Growing into Gratitude
11/23/2019
This week in Early Kindergarten we spent a good deal of time talking in simple terms about the Pilgrims and Native Americans, reading lots of silly turkey books, and doing the “Turkey Tango” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH5RWY1nm-I), but we also spent time each day talking about gratitude. Some of our favorite books! Young children are naturally egocentric and selfish – it is simply part of human development. But inside every child are also the seeds of kindness and amazing generosity. Anyone who has received a fistful of dandelions or has had a slightly crumpled masterpiece of scribbles thrust at them with a big grin, has seen the glimmer of these emergent traits. How those seeds are nurtured in the early years can have a profound effect on the way in which these virtues develop in a child’s life. Helping a child develop an attitude of gratitude is an important part of this nurturing. A sign hanging in my sister’s house proclaims, “Happiness is not getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you have.” In other words, experiencing joy has a great deal to do with the focus of our lives. Having this mindset can be a difficult thing at times, but I still believe it is a true saying. So how do we help children begin to turn outward from their naturally self-centered perspective and begin to be more grateful? I believe that gratitude begins with noticing. Parents and teachers can help children recognize the many, many good things in their lives. Other ideas which may be helpful to you can be found in a wonderful article entitled "12 Tips for Teaching Children Gratitude" found at https://www.healthychildren.org/English/family-life/Community/Pages/12-Tips-for-Teaching-Children-Gratitude.aspx. No matter which of these ideas or others which you choose to implement in your family, your persistence will pay off, and ultimately you'll be richly rewarded for your efforts! Have a wonderful break with your families!
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Gratitude and Cooperation
11/16/2019
You may have noticed that the cold and flu season is upon us! This is one thing we aren't terribly grateful for, but cooperation can help us minimize its effects! We have talked a lot this week about germs, and how we don't want to spread them. We reviewed the proper way we should wash our hands, and we've all been washing frequently. In addition to stressing proper hand-washing, we've also been working hard on trying to cover our coughs and sneezes with our elbows, so that our germs stay off our hands. To help the children understand why it's so important to have clean hands, we watched a short video together which made quite an impression! Although it is a bit silly and the computer animation is dated, it really held their attention and helped them understand how important these things are! This week we began our Thanksgiving theme by talking about the ideas of gratitude and cooperation. One person whom we are all grateful for is our P.E. teacher, Ms. Molly! This week in our gym class Ms. Molly got out the large parachute, and we all got to participate in some exciting activities with her. Parachutes are so much fun, and they are always a hit with children young and old. Parachute play also teaches valuable skills like teamwork, cooperation, and self-control. Ms. Molly started by giving clear verbal instructions, and everyone worked hard to follow them. By working together the children were able to make large and small shakes and waves, and Ms. Molly showed us how we could cooperate to make playground balls fly up into the air and off the parachute! One of the most exciting things we did was to work together to trap the air in a giant bubble. This allowed us to go under the parachute and sit in the bubble for a "tea party". Our early kindergarten students did so wonderfully following Ms. Molly's directions with the parachute on the first day of gym class, that at our second class of the week Ms. Molly taught us the game "Sharks and Lifeguards". Parachutes are always a blast, and what a fun way to learn about working together! We are always so thankful for the well-planned and fun lessons we have in gym, and how Ms. Molly helps us learn about teamwork and cooperation!
Family Fun
11/9/2019
In preparation for our Thanksgiving Theme which will begin next week, we took this week to celebrate something which everyone is grateful for: families! We discussed vocabulary words for members of our immediate and extended families. We talked about the different kinds of homes families can live in and we talked extensively about the qualities and characteristics in our families which made us grateful for them. We talked about the number of people in our immediate families and graphed them. We read numerous books about families. We learned a great family song with sign language called "We Are a Family" by Jack Hartmann We capped of our week with our Parent Lunch and Activity. After we demonstrated our new "Rules Rap" for our parents (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z60vA7vVYUY), we read the book "Love You Forever" by the wonderful author Robert Munsch. We followed this with a parent-child activity of hand-print flowers. We love having families in our classroom!
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Melissa SmithMs. Smith has a degree in Early Childhood Education and has taught kindergarten for many years. Alaska has been home to Ms. Smith for 28 years, and she can't imagine living anywhere else! She has four children, a dog and two cats. She loves reading, camping, gardening, and genealogy! Archives
April 2021
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