Mrs. Cohen came back to visit us this week and again brought along a book (yay!) and a smart strategy for our toolboxes. 🙂

The book was Personal Space Camp and was a very timely story for many friends in Rm. 111.  If you haven’t read it, it’s about a boy named Lewis who has a hard time understanding that Personal Space Camp is NOT about outer space but how your body moves in your own space and how to make sure that you give people bubbles around them instead of getting IN their space.  (Wow–that was a weird sentence and you probably could’ve figured out the plot without my telling you, but hey…)

We took some time to experience what that book meant with the help of a hula hoop.  She used our very own Louie to demonstrate how much room around your body you should have when you are sitting down.

Then she demonstrated what that hoop (his space) looked like when he stood up.  All of a sudden it was much bigger and so they tried to see how many more kiddos they could squeeze into it.  Man…

They all agreed that it was NOT better when they were all in there together, and that they were squished and uncomfortable.  And after that last picture I’m pretty sure they fell over. 🙂

So they tried that original personal space again and Louie, at least, agreed that that was the way it should be.  We talked about how respecting everyone’s personal space is an important part of working together in a classroom, as well as a crucial step in keeping us all safe and happy.

After this, Mrs. Cohen taught us about shrug-it-off breathing.  It’s similar to the two techniques she had already taught us, and really just involves pulling up your shoulders close to your ears while you inhale and then exhaling slowly and pressing your shoulders down as far as they can go (sorry–I didn’t get a video for this one!).  We tried it and just like the other ones, it helped us feel calmer and more relaxed.  We will be applying these very soon, I’m sure!

Oh, and here’s just a quick sneak peek of something we did the other day.  Remember the toolboxes that I mentioned Mrs. Cohen always talked about?  I had kids draw them and explain what they looked like in Seesaw.  And I feel like I must tell you that we had to have a little discussion before hand about how they are imaginary toolboxes.  Many friends were adamant that they didn’t have one. 🙂    I am only sharing a couple that came up first in the feed, but don’t worry–the rest are equally AWESOME!  (If you’re connected to your child’s Seesaw learning journal, you’ll be able to see theirs if it’s not here. 🙂 ).

P.S. I love Seesaw.  🙂