Poetry in Motion: Finding Inspiration Through Music & Art @resvt #Poetry #Write

We listened to music.  We illustrated what we heard, felt & saw in our imaginations.  Sometimes we closed our eyes to better connect with the music, and just let our art flow from our bodies.

When the music stopped, we walked around and described each other's art using deliciously descriptive words.  Then we used the inspiration from our art, and the words before us, to write poems!  What we ended up with was pure magic!  We loved sharing our art and poems with one another today!

Listening to music & drawing what we hear & feel:

Writing deliciously descriptive words to describe one another's art:

Using the music, our artwork, & eachother's words to help us write our first poems:

Sometimes we do a "Poetry Freeze" to inspire one another or to ask for help!

Sharing our art and poems & celebrating our hard work with our friends:

We Loved Learning New Greetings In Sign Language With Ms. Gia!

Students can use this video on our blog & on my YouTube channel to practice! 

We Finished Our Murals!!!

Students really enjoyed sharing their ideas for our "peaceful place" & "intention" mural.  Students then voted on the ones they felt would be most helpful & calming, and inspire them to "be the change".  It was really hard to choose, as all the  ideas were amazing!  

Once we made our final decisions, students collaborated to make their peers' visions beautiful realities!  Now we have a beautiful and calm place to go when we need it, and a mural that reminds us of the power we hold.  Our "peaceful place" is filled with lots of tools to help us feel happy, focused, centered, confident, and relaxed.  Ask your child which tools they find the most helpful.  And ask your child ways that they can "be the change they wish to see in the world".

Everything Is A Little Extra Fabulous on Fabulously Fun Fridays!!!

 Especially reader's workshop!

Poetry freeze!!!

Math Is About Thinking Deeply, Taking Our Time, Making Mistakes, And Finding Relationships And Patterns! @joboaler @resvt #Math #GrowthMindset

Today we discussed that math IS NOT about memorization and speed, it's about perseverance and believing in ourselves!  Please watch this video that we looked at today, and discuss it with your child.  it will help you understand why our focus in math today is less about memorizing algorithms and more about understanding, seeing patterns, and finding multiple ways to approach a given problem.  In math, and in everything, we celebrate when we make mistakes because it means we're learning!

Talk with your children and remind them that they can do ANYTHING they set their minds to!  ❤

Discovering Computers, Reading Poetry & Growing Our Mathematical Thinking!

We explored the websites linked on my blog today! Kids can utilize them to work on skills at home and at school! 

We have also been reading poem after poem and sharing the ones we love with one another!  We started writing our first poems today and can't wait to share them with you!!!

In math, we have been thinking about numbers & learning how to find all of their factors with factor rainbows & then representing those numbers in the form of arrays!  We were so absorbed in our work that I didn't get photos of the process, but here are their thoughtful posters!