The first few weeks of school can be hard but here at Park 1PM we know the way to begin the school year is by building relationships with the children. We started the year off by reading about the Kissing Hand. A story about a little racoon who is nervous to come to school so his mom kisses his hand and then has him place the kiss on the cheek to remind him that she is always with him during the day. After reading the story the students of Park 1PM practiced their own kissing hand to give to their grown ups when leaving them at the start of class.
However, as the month has gone on and we have had to adjust to poor air quality the Teachers knew we had to think of fun ways to engage the children in learning while staying inside longer. Catch came to the rescue! We brought out our parachute and started off slow with just using one bean bag. As we practiced our team work and listening skills we were able to get up to 6 bean bags in our parachute.
However, with fun also comes safety and so began our emergency drills. This month the students practiced a fire drill and an earthquake drill. We discussed why the drills are important, the feelings associated with the emergency drills and how we can do these drills. We also started learning about self-regulation and so each day the class of Park 1PM takes 1-3 minutes to lay down at the start of their circle and relax while practicing taking deep breaths. In order to learn, we need to be able to focus, so by calming our bodies we became more aware of our surroundings and are able to follow our class rules the students decided on themselves.
While fun and learning are important we have repeatedly heard how much our students are enjoying taking their adventure bites! Students have tried many new foods this month from chicken soup, to kiwis. They tried 2 different types of apples, spinach and sweet potatoes fries. Not every food is liked by every student by the children learn that they can touch their food, they can explore it, they can try it or they can tell the food no thanks I won’t try you today. Taking adventure bites have become a fun part of the meal ritual in the Park 1 PM classroom and now even the students will ask each other have you tried your carrots or can anyone feel how soft the potatoes are? The children are in control of how much they eat, and even if they don’t eat at least they are offered delicious foods should they decide to try an adventure bite!
Here at Park 1PM we are so excited to see what else the rest of the school year holds for the Gentle Grasshoppers!
Head Teacher Nikki and Teacher Rex
