A look back at the Read and Romp book "I Am a Tiger" and the dance that accompanied it.

Since the weather has been pretty dreary this week, I thought I would send you something familiar.  One of our stations at Read and Romp Day was the book "I Am a Tiger."  The activity for this book was a dance to Katy Perry's song "Roar," led by Mrs. Ruffin.  When she and I first choreographed this dance, we videoed it to remind us of the actions.  I am sending you a link to that "practice" video.  When you see me walking with my arms extended, it means that we were holding hands in a big circle.  The dance starts in place, moves to a circle, travels in and out of the circle, and finishes with a big "ROAR."  Children can do it with family members or simply try it by themselves in place.  You will need to turn up the volume.

I've also attached the link to our early childhood librarian reading the book.  Thank you, Mrs. Mould.

Click here to do the "ROAR" dance with Mrs. Wagner.

Click here to listen to Mrs. Mould read "I Am a Tiger."


 KEEP PRACTICING THE DANCES FOR THE ZOOM BEACH PARTY WITH YOUR CLASS NEXT WEEK.  

SCROLL BACK TO LAST SUNDAY'S POST FOR THE LINKS OR LOOK FOR THE FUN FRIDAY INFORMATION COMING TOMORROW FROM MRS. O'HEARN.

"Spartans in Action" pictures will be posted on Friday.  If you want to share pictures or short videos, please send them today.

A Brain Break Activity and Reminder to Practice the Beach Party Dances.

A brain break is described as " A short mental break that is taken during regular intervals of classroom instruction."  These are breaks that you do with children when you can see that they need a change from whatever you are doing.  Brain breaks get children moving and increase blood flow to the brain, thereby refreshing children and helping them refocus on the original task.  I mentioned this in my very first distance learning message when I mentioned my son taking piano lessons from my mother and how she made him run around the outside of the house when he got "antsy" on the piano bench.  When he came back in, he was ready to work.  Mom was ahead of her time.  She already understood brain breaks!!

Below is a brain break activity from the Alliance for a Healthier Generation.  It might take some assistance from a parent, but your child(ren) will be busy with this activity and a rainy day is a perfect day to give this brain break a try.  Do each designated exercise only after the chair touches are completed and the child has returned to the starting location.

NOTE - Grapevine and writing the name with the left foot may be a bit challenging for our age children, so feel free to change those skills to something like CRAWL and touch 5 chairs, and jog in place 3 times and try to touch your heel to your bottom.

If you have time, send me a picture of this brain break.

IMPORTANT: I hope you're practicing the four dances we will do via Zoom for the Early Childhood end of year beach party.  

Scroll down to last Sunday's post to view links for the 4 videos.

Practice the dances for the end of school year ZOOM beach party.

May 18 and 19, classes will meet with Mrs. Mould and me, via ZOOM, for the last time.  In trying to keep with our traditional Early Childhood end of school year "Beach Party" theme, Mrs. Mould will read a special book and I will do four dances with the children.  Most of these dances are ones normally learned at the end of each school year.   During the Zoom dances, I will be the only one talking and will lead the children through the Twist, Swim, and Hukilau, ending with the Spartan Spirit Dance to "Be True to Your School."  I am attaching links to each of the dances so the children can practice a few times before the ZOOM beach party.  I look forward to meeting with all the classes at their scheduled times.  

I would love it if students would dress up in beach wear (hats, sunglasses, swimsuits, flowered prints, Hawaiian leis, brightly colored shirt/shorts, flowers in hair, grass skirts, etc.) to add to this festive event.

In addition, I would enjoy seeing pictures or short 30 second videos of your child(ren) dancing, so feel free to email them to my school address or text them to my number in the school directory. I will add them to my very last Friday "Spartans in Action" post on this blog.

Click here to view the TWIST dance we will do at our beach party.

Click here to view the SWIM dance we will do at our beach party.

Click here to view the HUKILAU dance we will do at our beach party.

Click here to view the Spartan Spirit Dance to "Be True to Your School."

Mom's Day Cheer

Several years ago we had an Early Childhood Mom's Day pep rally that was very fun.  The mothers were our "team" and the children cheered for them.  Below is one of the cheers we did.  Try it a couple of times and see if your child can follow along.   It's short and sweet.

All of us in the WCS Early Childhood division hope you enjoyed the "Hands Down, You're The Best Mom" gift bag that was delivered to your door this week.  Although we missed our special day with you, we hope you enjoy Mother's Day with your family.

Be sure to check out the "Spartans in Action" post below that shows students participating in activities this week.  Thank you for sending me pictures and videos.  I appreciate it and enjoy viewing them.

#7 - Spartans in Action

Lots of physical activity happened over the last week, including the "Family Fun Field Day - One Minute Challenges" and Cinco de Mayo activities.  It was great to see so many "Spartans in Action."  Keep moving and send me pictures and short videos for next Friday's post.

Students in this family tried some Family Fun Field Day-One Minute Challenges 

like Backboard Bank It, Sponge Relay, and Water Bottle Flip.

Afterwards they enjoyed cold treats.

It was nice to see even Lower and Middle School students participating.

These sisters had fun flying kites on a windy day.

This child made a bicycle obstacle course.


Mrs.Wagner enjoyed chips and a taco on Cinco de Mayo.

This brother and sister got a second chance at the Mexican Hat Dance.
A sun hat with a maraca served as their sombrero.  Very creative!

Mrs. Johnson encourages her students to try the Macarena.


This family showed off their colorful confetti filled eggs before they were all broken.

This brother and sister had a good time cracking cascarones outside.

Click this link to see photos of one student's Cascarone sequence from start to finish. Great job!!

This group of short videos shows that cracking the confetti filled eggs was a family affair.
Here's mother and son.

Father and daughter.

Sister and brother.

Sisters.

Brother and sister.

This child waits with great anticipation for the confetti to cover his head.

This student is prepared to crack the cascarone over his own head.

Wow, what a busy and fun week.  Nice job!

Unicef Kid Power Up Videos

UNICEF was first founded in 1946 as the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund.  The name has since been shortened to United Nation's Children's Fund.  Their mission is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly and states that they "advocate for the protection of children's rights to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunity to reach their full potential.  They work with others to help remove obstacles like poverty, violence, and discrimination that stand in the way of a child's success.

Unicef has created a fun web site that offers all kinds of dance and yoga videos for children.  All of the videos are free for viewing and their selection has increased in response to the stay at home order.  UNICEF does have a program that if you sign up and watch 30 of their videos, a food packet called a RUTF (Ready-to-use therapeutic food) is earned and these are sent to severely malnourished children around the world.  Each time your child watches a "Kid Power Up" video, a little piece of a pie is filled in to show children how close they are getting to completing 10 videos.  When this is completed 3 times, children will be notified that they have been successful in sending a RUTF.

Click here for more info on the RUTF program.

Enjoy the two videos below from UNICEF Kids Power Up.  

If you like them, you can always return to their web page to view more.  

Click here to watch the UNICEF Kid Power Up "Happiness" dance video.

Click here to do the UNICEF Kid Power Up Yoga video.

Happy Cinco de Mayo. Celebrate with family fun.

Happy Cinco de Mayo.  

Please scroll down to yesterday's first post (there are two) for ideas for activities for this special day.  Have fun and send pictures or short 30 second videos.