We Have Been Learning About Geology In Science!

 Students have been learning about how the earth changes over time.  

We Made Bat Houses!

Tessa, a student from the Big Picture Program at South Burlington High School, taught us about conservation and why it's important to take care of bats.  She then taught us how to make bat houses so we can take action to keep bats healthy and safe.  Ask your child about their experience and all that they learned!  Thank you to Tessa for doing such a great job!

Surrounding Ourselves With Positive Statements!

In addition to doing Power Poses, reminding one another to sit up and stand tall, and to celebrate mistakes, we also surround ourselves with statements that remind us to believe in ourselves!

Students made posters with "I can...", "I am...", and "I believe..." statements as reminders that we can do anything we set our minds to!  Kids also made a "Fake it 'til you BECOME it!" poster to give us the courage we need to do our best and participate, even when things feel really hard.   AND, inspired by a poem Eleanor wrote, kids made a poster about making and celebrating mistakes!

Our classroom is filled with the love and encouragement we need to grow and learn and support one another!

Students brainstormed many positive statements and chose to hang these on our walls as constant reminders:

Kids make posters so that we can be surrounded by positive, encouraging statements:

Fake It 'Til You BECOME It! Tiny Tweaks Can Make BIG CHANGES In Our Lives!

We have been learning that how we hold our body impacts not only how others feel about us, it impacts how we feel about ourselves.  We learned that when we sit up straight and stand tall, we are more confident, and therefore, more successful!  We understand that we don't have to "fake it 'til we make it", we can "fake it 'til we BECOME it"!  We can become the person we want to be!  We learned that small changes in how we hold our bodies can have a huge impact on our lives!

You can watch Amy Cuddy's video to learn more, and support yourself and your child in how to feel and be more confident.  Because it is a long video, I shared her story and research and we watched the shorter video together.  I encourage you to watch her TED Talk to understand how powerful being mindful of our posture can be.  

We do "Power Poses" all year, especially before we take tests or when we feel nervous about a task.  I encourage you to talk to your child about them and to try them out and see how you feel!

Here is the video we watched in class:

Here is her entire TED Talk I encourage you to watch:

We love doing POWER POSES!!!

Morning Movement & 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 take movement breaks everyday, throughout the day.  

We move our bodies in many ways, including with focused movement breaks designed just for us!  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.  We love learning her routines and also just dancing and having fun!

We love how movement breaks make us feel confident and strong and ready to learn!