It sounds like everyone had a wonderful vacation whether you went far away or stayed at home. It is always nice to have a break in the usual routine. It is surprising to me as I sit to write to you that we’ve only been back in school for five days. Already we have begun some new projects and are moving forward learning new strategies for becoming more mindful and reflective.

Monitoring Choices and Self-Talk

            This week we reviewed the different parts of the brain – amygdala, hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex – and learned what those parts help us do. We’ve been trying to be more aware of the choices we make and the directions we follow so that we can become more reflective and less reactive. We have been paying attention to our inner voice to see if it is encouraging or discouraging. We are learning about metacognition and have been thinking about our thinking.   We are working to become more aware of how we help ourselves solve problems and deal with difficulty. We’ve also been trying to pay attention to how we cheer ourselves on and keep on going.

Self-talk is an important way for each of us to solve problems and to take responsibility for staying on the positive side of things. In the classroom we have been working to put ourselves in book characters places during different parts of the story. We have discovered that characters change and develop. They do not stay the same.   Nor do we. We do not behave exclusively in a single way. We are learning about temperament and choices. We are trying to remember to stay calm when we are on the edge of upset because it is then that we can identify our different choices and feel better about ourselves and our work.

Artist-Writers’ Workshop

            One time that we are specifically trying to pay attention to our inner voice is during artist-writers’ workshop. We are trying to stay quiet and think about all the things we are wishing to say out loud. Sometimes this talk bubbles out, but mostly the children are thinking about how they are dealing with excitement when the work is going well or even better than expected or frustrations when the work isn’t coming out as expected or hoped.

Reading Comprehension – Focusing on Understanding

            We have been working to know when we are understanding as we read. We have had some great conversations about what is happening in our minds when we understand and comparing it to what is happening in our minds when we are not understanding. We are working to develop strategies for recording our thoughts and questions. We are trying to notice details – and stop and wonder about them because we know that everything an author puts in a book is there for a reason. We are also trying to be aware of times when we distract ourselves and get off track of the main meaning and so lose the point.

The children are keeping track of their understanding as we read The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs by Betty Birney. The children take notes and make sketches as they listen. At the end of each reading, they are asked to think about what they author most wants us to remember or think about. They are forming this into a sentence, then focusing even closer with a phrase and finally zooming in even closer with a word.

We have also been learning to guide our comprehension by understanding through empathy. This comes naturally for some of the children. They describe themselves as understanding when they are able to enter what they are reading to walk along side the characters and experience the story.   For others it is a stretch to take a different perspective and look at things through a different lens. I wonder if your child can tell you how they know they are understanding and how they are working to strengthen their strategies.

Bits and Pieces –

• We completed our practice of all the lower case letters in cursive.   That is exciting!
• We are beginning book clubs. Children are reading Please Write in This Book, The Music of Dolphins, The Midnight Fox or Hatchiko Waits. These clubs will provide another opportunity for the children to monitor their understanding and their mindful choices as they work together.
• We continue to work with place value and developing efficient strategies for solving problems with addition and subtraction.
• We have a challenge with Mr. Caron next week.
• Our new unit of study for science is plants and growth. We are learning about trees and will observe changes as they occur this spring with different trees in our schoolyard. We will also begin planting next week – some of those seeds are part of the school-wide square foot garden project. We will be growing broccoli.