The Dream Team: 2011

February 21, 2011

Shake It Like a Duck

One of our favorite songs that we sing is Shake it like a Duck. It is important that every student has a job in the Dream Team. Having a job helps the student know that they are needed in our classroom, and it gives them ownership of where they work each day. Jobs change each week, but the song Shake it like a Duck is normally picked every day. It's a super fun song by Shawn Brown.

Shake it Like a Duck!!!

Crossovers

Every day as part of our Morning Meeting we do Crossovers. When you cross over the mid-section of your body, it stimulates your mind to prepare for the day! We choose how we want to do crossovers: you can stand up or sit down. You can use your elbows or hands to cross over as well. We count to 20 in Spanish and English and practice our ABCs as well.

February 18, 2011

Valentine's Day!

We have been doing lots of fun Valentine's day activities over the past week. All of the books we read helped us to learn how to write valentine's with kind words. Here's a snipit of what we have done. Each student mixed red and white to make pink paint! Then they painted paper plates pink to make baskets which were filled with so many goodies over the past week.

Making valentines for friends!

I love getting valentines!

We wrote valentines to our moms and dads. Isaiah wrote his to his "whole family".

The teacher helper (substitute) wrote a valentine to the Dream Team. The girls wanted to make one just like it.

So they did!

Valentines say I love you!

Sweet words for mom.

February 17, 2011

I Love You Rituals

Every morning, we start the day with I Love You Rituals. We find a partner and sit knee to knee, holding hands. Together, the Dream Team does I Love You Rituals. They are remakes to nursery rhymes with caring words to help us build a connection with our friends! Looking eye to eye, with gentle touches, helps us great ready to have a great day in the Dream Team!

Some of our favorites are:
Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All the Kings horses, and all the kings men,
could put Humpty together again!

Twinkle Twinkle little star,
What a wonderful child you are.
With bright eyes and bright round cheeks,
A talented child from head to feet.
Twinkle Twinkle little star,
What a wonderful child you are.

There was a wonderful woman who lived a shoe
She had so many children she knew exactly what to do.
She held them, and loved them, and tucked them into bed.
I love you, I love you is what she said!

Georgie Porgie pudding and pie
Gave his friends a big high five.
With his friends he loved to play,
And the gift of a smile he gave each day.

Margie Pargie pudding and pie
Gave her friends a big high five.
With her friends she loved to play,
And the gift of a handshake she gave each day.

January 14, 2011

MVP

We draw the MVP to help us learn how to draw ourselves. We notice the clothes their wearing (long/short sleeves, patterns, colors, shapes) and color of hair/eyes/skin! When we are done, each student gives the MVP their drawing and says, "I made this for you." It is turned into a book to take home!

cheese :)

Calming Down

We calm down a lot! Several times a day we take deep breaths. There are four common ways that we use to take deep breathes: being a STAR (stop, take a deep breath, and relax), DRAIN, BALLOON, and PRETZEL.

this is a drain. we squeeze our fingers so tight and pretend to be mad. we have the power to let our feelings go so we take a deep breath, and let those feelings go.

in through the nose

out through the mouth...

breathing in centers

I calm down a lot too! My favorite is a STAR.

He was getting ready to go home, and noticed he needed to calm down.

Calming down helps us to continue to work or use our big voice with someone if we need to solve a problem.

She stopped in the middle of centers to do a balloon. Our class this year loves to pop the balloon!

Conscious Discipline

We use We use Conscious Discipline as our social/emotional curriculum. It helps to give us the words to understand our feelings and the power to change them and solve problems. It's an incredible thing to see four-year-olds working together as a family to help solve problems by using their big voice and having compassion to help wish others well.

We have four creams that we use at school to help us: boo boo cream, dream cream, cranky cream, and concentration cream. They really help us to fall asleep at nap time, and if we get a bump on the playground!

He needed some more dream cream to help him rest.

It worked!

After using our big voice, we have to show each other that we care and that we are friends. We have choices. We can hug, high five, give a thumbs up, or blow a smile. Hugs are a common favorite :)

They wanted to play with the playdough toys, but didn't know the words to use to ask for them. She used her big voice to tell him to ask for the toy if he wants to play. He did it, and they were able to work together in centers and share! They did it!

Boo Boo Cream!

She could tell that she was feeling Bug Crazy mad inside (that doesn't feel very good!) and that she needed to calm down. Eyes closed, taking deep breaths, and hands involved, she is commited to calming herself to be Caterpillar Calm.

Blocks and Math Tubs-- more centers!

color blocks

our awesome train center

Mr. Potato Head!

Mr. Potato Head all dressed up!

I love his humor!

Math Tubs!

Centers from the Fall

Hi! It's been oh so long since I have blogged. Here are a few pictures of things that happened during the fall!

We spend over two hours every day working in centers. Here's a glimpse in our lives!

a stack playdough hearts!