Starting Our Day With Exercise & Taking Movement Breaks

Why move? As John Ratey discovered, movement brings us joy, gets our blood flowing, strengthens our bodies and brains, and makes us ready and able to learn!  We start our day with movement & take time to move throughout the day.  

In addition to having seating options that allow us to move even as we sit, Alli Bologna, from Hemmett Health, designed exercise routines to get our heart rates up while also working on balance, two things that strengthen our bodies & brains.  Here are some photos of friends starting their day with an Alli Workout!

 

Taking Time For Creative Writing

Today we worked on letting our ideas flow through a creative writing activity.  Students got into groups of three.  Each student wrote a beginning, then passed their story to a friend who wrote the middle, and then passed the story to the final person who wrote the ending.  It was so fun to see how our story ideas evolved and changed from how we first envisioned them.  We also learned, that if you don't follow the given arc of the story, your story won't make sense.  We have been working hard to finish our realistic fiction narratives.  It was nice to take a break from that hard work & just let our ideas flow, have some fun, and really connect as writers! 

In Science, We Are Learning About Structures & Their Functions!

Students looked carefully at the different structures plants have, and wondered how the features of those structures help the plant to survive.

Students then drew diagrams of their chosen plant, drawing like a scientist, noticing and thinking about each detail!

 

For Fabulously Fun Friday We Looked At Intriguing Photos & Wrote From Different Perspectives!

Students chose the photo and the perspective they wanted to write from.  They had so much fun writing and looked forward to hearing how different their friends' stories might be, given the different points of view.

Students then shared their stories and admired each other's creativity & awesome writing!

Practicing Mindfulness & Reflecting On All We Are Grateful For!

Every day we take time to practice mindfulness.  We pause to breathe and relax.  We choose to take care of our bodies and our brains and learn strategies that we can carry with us forever.  

When we practice mindfulness, one thing we like to bring our attention to is all we are grateful for.  Last week, we listened to this song and reflected on people, places, and things we are grateful for.  We then chose one thing to turn our attention to and reflect on.  We then wrote them on hearts to hang in our room to remind us of how lucky we are, what we are grateful for, and to remind us to practice gratitude.