2012 has begun!

As a follow up to our fun yoga session that we did with Liam's mom and Max's mom, we have been doing some short yoga sessions in the classroom to break up our day and keep us calm and focused.  I recommend you check out this site:

Fireflies Yoga

in Denali NP, Alaska... about as peaceful a place as it gets!

On the bottom right of the homepage you can click on and listen to a number of songs, including 1) Dance for the Sun, which your child will likely be able to sing along with!   It goes along with the sun salutation and is a great way to settle in or transition between activities, as well as to begin a kid's yoga practice.  I am grateful that we have been introduced to such a great practice in the classroom!

Just a few quick updates now that we are back into the swing of things:

• In Handwriting, we are all done with upper case and have begun structured lower case practice with "magic c."  The kids love the bunny rabbit who is teaching some cool tips.  
• In Math, we are currently working on measurement and number stories, as well as reviewing and continuing to work on counting, skip counting, number recognition and all that good stuff.  Writing numbers is something we are practicing a lot and I hope you can get to that at home as well every now and then!
• In Literacy we are working on informative writing.  We are listening to nonfiction stories and comparing them to narratives about similar topics.  We will be writing a class book about animals in Maine, with lots of information and facts to share with our audience.  (At the end of January I will be giving the DRA, which will give us an idea of your child's reading level.  I will share that information with you so that we can work with your child in school and at home in books that are at their level.)
• Our Service Learning project is in full swing!  While we are planning some future hikes, we have been talking about some things we have noticed around the island that affect the habitats, both in good and not-so-good ways.  You will soon (in the next two weeks) be receiving a student-created survey; if you could please fill it out and return it we would greatly appreciate it!  You will be helping contribute to our project in a big way.

Phew!  That isn't even everything, but as I haven't taken photos this past week the least I can do is give you a verbal update... and I promise the pictures are on their way!

Happy Monday,

~Mrs. Fournier

Best day ever?

Today was just plain fun!  Looking back on it, I'm not quite sure how we fit it all in... a Read Aloud "gift" from Mrs. Gaston's 4th Grade first thing in the morning; a story, special snack, and gingerbread people art project with our 3rd Grade Reading Buddies; and an end-of-the-day yoga session with some awesome parent-teachers!

creative poses in kids' yoga!

Miss Pickers (3rd grade) reading about gingerbread pirates!

Busy boys at this table

A glimpse into why our classroom looked like a tornado hit it

Great teamwork!

Tomorrow I'll be out all day due to a conference in Northeast Harbor, but will be back on Wednesday to hold our classroom holiday celebration, which will consist of decorating real gingerbread cookies (as opposed to the paper ones we made today) and putting the finishing touches on some special gifts :)

Just a reminder that Thursday is the last day of school until 2012- wow!  Time flies when you're having fun in Kindergarten...