Busy, Happy Hedgehogs

I feel like I should consider renaming our blog, "Busy, Happy Hedgehogs."  Usually, I do not like to glorify the concept of "busy," but the sheer quantity of all that we do in just one day was brought to my attention this week as I was explaining to a parent what one of our students missed when he was absent.  I thought to myself, "Wowzers."  Then I took a deep breath.

Breathing is important in our classroom.  Breathing and smiling.  This helps us be mindful and keep our efforts in the moment.  What if it's a fake smile?  Research has shown even fake smiles work.  (Read more here.)  It sounds simple, but it's not that easy.  One way to help us remember is using an app that I set on my phone that rings a bell at random to signal us to pause, smile, and breathe.  Taking several mini-breaks throughout the day as we go about the important business of our learning is so helpful!  All the work we do flows naturally in a way that doesn't overwhelm us when we take time to pause, smile, and breathe.  Try it out and see how it makes you feel.  

So what have we been up to?  Here are a few highlights from this week.

In social studies, we have begun learning about characteristics of civilization and comparing the Native American civilizations with European civilizations.  Believe it or not, the class has even excavated a sunken ship!  After diving for artifacts, students researched and took notes to begin learning about European explorers and why they might be motivated to take these voyages.

Another highlight from our week is celebrating Hercules's first birthday this morning.  How sweet it was to allow him to enjoy a birthday treat of a mealworm.  Although Hercules was willing to share his birthday treat with the class, I brought gummy worms for them instead.  What a special celebration!

A final dose of happy for your Friday is that our class met with our second grade reading buddies this morning.  It was a joy to see our class serve as reading mentors to these second grade friends.  We will continue meetings similar to this throughout the school year.

You might notice some guest blogs popping up on our classroom blog.  That is because the students have been writing stories and are all now contributors to our classroom blog.  Please read, enjoy, and support our writers by reading our blog!  This is a fantastic way for us to have an authentic audience for our writing as we grow throughout the school year.

Looking ahead...

Monday, 9/7 - No school in honor of Labor Day.

Next week (all four days) we will learn about typing with the correct hand position and fingerings using the program TTL4.  I will send home a letter with instructions for you to be able to download this program and use it at home for practice.  Typing correctly increases our efficiency in writing and using computers at school.  We will have another week of practice at school when we return from winter break, but please encourage your child to practice correct hand position and fingering as well as periodically on the TTL4 program.  As I like to say, "Practice makes progress."

Tuesday, 9/15 - First day of Captain's Chorus.  Be on the lookout for info from Mr. Mayer.

Friday, 9/18 - Early release day.

Thursday, 9/24 - Picture Day. (There will be a make-up on 10/30 if your child is absent for some reason.)