Would you…?

This afternoon, as part of her "self-regulation/social emotional learning unit", Miss C helped the kids understand what it means to move one's emotions from the "yellow zone" (pleasant feelings/high energy) to the "green zone" (pleasant feelings/low energy…more focused and calm) by having us participate in a fun experiment.  Each child was given one marshmallow…you could feel the excitement in the air.  The catch is, that if you could wait 5 minutes without eating it, you could have a second marshmallow.  If you couldn't wait, and ate it before the 5  minutes were up, you would only get the one marshmallow.  Some kids took a bite immediately and turned the marshmallow over so that it looked like it hadn't been nibbled.  Some ate the whole thing immediately.  But, most sat intently for 5 minutes, knowing that their hard work would pay off.  It was so interesting to watch!

a few seconds in, one marshmallow was too tempting to leave

maybe if I put my hands behind my back I'll be less tempted to eat it

maybe I'll just smell it

maybe if I hide it under my paper towel I won't be so tempted!

waiting is really hard!

the timer beeped…some of us waited for the whole 5 minutes

and some raced over to move their name magnets to the yellow zone to show that the energy level was increasing

This afternoon, we started a new art project, we're using crayons on black paper to make lines of different heights and colours.  We're also trying to add some overlapping lines and some that go right off the paper.

If you look at your child's wrists, you may have noticed that this is becoming one of the more popular centers in the class….Rainbow Loom bracelets.  It all started with one student teaching another student how to make the bracelets and now almost everyone in the class knows how to make them.  The sharing and the cooperation and the encouragement that happens while making bracelets is remarkable.

More creative artists.

We had some friends from another class come and join us a centre time.  It's so nice to get to know some of the older kids in the school.  They are now people that we can look for when we're outside playing.

These two worked together to use two building materials together to create something incredible.  They were so proud to show their creation and were eager to have their photo taken so you could all see what they built.  Unfortunately the picture does not do it justice.  It really was something to see!