Here it is! The post you have been waiting so patiently for! Unfortunately my videographer missed the first few seconds of the children's performance but the rest looks good. See? I told you they were cute. And zealous with those bells. There were bells zinging everywhere! Betchya can't watch it just once.
Team Awesome would like to wish you and yours a relaxing winter holiday and a happy and healthy 2014!

Oh. My. Goodness. Were they adorable or were they adorable? If you were in our classroom early this afternoon you saw Team Awesome zipping around setting up, moving tables, arranging chairs and sorting themselves out with very little direction from me. I went to get extra chairs and when I came back they had finished preparations, seated parents, lined themselves up and were waiting quietly at the front ready to go. And it was 2:27. And the performance wasn't supposed to start until 2:45. See where I'm going with this? 15 minutes of waiting before we could begin and they were ready NOW. They handled themselves fairly well and when it came time to put on the show they shone. I have learned that when teaching intermediate grades the students really have to give a good performance but in Kindergarten the cuteness factor supersedes everything else. I will be posting a video of the children's production as soon as possible so those of you who weren't able to make it this afternoon can watch it here and 'Ohhhhh' and 'Ahhhhh'.... and then press play and watch it again because you just can't help yourself, they are so cute.

The children were SO cute today! The first thing we did this morning was count how many sleeps until... you guessed it, our performance. Not until holidays or Christmas but when we get to sing for our families and friends. PJ Day and pizza on Friday were second on our list of things we couldn't wait for. I just love that 'The Big Day' next week is not even on the horizon for them yet. Then Team Awesome wanted to rehearse our songs, but mostly we just wanted to shake the bells because that is so much fun even if it does give Mrs. Bowden a bit of a headache after 15 minutes straight. We have been having trouble remembering some of the trickier parts of the songs so Mr. Bloom's class came in with Mrs. Waterston later in the morning to help us practice then we performed for them. Rehearsal on our own is usually a bit of a gong show with overexcited kids and jangling bells- its a bit like trying to herd 17 cats into a bag. But I was so proud of the show Team Awesome put on for Mr. Bloom's class and I know it will all come together tomorrow afternoon.
We can't wait to host you!

Please join us on Thursday, December 19th from 1:00 – 4:00 pm. See what your children have been up to at school and support your school Parent Advisory Council at the same time at the Winter Open House. We will be having a bake sale, raffle baskets, and selling popcorn, coffee, hot chocolate, juice.
From 1:00- 2:30 the children will be put into a multi- aged group and rotate through 4 centres in classrooms. You are welcome to join them at any time but they will not be dismissed until 2:30. At 2:45 we will be performing for our family and friends for approximately 5 minutes after which you are welcome to wander around the school looking at the displays and activities in classrooms. Come on out and join the FUN!
And just because its Monday...

Enter any kindergarten classroom, and you'll hear the sounds of children freely interacting with one another as their circle of play expands and contracts. While kindergartners are relaxed about making friends, and frequently change friends, their friendships are very important to them. They worry and think about whom they'll play with the next day – and whom they play with can become more important than what they play. Throughout the year, it is not uncommon to notice more and more emphasis placed on friendships and sometimes even the development of cliques that exclude other children.
Team Awesome has spent quite a bit of time recently learning about friendship and how to be a good friend. During interactions with friends, children have the opportunity to practice important socioemotional skills such as cooperation, conflict resolution, emotion regulation, and perspective-taking but none of these things comes easily to a 5 year old who thinks the world is all about them so the skills often have to be modeled and taught.
We role-played and discussed what ‘Being a Good Friend’ looks like/ sounds like/ feels like and focused on sharing and caring. One of the activities we did was to read the book "Chrysanthemum" by Kevin Henkes twice. The first time to discuss the specialness of each of our names. The second time we talked about how words can hurt as much as hands. We started the story with a paper heart and every time the children in the story made fun of Chrysanthemum's name, a Team Awesome member would crumple a part of the heart. When the story was finished and the heart was very squished, we debated what should be done to repair the heart. Someone suggested saying "I'm sorry" so we all took turns and smoothed out a section of the disheveled heart. The children began to realize that even saying "I'm sorry" doesn't fully repair the damage made when mean words are said to one another. Words hurt and we must think before saying them because we can never fully fix the harm they cause.
We also used the "Bucket Filler" series by Carol McCloud. These books encourage positive behaviour as children see how very easy and rewarding it is to express kindness, appreciation and love on a daily basis. A person can be a bucket filler or a bucket dipper. The way to fill a bucket is to be kind to someone. A person can dip into your bucket by being unkind and then you feel sad- but he feels sad too. He not only dipped into your bucket, but emptied his as well.
Throughout the rest of the year, we will return to these lessons repeatedly, with the ultimate goal being sharing, caring, turn-taking, and peaceful ends to squabbles with limited adult intervention.