Mindfulness In Kindergarten

Hi Kinder Families!

This summer I took a Mindfulness course (a topic close to my heart!) and I thought that with the stress of the holidays over but still present in that knot in your back, and New Years resolutions right around the corner, now would be a great time to share a little information for you and your child about Mindfulness!

What is it?
Activities that focus on concentration and awareness. Teaching students to pay attention to the current moment. 

Benefits:
Strengthens concentration and attention. 
Reduces Anxiety.
Enhances social and emotional learning. 
Teaches about emotion, self-awareness and student thought. 
Improves sleep patterns.

Ideas to try at home:
Belly Breathing: Deep breathing used to help calm down when sad, angry, stressed, afraid or worried. Have your child take a deep breath into their belly, tell them to fill it up like a balloon and then blow all the air out like they are blowing out 100 birthday candles. Repeat until they feel calm. 

• Sesame Street Video

Brain Breaks:  Quick, movement activity used to focus your physical or mental state. Used to activate, energize, and stimulate the brain. 

• List of Youtube Channels for Kids Brain Breaks

Mindful Walks: Grounding and steadying mindfulness activity, allows children to tune into their own body and mind. The repetitive movement is soothing for many. 

• Walk through instructions for mindful walks with kids

Resources for you:

Mindful Parent Happy Child

Teaching Children Meditation 




As always please let me know if you have any questions!
Mrs. Kitson

Gingerbread Houses

A HUGE thank you to the Peterson Family for making this project happen!!!

Reading Celebration

We had a great time showing off our reading powers at our reading celebration. A BIG thank you to all the guest that attended and all the families that provided treats!

Hour of Code

The Deforest School District has been celebrating Computer Science Week with coding fun!

Our classroom used the application Kodable to get introduced to the world of code. (the kids loved it!!!)

If you are interested in doing some coding with your child at home here are some resources!
Technology Tip # 2: Educational is also FUN

Code Studio Website

Made with Code Website

List of Apps

TOY DRIVE

December Happenings

This week we are finishing up our Write Like A Scientist Unit. 

Throughout this unit we focused on looking closely at details and using all we know to write. We also made sure we were planning first, making labels and putting spaces between our words!

We are also wrapping up our Super Powers reading unit. During this unit we learned that

We Are Super Readers

We have pointer power

We have rereading power

We have partner power

We have picture power

We have snap word power

We have sound power

We have persistence power

We have punctuation power

We have book talk power

Students have been working hard at reading just right books and putting all their powers to use!