We've been talking about different groups of letters. As we talk about each letter, we sing a song that reinforces the sound that letter makes and talk about the way to print that letter. We also look at how to create syllables or words with that letter (ta, te, tu, ton). First we looked at the vowels (a, e, i, o, u). We then worked on the letters with a downward motion (l, t, i, j, f). We will now be talking about the letters that have "boing" motion (down and back up like a ball bouncing: r, n, m, h, b, p).
Zones of Regulation:
We're continuing to talk about the "Zones of Regulations". The 4 zones help us identify how we're feeling and what strategies they can use to get back into the "Green zone". We talk about how it's normal to feel angry or sad, but that we need to learn what to do with our emotions. With their learning buddies, the students are identifying what causes them to have certain feelings and what strategies work for them.
Here are some strategies we've been discussing:
- Taking 5 deep breaths by holding up one hand, and tracing up and down around each finger
- Slowing down our breathing by drawing a square in the air (inhale as we draw the "upward line", holding our breath while we go "across", exhale on the "down" and hold again as we draw the last side of the square.
- Thinking about the size of the problem. Does it feel like a big problem but it's actually a small problem?
- Walking away or going to a quiet space to calm down.