Welcoming a new friend and practicing problem solving skills!

Last week we completed our Fairy Tale unit with another STEM activity - bridge building! We reviewed what we learned about working with partners when we built pigs houses, and then we worked with new partners to build bridges. This time we had a time limit. After we finished our bridges, we tested them out with some small animals. When a bridge worked well, we looked at it together so that we could learn why it worked well - we learned that sharing ideas and talking to our partners helped us build stronger bridges.

We have a new student joining our class this week - now we have 11 wonderful classmates! 

In our Social Skills lesson we learned about problem solving. We practiced: 1. naming the problem, 2. thinking about solutions and 3. picking a solution to try. This is an important skill to practice- research shows that problem-solvers get along better with peers and have fewer conflicts and problems with aggression. It is important for our students to really think about their possible solutions before taking action - we want them to choose a solution that helps keep the problem small, not make it bigger. 

**Remember that Thursday is pajama day at Loon Lake! Your child may wear his/her pjs to school. 

I hope you all have a wonderful Spring Break! We will begin a big Ocean Unit in science when we return from our break. 

Our Bowling Trip

We had a wonderful time at Wonderland Bowling Lanes. Everyone was able to bowl two games - we practiced taking turns, cheering our classmates on and following directions. It was a very successful field trip! The pictures tell the story...

 

 

 

 

 

We are amazed at the changes in our bean plants this week! We observed that they lean towards the window to get the sunlight and that different beans sprouted on different days.

Just a reminder...we are planning a celebration performance for June 2 at 2:00. We hope that many of you will be able to come see us share our learning about self regulation and coping skills. 

Fairy Tales and Field Trips

We are getting excited about our Field Trip to Wonderland Bowling Lanes next Tuesday morning. This will be a good opportunity for us to practice the behaviors and self control we have learned in our classroom while in a different setting. We will be sure to share many photos!
We are also beginning to work on an end of the year celebration that we will do with Dr. Cohen's class and Miss Ross's class.  We will be sharing some of our learning about coping skills and the zones of regulation on June 2 at 2:00. We hope you will all be able to join us!
We have continued with our fairy tale unit -we can identify many elements of a fairy tale, such as repeating phrases, magic, settings such as castles and forests, good and bad characters and animals who talk or are magical. This week we read "Rapunzel" and "The Princess and the Pea" among other tales. This class loves fairy tales! Here are our Jack in the Beanstalks...our own beans are beginning to sprout!

In our social skills lessons we worked on how to focus - we decided that we need to look at our work and to work quietly. We also need to sit up instead of turning around when we work. We learned that we need to "close the file" on things like video games when we want to focus on our work. We can tell ourselves that we can think about non-work things after we are finished. We can get our work done faster and smarter when we focus. Here are some students who are focusing on their work:

We also have been working on saying, "OK" when a direction is given, both at home and at school. We made a chart about the size of a problem and our reaction to a problem. We learned that when our reaction is much bigger than the problem, people around us feel uncomfortable. We are practicing thinking about the size of the problem in terms of how serious it is and how easy it could be to fix. 

Loon Lake is having a Slumber Read In on Thursday April 2 - your child may wear their pajamas to school that day. (Remember, we will have recess outside.) 

The marking period ends next week and report cards will be printed and sent home after spring break on April 15. 

Fairy Tales in room 113

We read several versions of Jack in the Beanstalk  and created beanstalk art of our own. We planted bean seeds and are anxiously waiting for them to sprout! We are learning that there are different versions of many fairy tales. We are working on identifying the main characters, the setting, the problem and the solution in the fairy tales we are reading.

We read several versions of Little Red Riding Hood  and The Three Little Pigs.  We worked in groups to create houses built of straw, sticks and bricks.

We also worked in groups to build a house that we thought the wolf could not blow down, using only the supplies given to our group. We had to cooperate with our team members and share ideas with each other. After we built the houses, we tested them with a "wolf" (Mrs. Ellis' hairdryer!) to find out whether our houses were sturdy or not!

We talked about our houses and how we felt about working in teams. We wanted to figure out why some houses were sturdier than others, and we wanted to learn how a team can work together. This kind of activity is called a STEM activity - Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. We'll do another STEM activity in a few weeks! 

Reading Month and a Bowling Field Trip...

Our class is participating in the door decorating activity that Loon Lake does for Reading Month. We talked about our favorite books, and decided that "Angry Octopus" by Lori Lite would be a good theme for our door. This is a great book that includes the coping skills of deep breathing/relaxation and accepting help - our class loves it! Here is a picture of our door - all of the students helped paint the octopus and sea child and everyone painted shells and fish.

In our social skills lessons, we continue to work on identifying triggers and things that may lead us to feeling upset. We know that if we identify a trigger, we can make a plan before we face that trigger. This plan can help us stay in the green zone! We also talked about what to do when someone accidentally bumps us, knocks us down or hurts us. When students assume that someone is behaving towards them with hostile motives, they are more likely to react with aggression, so we practiced how to calm down and talk things out. We can say, "That hurt. What happened? Was it an accident?" We also practiced apologizing when we accidentally do something. We can say, "I'm sorry. It was an accident. Can I help you?" We did lot's of role plays to practice this. 

We are excited about our upcoming Field Trip on March 24 to Wonderland Bowling. We will all be able to bowl two games. I am sending home a permission slip and we are asking for $4.00 to cover the bowling activity. We will use some of our grant money to pay for the bus. If the $4.00 is a problem, do not worry - just return the permission slip. 

Our class welcomed our new student and made him feel at home. What a great group of kids we have in Room 113! We are happy to be a group of 10 now! We were very excited to be awarded the PBIS class of the month sign for some whole class PBIS tickets that were written for us!

Next Tuesday evening at 6:00 we will meet in Room 114 for our Parent Support Group Meeting. Our topic will be the Zones of Regulation at school and at home. We hope you will be able to join us!

We finished up our Dr. Seuss unit and learned about teeth and wind. We made some kite art for our bulletin board in the hallway. Next week ...fairy tales!