Our choices are connected to the way we feel...

The pictures are of our puppet role plays. The kids liked playing with them after I was done!I will follow Sarah's lead and blog about my week with our kids. I really had a great time and hope they had as much fun as I did! We learned about Rules and Decisions, that there will not always be a law to tell us what to do, so we can choose. Good choices make us happy and bad ones make us sad...

We read about Cheekey the Monkey and Mrs. Duck's new Hat. I put all the stories and flannel board peices in the JoySchool box and gave it to Gina. I learned they were into the puppets and liked the flannel board story for maybe two minutes. : )

Mark was a great listener! I was impressed. Once he had the puppet, he even acted out the scenario I had done about asking mommy before we go to a friends' house. Today, I was touched because he said I was a nice teacher. So cute! He is really sweet and eager to help.

Ches's mind is so quick and is always well-behaved! I have to really try not to call on him first to help ALL the time. I was impressed with his ability to learn the songs. He started to sing with me about the third time I sang it for the kids. He also has an affinity for crafts!

Ethan is always so happy and brightens up the room! He forgives others quickly and is quick to say he's sorry. He's a natural born - leader, the other kids take his lead a lot of the time. He's so excited to try knew things and to learn.

The mats were brilliant, Tiana. The kids love having their own mat. I'm also so grateful for Gina and Sarah for letting me watch them teach and for all the great tips! I would have been at a loss with out them. I like how Gina had the songs playing as the kids enter, which kind of sets the mood and helps the kids learn the songs.

I love the planning tips from Sarah, how she writes where to do the activity on one side of the lesson plan and the materials she needs on the other side. That way you can make sure to move around, from mats to couch to table.

I can feel the kids getting a little restless in my small apartment, but the lesson plans and structure is really great - there's so much to do. Sometimes I just read the story again a half hour later or play a game again if I have extra time.

My favorite is what Gina said, "If you not having fun, take a break!" It's true, if the teacher isn't having fun, the kids won't enjoy it either! Thank you for having such great kids and I also look forward to my next turn!

We never hit, or kick, or push... right?

For those of you that haven't broken out your Joyschool CD's yet, you may not be quite as familiar with this phrase. Ethan has been singing it all week at home. Taylor started to correct Ethan the other day for pushing someone and Ethan turned to him and said "we never hit, or kick, or push, right?" Maybe someday he'll really internalize the message, but for now it's cute how matter-of-fact he says it.
Anyway, this week's lessons were all about rules- at school and elsewhere. We read a book called "How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food". It's all about dinosaurs doing silly things at the table and then doing the right thing like saying please and thank you. The kids loved it so you might want to look for it at the library. It's by Jane Yolen.
We also played a game called "Musical Spots"- basically musical chairs with dots on the floor. The kids loved it- especially since we didn't take any spots away so everyone got to stay in and dance around the circles for the whole time. Maybe play it again with them if you have a few extra minutes the next time you teach.
All the kids were wonderful. Elise smiles the entire time and is so determined when doing crafts. Ches was a sweetheart- so calm and kind, never needing a time out. He was cute trying to figure out the scissors, finally he just gave up on one hand and used two which I thought was pretty clever. Mark was wonderful too- so quiet but also excited to try every new activity. He sure does love trains! We had a great time together and I can't wait for my next turn!
The picture is of them silent reading at the end of the day. They seem to run out of energy (to focus) by about 11:30 so I let them pick out their own books and read by themselves. It seems to help them unwind and stay calm. They sure are great kids!

First Day of School

This is a message from Gina: "Well, today was finally the first official day of Joyschool! It went great. The kids were well behaved and participative. We had a fun time. We are really fortunate to have such a great group. The only thing is that I forgot to send them home with their sharing items. I knew I was forgetting something! I will bring them to Sarah's house tomorrow. Ethan was bright eyed and attentive, Elise was sweet and thoughtful, and Ches was quiet and focused. By the way, those eyebrows of Ches's are too much, way too cute, they kept making me laugh! Here's to a great group of kids and moms as we plunge forward with our semester!!"

Despite the many challenges, such as Gina getting a sinus infection and having to go on antibiotics, the power outage at The Fields of Bethesda, the icey roads, and figuring out car situations, the first day of school was awesome! Thanks Gina for pressing forward - you are great! And thanks Tiana for watching Elijah for an hour because I thought it ended at 11:30!

I'm so grateful that Gina let me hang around the first day... The kids really soaked everything up and were really good listeners for the most part. They loved having their own mat, the welcome song, "Joy Boy", storytime, helping with the charts, and sharing someting special about themeselves. What a great group of kids! It's going to be a fun and exciting year!

School starts tomorrow!

Don't forget, school starts tomorrow at 9:30am at Gina's house. Make sure you tot brings something to share. I can't wait to hear how it goes. Jackie, since you are going to be there observing, maybe you could snap a few shots, as long as Gina doesn't mind.

Schedule

Here it is ladies. I am looking for away to have a link for it on the side, but until now...

Also, if there are any changes or notes you want to add, just leave a comment and I will do it.

<

Welcome to Joy School

Hello all and welcome to Joy School! I am so excited to get started with this, I think our kids will really enjoy it.

We will use this blog to post schedules, comments, updates, reminders, pictures, and anything else relating to Joy School. My hope is that it will be used in such a way that we can check it often to remind ourselves of upcoming events, or see what has happened that week at school, etc. I will make you all authors so we can all post, I just need the email address you want to use to do so.

Looking forward to this! Don't forget our next meeting, this Thursday Feb 7, 2008 at 10am at my house. Does that work? See you all then! Don't forget to bring fabric for sit-upons and all your materials to put in the box, including a craft shirt for your child to wear during craft projects (right Gina?)