book review...

one of the themes for this month is kindness and gratitude. i introduced a new book to our class, have you filled a bucket today? a guide to daily happiness for kids. the basic concept is that everyone carries an invisible bucket in which we keep our feelings. when our buckets are full, we are happy; when they are empty, we are sad. when we are kind to others we not only fill their buckets but ours as well and when we are mean to others we dip into their buckets.

the kids were able to grasp this bucket concept and had many discussions throughout the week about whether or not they were "filling" or "dipping" into each other's bucket. this discussion can be used at home as a way of bringing awareness to the way we treat others as well as how we want to be treated.

other books we have read this week are:
making friends by fred rogers (aka mister rogers)
how to be a friend: a guide to making friends and keeping them from the creators of dinosaurs to the rescue!

class time fun!

i cannot remember what the kids were working on here but it's a very cute photo nonetheless...

we talked about different flags from around the world, focusing on the american and peruvian flags. the kids studied and compared each flag before coloring their own.

i gave the kids postcards from peru with a peruvian coin attached which the kids had fun studying. i went through some photos from my trip and talked about the different types of animals, food and traditions i saw.

leroy made a short guest appearance at school which was a special surprise for the kids. there was a lot of excitement among everyone (that could be heard throughout the building i'm sure!)...

theo working on our version of an orange and clove pomander...

marlowe working in style (his stella mccartney for gap jacket garnered a lot of attention from the adults!)...

marlowe made this marker tower on his own volition- and even mastered coloring with it!

sonny working on his animal feeder...

fiona using our new class whiteboard to practice her writing skills...

i laminated some alphabet cards so the kids could practice writing their upper and lowercase letters...

outdoor explorations...

coco sleeping on her bed (ie the slide)...

...until the sun rises (ie someone draws the sun).

marlowe working on his stick throwing abilities...

coco working on a her pretend garden...

sonny peeking around the corner...

the gang takes turns hugging a tree...

...and examining the bark on another.

the gang plants tulips!

after discussing what happens to plants in the winter the kids searched for both brown and green outdoor treasures.

worms!

we talked about how animals spend the winter and afterwards made animal feeders (not to be confused with bird feeders!). fiona put hers on a low branch in consideration to animals who "couldn't fly".