As we work to establish a caring and safe classroom community, we have been spending a lot of time talking about what it means to be part of bigger group and the importance of treating our classmates the way we would want to be treated, with good intentions and kindness.  For young children a critical first step in treating others with respect is developing an awareness of their own feelings and emotions.   In the first week of school, our guidance counselor Katie Babic introduced the class to the "Zones of Regulation" and we have spent lots of time revisiting this topic in the subsequent weeks.

The Zones of Regulation is a conceptual framework used to teach kids self regulation and self control by categorizing feelings and emotions into four colored zones.  Green is optimum.  People in the green zone might be feeling happy, calm, or focused.  Blue is running slow - perhaps tired, bored, or sick.  Yellow is used to describe a heightened state of alertness and represents caution.  Someone in the yellow zone might be frustrated, overwhelmed, worried, anxious, or excited.  Finally, the red zone is for extreme emotions and feeling out of control.  Some feelings that correspond with this zone are terrified, angry, or completely overwhelmed. 

To practice identifying different zones, we read the books "The Way I Feel" by Janan Cain and "On Monday When It Rained..." by Cheryl Kachenmeister.  Both books describe a range of feelings a person might experience in the course of a day, emphasizing that all people, even adults, cycle through variations emotions every day.  As we read the page of these books we talked about environments where the given emotion would be expected.  For example silly, excited and in the yellow zone is expected on the playground, but not when we are walking quietly in the hall.  We have also spent time talking about strategies for managing emotions and impulses.  Some of these include taking deep breaths, watching a drip toy, going for a walk, getting a drink of water, and talking to an adult.  We have also explored the zones through picture books.  As I read I often ask what zone a particular character is in at a given moment in the story, as well as strategies they might use to manage their feelings.  The Elephant and Piggy books by Mo Willems are particularly good at portraying the wide range of emotions that can be experienced in a short period of time. 

We have also been spending time talking about filling people's buckets after reading the book "Have You Filled a Bucket Today" by Carol McCloud.  This book talks about the rewards of treating other people with kindness.  When you fill someone else's bucket your own bucket fills as well.  We have been working on filling a class bucket by reporting the kind acts of classmates and sticking colorful stars onto our paper bucket.  We will decide on a class celebration once the bucket is full.

On Monday morning our class took a short field trip to the town offices where Jen Peterson, Waitsfield's town clerk, graciously arranged for kindergarteners to vote for the dog tags that will be used in the coming year.  After Jen talked a little bit about the voting process, including the importance of privacy, each child had an opportunity to check in with her, fill out an official ballot, and drop it into the locked box.  Students voted on the shape and color of the dog tags.  Once everyone had cast their votes they were tallied.  After the initial count there was a tie between the star and shield shape so teachers voted as well.  Ask your child what color and shape won (and if they can't remember look for gold shields when the new tags come out!)  A big thank you to Jen for making this experience possible.

After our Morning Meeting each day we move into literacy stations.  This is a time when children work in small groups on specific literacy skills.  Eventually I will meet with groups during this time for guided reading instruction, but for now we have been working on establishing the routine and building independence.  One station that is a constant is reading, either independently or with a partner.  We spent time in the first few days of school exploring different ways to read books, including using pictures to tell a story, which helps establish the notion that we are all readers even if we don't yet decipher words.  Our other stations so far have focused on rhyming, exploring names, and learning letters.  We use a program called Fundations to learn letter recognition, letter sounds, and letter formation.  So far we have learned the letters t, b, f, m, and n.   Each letter has an associated key word which helps students learn the sounds. We practice writing the letters during stations using a variety of writing tools such as dry erase markers and highlighters.  Sometimes we also just use our fingers!  Many of our stations also incorporate tools such as tongs, tweezers, and clothespins to strengthen muscles and work on fine motor skills critical for writing.

Fortunately the rain held off and we were able to go to the forest for our first ECO.  Much of our morning was spent learning ECO routines and getting to know our space.   When the bus let us off at the edge of a driveway, bordering on a large field, one student asked me if I thought it was okay to walk right through someone's driveway.  Fortunately not only do we have permission to do so, but the owner often steps out to welcome us and wish us a good morning!

We make our first stop at the far end of the field where we do a greeting and share something we are thankful for (lots of kids were thankful for their families this morning!).  Then we play an active game in the field to burn off a little energy before heading into the woods.  Today our game was centered around Carrie's drum.  Ask your child what they should do when they hear her beating the drum.

After our game we walk to our space in the woods.  We begin by sitting around our fire circle.  While we eat snack Carrie tells a story before we move into our exploration for the day.  Typically, after a guided exploration students will have forest choice time.  Today we simply gave students time to explore our space while practicing some safety expectations.  Today we learned about the three cares, take care of yourself, take care of each other, and take care of the earth.  All of our expectations can fall under one of those umbrellas.  Some things we focused on today included staying within our boundaries (marked by flags that students made last week), walking, using sticks for building or as tools, and respecting living things by looking at them, but not touching them.   We wrap up each ECO morning by gathering in a circle and saying a silent thank you and goodbye to the forest before we walk back to school.   Ask your child what their favorite part of ECO was!

I hope you have been getting a little bit of an idea about how your children spend their days in kindergarten, but I know at the end of a long day many children are short on details!  After arrival and a short ease in time we begin each day in kindergarten with Morning Meeting.  This starts with a greeting, which has been done by passing an object around the circle and greeting classmates on either side of us. This helps us learn each other's names and provides practice using clear voices and  a friendly tone.  Once this routine is firmly established we will incorporate some more complex greetings. 

After the greeting several students have an opportunity to share.  Right now we are using this time to share artifact bags.  Sharing is a great time for students to practice speaking in front of a group with a loud clear voice, as well as listening thoughtfully to the speaker.  We have been working on asking questions or making relevant comments about artifact bags, without shifting the focus to ourselves.  This is really challenging, but children are starting to get the idea!  We will work on this skill throughout the year.

Sharing is typically followed by an activity such as a song or game, often something that involves movement.  We have been playing a freeze game with a chime to practice being ready to listen when it is time for a direction.  We have also played a game called "A Warm Wind Blows." For this game one student chooses a category and says "A warm wind blows..." and then states the category.  Anyone who fits the category steps into the center of the circle.  This is a quick and simple game, but students really enjoy playing it.  Another game we have played is a movement game called "Walk, Stop, Wiggle, Sit."  Perhaps your child can tell you about that one.

Finally, we read the morning message together.  My message follows a predictable pattern, telling students the day and what specials they will have.   The final sentence is a question that changes each day.   Children answer by recording their names next to their answer.  We often briefly talk about the information revealed by students answers, for example "more kids liked the book Chalk than Rainstorm".  Several children are also invited to circle specific letters or sight words in the message, reinforcing literacy skills we are currently working on.

After Morning Meeting we move into a literacy block that includes hands on, small group stations.  This is followed by snack and our first recess of the day at 9:30.  When we come in from recess at 10:00 we move into math, which also includes stations, followed by choice time.  We go to lunch each day from 11:45- 12:15.  Most days we have writer's workshop after lunch before we go to a special.  After our specials we have Number Corner, a 15 minute skill building component of our math program that revolves around the calendar.  When we have finished number corner we pack our bags, do our jobs, and head outside for our second recess, which brings us to the end of the day. 

This is our general schedule and I try to be very flexible depending on daily circumstances.  However, two things that I will always try to incorporate no matter what are recess and choice time!

We are fortunate to have several monarch caterpillars in our classroom.  We have been carefully observing them as they grow and change, making note of things we notice or wonder about them.  Some of our observations include:

• the caterpillars have black, yellow, and white stripes
• the chrysalises are shiny green with gold dots
• the caterpillars have lots of feet
• they eat milkweed
• they can crawl upside down on the leaves
• they have antennae on the front and back of their bodies
• the antennae on the front are longer than those on the back
• they eat a lot and grow really fast
• when they are ready to become chrysalises they hang in a "j" from the top of the house

We have also spent time talking about how the caterpillars would want to be treated while they are in our classroom, which has led to a broader conversation about how we should treat living things we encounter in nature:  look with your eyes, but please don't touch and use a calm and quiet body while you are observing, expectations that will become especially important when we start going to the forest for ECO.  As one student aptly stated "It would feel like an earthquake to the caterpillars if we were using loud voices around them."   During arrival time on Friday some of us were lucky to see one of the caterpillars transform into a chrysalis, a strangely fascinating process!  In a couple of weeks we should have some butterflies.