Author Share

This week we celebrated the end of our first unit of writing; a Mentor Study of the author Kevin Henkes.

For this celebration, kids were paired up with a buddy and their stufty guests to take turns reading their own book to their buddy and then listening to their buddy's story and giving them some encouraging feedback on their writing.

Throughout this unit, students have built their stamina for writing more and also tried out strategies to elaborate their stories. 

Some of the craft moves we have been learning include:

- Spreading a story out across pages (this is a big step for our most emergent writers)

- Bringing our characters to life with talking, action, thinking or feelings

- Starting our stories off with a strong lead to grab our reader's attention and finishing with a closing (other than "The End") to say goodbye to our readers

- Incorporating moves made by some of our mentor author like repeating lines, rule of 3, character dialogue, inset drawings to match the story, and making our stories richer with more details

Writing is a process that will continue to grow and improve for your child the more they practice and the more they write. 

Enjoy the pictures below of buddies proudly and enthusiastically sharing their stories!

Morse's Pond

It is important to find ways to take refuge from the noise, energy and activity that fills our world. Earlier this year we had the kids think of a "Quiet Place" where they go in their mind's eye when they want some time to themselves where it is peaceful and quiet. For some kids, that is tucked up in their bed with snuggly stuffed friends, for others it is somewhere outside where they can see something beautiful in nature. We bring these quiet places to mind when we do deep breathing each morning to help us transition from the busy, hectic morning of getting up early, getting ready, and getting to the bus (or school) on time. This helps us refocus our minds and bodies to be ready for the day ahead. 

This week, the 1-2s took a walk through our "Magic Door" to visit Morse's Pond as part of our Outdoor Classroom time. Sitting on a bank overlooking the pond gave us a great opportunity to gaze at the water and surrounding area and notice what was all around us while at the same time having a space to come back to ourselves to promote living in the moment - not worrying about what happened yesterday, nor stressing about what tomorrow may bring. 

Kids noticed the peaceful movement of the ripples on the water as well as the trees reflected in the surface of the water along with the many shades of blue from the sky above. Many kids also noticed that the water closest to where we were sitting was very clear so they could see down to the weeds on the bottom. While we did not see any of our waterfowl (ducks, geese, swans) we could hear some bird sounds from the trees and the surrounding area as we were sitting so quietly. 

This relaxation exercise of deep breathing and mindful visualization can be very useful tools at home too - particularly as children are trying to wind down for bedtime. When we lay down at night, our minds can fill with a replay of the day's events which can make it hard to settle in for sleep. Playing some soft music and taking deep belly breaths in through our nose and out through our mouths can help restore our calm physically and mentally. We once even had a student who took this practice into the dentist's waiting room as she was anxious about getting a filling and did her deep breathing to calm her nerves!  

Enjoy the picture below of the pond. Ask your child to tell you what they noticed about how this experience made them feel. 

Seeds Got a Ticket to Ride!

For those Beatles fans out there, during our seed study we reworked the lyrics of "She's Got a Ticket to Ride" to fit our study with the adapted title "Seeds Got a Ticket to Ride". The lyrics reflect the many ways that seeds travel away from their mother plant to (hopefully) land somewhere where there is enough light, water, soil and space for them to grow. 

The song is very entertaining (and catchy - you may have already heard your child singing snippets of this song at home) and helps kids remember the many ways seeds get about. 

We recorded a performance of the kids singing the song for you (it's in small bits because the whole video was too big to post in its entirety). 

We hope you enjoy it! We've included one child's illustrated copy of the lyrics below so you can sing along...