Engaging in Our Workshops

Greetings Everyone!

This has been another fantastic week at Beeman. Students are excited and talking about their workshops throughout the week, so COOL to hear! I have been struck again and again with how much the students are enjoying their time in ELP and, because of that enjoyment, they are learning a lot too! It sincerely warms my heart to see and hear students so excited to spend time as an after school group, whether it is chatting during snack, playing at the recess, or listening to their instructors lead a story, I see engagement. It is a great reminder that we are good at what we love and we love what we are good at. Beeman is an extra fun place to be these days.

Spotlight on Mindfulness workshop at Bristol ELP

Great things are happening in the Mindfulness workshop in Bristol Elementary!  

Masanori Kayoi introduces ways for calming the body and mind in a fun, engaging atmosphere. The children practice various breathing techniques, movement, and creative play. Upon entering the Mindfulness classroom I was instantly at ease due to the experience of aromatherapy Masa set up for the students.

Samples of coffee, lavender, cinnamon, ginger and lemon. The kids were asked to sniff them all and decide what made them feel good!

To help the children settle Masa handed out "glitter jars" to shake.  As the glitter settled so do the students. This was such a beautiful and peaceful thing to watch. Students went from up and excited to laying on their bellies calmly watching the glitter settle. Try this at home!!!!

Paper helicopters!! A great thing to try at home, the students made their own paper helicopter. Throw it up in the air and watch it slowly twist and settle down to the earth. Another great way to focus attention and move the body!

At the end of class the children picked a "breathing buddy" and chose a place on the floor to lay comfortably and safely, They placed the stuffed animal on their bellies to watch rise and fall with their breath. The room was quiet, Masa's voice was soft and the children were reminded that this feeling was always accessible.

 Learning these tools to obtain relaxation helps students become better prepared to handle stressful situations and gives them confidence in themselves. This is such a valuable class, thank you Masa!!

Session 2: Off to a Great Start!

Session Two for Beeman has begun! We are hosting a card club run by Mr. Flood and a “Travel to Africa” club hosted by Stowe Miller. We are feeling so blessed to have two amazing teachers and two AWESOME workshops again at Beeman.

This week students acclimated to their new groups, some students joined us from session one and some students are new to the crew, we are so excited to have so many people interested! In this first week students in the card club set expectations for how to deal with both winning and losing a game. Following this they learned a great new game called “Snap” and played as a whole group. It was great to see students developing strategy and noticing patterns in the game.

In “Travel to Africa” students read an African story, worked on some basic African language and made Zulu masks. Students kept track of new language in personal journals and colored in African designs. Students enjoyed examining the African flag and learning about a new culture!

ASP at LCS

Hello, hello!

The After School Program has been underway since the first day of school and each day has flown by! It is amazing to think that Thanksgiving break is right around the corner!




Every afternoon at ASP is a little bit different and a little bit the same. We welcome kiddos into the Multipurpose Room right after school at 3:00 and remain open until 5:30. ASP allows working parents the opportunity to keep their children on site and not have to find alternative childcare. ASP also allows students to join just for the fun of it all! It's always great when kids show up "just because."

Students are served snack at 3:10 and again at 4:30. We are fortunate enough that we usually get leftovers from lunch which are always homemade by our wonderful school chef, Lea! Students are able to socialize during snack while keep the energy in the MP room medium to low.

Once snack is finished we head right outside. The weather afforded to us at the end of Summer and through Fall has been spectacular. Up until the beginning of this month we spent all afternoon until 5:30 outside. Kids were able to bring coloring materials and Legos outside if they chose. Others chose to play marathon long soccer and basketball games.

The greatest part of ASP is the imaginative play and organic interactions that are able to take place in this setting. K-6 grade students participate daily in ASP. It is wonderful to see the connections that can and are made across grade levels. Lincoln is a special school to be a part of and a true community!

So Long Session 1!

It's been an amazing six weeks with our Session 1 Leaders!  Projects have ranged from Eric Carle paintings to chess tournaments to cinnamon buns.  I am so proud of all the kids and leaders who showed up everyday ready to learn and teach.  I would also like to give a shout out to Doreen and Shonda in the kitchen.  They have made ELP into a stronger program by helping provide nutritious and delicious meals each day.  Thanks ladies!

So here are the top shots from this past week:

Ready....Aim....FIRE!  Marshmallow catapults made in Crazy 8's Math Club

The concentration must not be broken!

Five musicians play together for a gathering of parents. 

Winding down the Painting workshop with a sunset sharing session.

The second session of ELP starts tomorrow (wahoooooooo!).

Session One Winds Down at Beeman

This week we are winding down our first ELP session of the year at Beeman. It has been a great feeling to observe these workshops and watch their evolvement over the past five weeks. Both groups have gained new skills and a renewed confidence in their ability to do something new. I can truly say that each student has enjoyed their time at ELP and that they have learned or honed skills that they will carry with them beyond the workshops. That in and of itself has been great to see.

Students will celebrate together with a culminating celebration on Thursday in honor of their time together. The Spanish students spent today making a piñata and papel picado (stencil cutout banners) to decorate for our fiesta. The K-3 Spanish group has invited the 4-6 Chess and Scrabble club to come downstairs and share with us their learning and participate in our celebration. The K-3 group is especially looking forward to showing the 4-6 crew how to have a dance party to Spanish music.

As session one comes to a close we at Beeman are very grateful to have had such wonderful instructors, Andy Flood and Emily Irwin, for our first session. They have both truly enriched the experiences of students at Beeman Elementary and we look forward to hopefully having both of them again. In the meantime we are gearing up for session two that will begin next week! Stay tuned for more great things from the students of New Haven

Mask Making and Halloween Hooligans at Robinson

Don't know who is spookiest in this photo...

It's been an amazing two weeks leading up to last week's Halloween festivities.  Your kids, and our workshop leaders,  certainly got into the spooky spirit.  Projects ranged from mask making in African styles with Stowe Miller to delightful orange and black handmade ornaments with Becky Rose.

Crafting to the MAX!

The kids have really fallen into a good routine with our leaders but we are looking forward to welcoming a couple of new leaders to our team for the second Session starting next week.  There are still spots open in Matthew Witten's Stem to Stern workshop.  He'll be diving into the history and science of Lake Champlain with a couple of volunteers from the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum.


We also have Andrea Tremols back for another session and a new workshop focusing on Spanish and theater.  She will keep things light and fun as she keeps her students expressing their creativity through Spanish speaking cultures.  So stay tuned for more from ELP and expect an email or phone call this week letting you know which workshops you kids is enrolled in for Session 2.

Moving toward check mate?

Beeman Week 4

Greetings!

We are off to a great start this week! Spanish students have been learning some new songs and have moved on to speaking in partial phrases. Today we talked about being at the beach, it is a distant memory for most of us at this point! I was really excited to hear many students come in today and share “I can count to ten and more in Spanish”. It is so awesome to see students so excited about learning something new AND taking the initiative to apply it beyond their time here in expanded learning, awesome!

Visiting the chess and scrabble club today I was very excited to see many serious faces that were absolutely focused on their game. Students are truly versed in the rules and strategies of the game now and when you walk in they hardly notice that you are there! It was really neat to see students studying each other and trying to plan or predict their partner’s next move.These students families will have a true expert in the house with a good way to pass the cold winter days ahead.