Snowmen Snowmen

Last week we began our theme of snowmen.  The students enjoyed a little song we were singing called “I’m a little snowman.”

Art Corner

     

Last week in art we finished up our fluffy bears, as well as started new placemats.  These placemats were made using "scrape" painting and were a rather messy process involving squirting and then scraping paint on our paper!  Unfortunately due to the messy nature of this project we were only able to snap a couple of pictures of art this week.  

You can see more pictures of art and pictures from the rest of our week by clicking here.

Calming Tools

We have spent a lot of time learning different ways to calm down when we feel frustrated.  Self regulation is an important life skill that prekindergarten children need to be taught.  They need to understand that it’s okay to have big feelings like anger and frustration, but it’s not okay to hit, push, or take our anger out on others.  

I have begun introducing the students to the zones of regulation.  See the chart below for a quick run down on the different zones.  We have mostly been discussing the red, yellow, and green zones.

I used the book “Mouse Was Mad” to talk about feelings and different tools that we can use to bring ourselves out of the red zone.  Our classroom occupational therapist Kayla has also made us a book called “Hands Are Not For Hitting.”  The students love this little book that talks about all the fun things you can do with your hands and how hitting makes other people feel.

The calming tools we have discussed so far include: belly breathing, jumping on the trampoline, asking to take a break, standing still breathing, going for a walk, taking a drink, umbrella breathing, squeezing a stress ball, pushing your hands together, pulling your hands apart, and taking a break in the egg chair.  

Our team will be coaching and helping the students to pick one of these calming tools if they feel frustrated or red zone feelings when they are at school.  Some of these calming tools are also excellent to use when we are over excited in the yellow zone.  

Mr. Paul

We were lucky to have another visit from Mr. Paul on Tuesday morning.  Mr. Paul is the musical occupational therapist who will be visiting our classroom from time to time throughout the year.  This time he brought yoga cards, a singing bowl, and a dulcimer.  We loved learning about the dulcimer, and the students were all excited to try playing it.  It is always fun learning when Mr. Paul comes!  

You can click here to see more pictures from his visit.

Snow Pants Galore!

We all know the joy of trying to get prekindergarten aged children dressed for playing outside in the winter.  We spent this past week practicing these important dressing skills.  We had a lesson on how to get dressed to go outside, then we hung up the steps by our coat hooks.  The students have enjoyed having a visual reference to follow while they are getting ready.  

Let's Bake!

Our visit from Let's Bake is happening this Thursday, November 30th.  The Monday/Wednesday students are invited to join us during their regular classroom times.  Thank you to all of the parents who have already volunteered.  

I am still looking for one more parent volunteer from the MORNING CLASS. If you can help out please let me know!

Upcoming Robina Baker Events:

Coming Up in Prekindergarten

Next week we will continue our unit on snowmen.  

• November 30th - Let's Bake presentation
• the M/W students are welcome to join us during their regular time slot
• December 6th and 7th - Early Dismissal days
• the morning class will dismiss at 10:30 am
• the afternoon class will dismiss at 2:15 pm
• December 20th - Christmas Concert 6:30 pm
• December 22nd - January 7th - Christmas Break
• January 8th - classes resume