First Week of Dancing Classrooms

This week we started our Dancing Classrooms program. We are learning to dance during our recess time for two days a week. I really think you students are enjoying yourselves, whether you want to admit it or not.

So far, we have learned

• Red Light Green Light steps (as part of the Merengue dance)
• Escort Position
• Proper hand positions for dancing with a partner

I was so impressed after Thursday's class when our instructor said our class had learned the steps faster than any class she had taught in a while! Despite some silly behavior (which I think was because some of you were nervous), you ARE learning to dance!!  I also enjoyed that we got to learn some line dance steps at the end of the class on Thursday....especially when the song used was a #1 hit back when I was young. Brought back some memories for me.

How do you feel after the first week of dance is over?

We are going to be a DANCING CLASSROOM!

Yesterday, we had two ladies from the Dancing Classrooms program come and talk to us about the new program we will be starting next week. We are going to participate in a 10 week dance program, where we will learn different types of dances. We may learn line dances or partner dances. We will be using our classroom and dancing twice a week during our recess time.

I would love to hear your thoughts about this program.

Are you excited?   Nervous?  Scared?  

Write a comment telling me how you feel about this program.  Later when the class is over, we will ask this question again to see how your first opinion changed!

Teacher Read-Aloud Time

Over the past few months, I've been reading out loud to our class. I have been reading books from "The Series of Unfortunate Events" by the author Lemony Snicket.  So far we have read the first 3 books.

In the first book, The Bad Beginning, we met our 3 main characters who became orphans after their parents died. They were sent to live with a so-called relative they had never met and many terrible things happened to them.

In the second book, The Reptile Room, the 3 children were sent to live with a distant uncle and the terrible things followed them there.

In the third book, which we just finished this week, The Wide Window, the children were sent to live with an aunt who was scared of EVERYTHING...and again, terrible things happened.

Now we are getting ready to start the fourth book, called The Miserable Mill. 

What do you think might happen in this book? Do you think our evil villain will show up again? Will things get better for the orphans?  Share your thoughts with me!

Super Kids Class #3

Today Officer Costner talked to our class about drugs. We had to tell him the different ones we knew and we had a discussion about the legal age to use these drugs. I think some of our classmates were surprised to learn that some drugs are actually illegal, meaning no one is allowed to use them. Other drugs, like tobacco and alcohol, while still bad for us, can be bought by adults at different ages.

Then we watched a video that told many facts about drugs and how they harm our bodies.

Share with me one or two facts about drugs that you had not known before.

Super Kids Class #2

Today Officer Costner talked to us about how we deal with conflict.  A conflict is any sort of problem or disagreement you might have with another person.  We can choose to deal with this conflict in a positive way or a negative way.  The decisions we make could also have consequences, especially if we choose the negative way to deal with problems.

Tell me about what you learned from Officer Costner about dealing with conflict.  Is this different than how you usually handle problems?  Are you changing how you think about or how you handle problems?

Super Kids Class #1

Today we started our Super Kids class with Police Officer Costner.  He comes every year to teach the Kindergarten, 2nd Grade and 5th Grade students at our school.

Today he talked about Self Esteem. He said Self Esteem is the way we feel about ourselves.  Having good self-esteem is very important, but we also have to be watchful. The things we say or do to others can bring down their self esteem.

What did you learn from Officer Costner about having good self-esteem?