10/1/19

Today's lesson was about stress.  We talked about different animals on the farm and their vastly different ways of dealing with problems.  The guineas scream and run around and fight.  The donkey brays and kicks, and occasionally she will take her anger out on the goats by chasing and biting.  The goats didn't do anything to her... she just get mad and takes it out on others!  The class talked about unhealthy ways that people deal with stress, as well.  Then, we talked about some healthy ways to deal with anxiety.  I was so impressed with the examples that the kids came up with!  Breathing slowly, finding a calm spot to think, talking it out... they knew what to do!  I wish Delilah the donkey would try those things!

The students read their writing assignments, which turned out great!  Last week, we trimmed the goat's hooves.  At home, the kids wrote about the experience from the goat's point of view.  I hope to make a big deal out of their accomplishments with writing, and to give enough positive support to keep their imaginations flowing!

I read the book "Angora Kidd" to the class.  This book is about an angora goat who does NOT want to be sheared!  He runs away from home, has quite an adventure, and decided that his family was right after all... he needed to be sheared!  In the end, shearing wasn't so bad, after all.  This story went perfectly with our lesson on stress AND our goat hoof trimming lesson!

In art, the kids started their decoupage project.  This will take at least another week to complete.  I was very impressed with their patience with this!