A WEB WOVEN FROM KINDNESS

For this group activity we start by explaining we are going to build our own 'blue room spider web'. The children are always interested right from the get go. I grab the spool of blue yarn and let them know that they can only pass on the yarn to someone by calling their name and then they have to give them a compliment (we explain that this is saying something nice about someone). I start off by picking someone that may be having a rough day or I just feel could use the first pick me up. Every year the compliments are different, some years it's all mostly "I like your shirt or shoes" type comments and some years, like this one, the kids are a little more open to exposing themselves and dig a little deeper. It was a wonderful thing to hear them passing the yarn and calling out a friends name and telling them they love them. This definitely needs my help to facilitate, I take the yarn through the middle to the next person receiving both the compliment and the next part of the web, and it usually requires me to constantly reminders children to hold their part of the yarn still and don't pull it or they will break the web. I've had a great amount of luck with this activity every year though. The kids get another tie in to our arachnid theme but more importantly they all see the value in their kindness.

This picture is so not website worthy but hey, it's late. And that's the only one I have. You get what you get and you don't throw a fit :-)

IT'S OCTOBER AND THINGS ARE LOOKING GOOD

This little guy is only 2.5 and can spell three letter phonetic words, can match all the lower case alphabet to upper case, can spell his name, knows all his numbers from 1-100. His behavior was not so great when he first began school, but he has made a drastic change since starting school.  I'm hopeful he is one of our long term returning montessori students. I look forward to the challenge of having such a high flyer through the three year cycle. 

WE LOVE BOOKS IN OUR CLASS !!!! This is our after lunch routine while we wait for the others to finish or until we are able to line up for the playground, 

This Birthday Card lesson is a favorite with teachers and students alike. We set this lesson up each time someone in our class is celebrating their birthday. The kids love making the cards for the special birthday friend and of course the birthday child feels so special going home with 19 handmade cards from their friends.

             
And a FAVORITE practical life lesson 
5 little speckled frogs sitting on a speckled log.  






I CAN FINALLY STOP AND BREATHE 


We had a hard job the beginning of this year, WE were the class everyone talked about. The kids started out completely out of control and they were all feeding off each others negative behavior.I never would have thought that only six weeks into school I would honestly say I feel like we crossed to the other side. We still have our issues and things we are constantly reminding the children of, but I can tell you they are all smart as a whip, hard workers,, they've become so much kinder towards each other, and they are all doing their best to follow the tules and they are developing amazing self control in such a short time.  and they all are doing wonderful. It took a lot out of us in the beginning, but we remained consistent, stood by the ground rules and we also made it a priority to build the children up in the process. We complimented every small achievement we could and we tried our best to show them that we were happy they were there (even when we might not have felt it)Heres to a great year Blue Room!