adding the toppings. But despite their initial resistance, the hen’s friends come through in the end and help out in a refreshing and surprising way.”

We discussed how the story would have changed if the friends had used teamwork from the beginning of the pizza making activity. Of course, I spent the whole time singing the Wonder Pets theme song in my head….”What’s gonna work? Teamwork!”

Gratitude Project- Part 2

We are in the middle of our Gratitude Project. Students have been writing down notes of gratitude and placing them in our classroom Gratitude Jar. On Friday, students made their own Gratitude Jars that they will be taking home today.

During Swooper Citizens today, students listened to a wonderful book called Those Shoes:

All Jeremy wants is a pair of those shoes, the ones everyone at school seems to be wearing. Though Jeremy’s grandma says they don’t have room for “want,” just “need,” when his old shoes fall apart at school, he is more determined than ever to have those shoes, even a thrift-shop pair that are much too small. But sore feet aren’t much fun, and Jeremy soon sees that the things he has — warm boots, a loving grandma, and the chance to help a friend — are worth more than the things he wants.

We reviewed the Gratitude Project video as a quick reminder of the different was in which we can show gratitude or thankfulness:

Next we helped the students complete one of the gratitude tasks by students writing letters of gratitude for people working at Lower School. The students were very engaged in this activity and really worked hard to write their notes.