Happy Sunday

Happy Sunday everyone. I am sorry that I didn't get a blog post up sooner. I got sick this weekend and spent most of my time off in bed. Thanks for being patient with me. I am back to normal today. We had a wonderful end of the week with Grandparent's Day, a justice circle and book clubs. It was so much fun to meet members of everyone's extended families. Students could choose from four different stations to do with their families--snowflake magnets, snowflake ornaments, snowman ornaments (that unfortunately wouldn't stay glued!!) and an interview between students and their families. I was able to get some pictures of every student and their family member who was there. I will post these pictures once I get finished with this post. We will also be using these pictures with the interview sheets to turn them into nice gifts for our families.

We had a great justice circle on Friday morning. The time we spend together in our justice circles are my favorite times to spend with the students. For one hour, we sit on the floor in a circle as equals, as friends and as human beings. We suspend judgment, listen to each other intently and speak from our hearts. This week's topic was on personal choice. I read two poems to the students about the power of choice--as human beings we have the ability to make thousands of choices each day--and each choice we make has an impact on ourselves and those around us. Students shared stories of times when they knowingly made a choice they were not proud of. Together we compiled a great list of why we make the choices we do. Students came up with: getting revenge, giving in to peer pressure, for personal enjoyment/gain, because it is just the right thing to do, because we experienced it before, giving in to emotion, automatic response, etc. We talked about each reason and the positive and negative aspects of each. This circle time is always so poignant. Because everyone knows each other so well it has been good for the kids to see other "layers" of each other that we might not ordinarily come to know. I know we all look forward to this time each week.

Our book clubs started on Thursday. All students should have brought home their Jerry Spinelli book. In book clubs, we spent the hour "getting to know" Jerry Spinelli. We learned about where he gets his ideas, why he writes the type of stories that he does, and what messages he has for young readers and writers across America. Ideas for book projects will come home this week, as well as daily activities to complete while reading the book.

I can't believe we only have three days of school this week. I hope that you will all enjoy a happy, peaceful and healthy holiday with your families and friends. This time of year always brings about a little touch of magic and joy. I hope you are able to feel warmth and peace. Enjoy your Sunday night. See you bright and early tomorrow morning.