Awesome Reflection Resource

You have to check out this website I have found that can be used to work with kids either individually, with groups, or even in the classroom!  There are several topics worth of comic-like worksheets to help further the DOK with the concepts you teach or even use them as a conversation starter!  There are other tools to make a comic strip to use with autism and whatever else you may dream of!  Anyway, check it out and see for yourself of what you can use them for with what you do!

http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/

Empathy Lesson: The Invisible Boy

This was a great book to help the students understand Empathy, and I highly recommend it among many other topics that it can go along with.

I begin by explaining and having a discussions of what Empathy is (standing is someone else's shoes, try to understand how they feel).  Can we ever feel exactly what someone else feels?  Why/Why not?  (we aren't them)

Lesson Questions:

Pg. 5:  What does Brian want?  (to make friends, to get picked).
Pg. 7:  How do you think Brian feels? (sad, lonely, ignored)
Pg. 9:  What is the difference in this picture? (Brian is gray and kids are in color)
Why do you think he is drawn like that?
Pg. 11:  Take a look at the picture where Brian has drawn the superhero.  (Ask again)  What is it that Brian wants?
Pg. 13:  How would you feel if you were the new student and others were trying to decide if you were cool or not?  Is that very nice?  What do you think Brian is thinking?
Pg. 15:  AHHH, could Brian have empathy for Justin?  How?
Pg. 18:  What do you notice that is happening to Brian in this picture?  (getting color)
If he is getting color instead of gray, how do you think he feels?  Why?
Pg. 20:  Uh-Oh, how does Brian feel now?
Pg. 24-25:  What do you think Brian is feeling now that he has worked with his two friends?
Pg. 26:  How does Brian look like he feels?

Watch for student reactions while reading the story and catch them feeling empathy for the characters.  Challenge the students to notice when they feel empathy for another person.

**I have found that this lesson takes a good 20-25 minutes if you are discussing what is happening in the story as you read.  It generates great questions and responses from the students.

Empathy Lesson

This has to be the most influential, positive discussion, student engaging movie clip I have found that has to do with empathy and several other topics (friendship, kindness, accepting others, and etc.).

I start out by discussing with the class what empathy is (standing in someone else's shoes, trying to understand another's feelings).  I also ask the class "Can we ever really understand what another person is going through? Why or why not?"

Then, I ask the class if anyone speaks Spanish and if any of those students started school not understanding any English.  I tell the class that this is their chance to understand what it may have been like for those students who don't understand English, because the entire video is in Spanish.

I tell the class to be watching for things that are happening, emotions, actions, and etc. because it can tell us a lot, even though we cannot understand what is being said.





I pause the movie right when Maria finds out about the boy being sick so that the students can observe the sorrow.

Questions to ask the class:
How did Maria have empathy for the boy?
Are there other people that showed empathy towards the boy?  Maria?

I turn to the paused movie and ask the class:
What is Maria feeling?
In what ways might we not be able to understand how she feels?
How can we have empathy for Maria right now?

After discussing the movie, I turn to the students who don't speak Spanish and ask them how they felt if they weren't able to understand what was being said.  Most answers are; confused, frustrated, weird, and etc.  I then ask, do you have some empathy now for our students that come to our school who do not speak English.

This lesson is interesting to watch the kids' reactions and can be very engaging for them to really understand what it means to have empathy.

The Most Magnificent Thing

I would have to say that I JUST LOVE THIS BOOK!  This book is the best for covering a PLETHORA of concepts for character education.  It talks about a little girl who wants to make something, she tries and tries again, gets frustrated and mad, and finally looking over all of her mistakes, she completes her final masterpiece.  This book covers anger, frustration, pain, trial and error, mistakes, setting and completing goals, accomplishments, perseverance, hard work, and many more.  Such a cute, cute story for every grade and I highly recommend it.  

Wondergrove Kids

I ran into several videos that can help me with younger kids.  Keeping hands to yourself, basic rules, and so on and so forth. Here is the actual website for Wondergrove Kids that has a ton of great videos.http://www.wondergroveplay.com/

Keeping Hands To Yourself

Here is another cute video to help young students about controlling your hands.

Basic Rules

I found a cute video clip that I have used with groups and individuals to help students remember to keep their hands to themselves.  Appropriate for Kinder-1st Grade.

How To Be A Friend

I thought this was really cute for a bulletin board...

Here is the link and it is free from Teachers Pay Teachers:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/How-to-be-a-FRIEND-Classroom-Poster-Set-with-Strategies-for-School-1417622

Positive Attitude

It has been a while since I have posted anything, but I have not forgotten that I have this blog to share resources.  I found this great website that has to do with Attitude.  There are several power points and slide shows that are great for a lesson on positive attitude.

Good Lessons On "Attitudes" from Sompong Yusoontorn

14 Facts About Attitude from Sompong Yusoontorn

Tattling vs. Reporting

This week, we are focusing on Tattling vs. Reporting.  This is the fun book I use with grades K-3.  

Just in case you are sick without a voice, need to change it up a bit, or don't have this book, you can click on this link: Don't Squeal Unless It's a Big Deal from YouTube.

I love, LOVE this book because it definitely covers what you need to when addressing this issue with the younger kiddos.

I start out the lesson by talking about the difference between tattling and reporting (getting someone vs. emergency/helping).  We talk about kid size problems vs. adult size problems.  Kid problems are something that can be resolved or at least try to be resolved before coming to an adult.  An adult size problem is when someone is hurt or is an emergency.

This story is fun to read to students because you can do all of the impersonations with all the tattle telling and make it fun.  I always like to replace the teachers names with the class's real teacher.

For an activity, I make a sign that says:

 

Grades K-4, I read out scenarios (below) aloud to the class and they move to one side or the other according to if it is a tattle or a report.  Here are the scenarios I found from the savvyschoolcounselor.

Grades 5 & 6, the kids played Cherades where they picked a scenario and had to act it out.  When a student had guessed what they were doing, their ticket to picking out the next scenario was to tell whether it was tattling or reporting.  For the older grades, tattling may not be much of an issue, so I focused more on the reporting issue having to do with peer pressure, finding a trusted adult, and what support is needed when reporting information.

For Kindergarten, after I have read the book, I have them draw a picture of what it looks like to tattle (Squeal) and what it looks like to report (Big Deal).

I hope this lesson is helpful to you while trying to teach our little munchkins the difference between tattling and reporting.

My School Counselor

This is so very cute.  Found this activity from savvyschoolcounselor.com and I plan to use this with new students or at the beginning of the school year for those cute little Kindergarteners!

Journey To Success: Skill

This month, our school is working on SKILL as our Citizenship of the Month topic.  Each month, I have selected a topic for the teachers to be looking out for students who are displaying these character traits.  Here is a lesson plan I have developed, based on John Woodens Journey to Success concepts.

You can find my lesson plan here.  I used the book Leo the Lightning Bug, my all time favorite story to share with kiddos.  It covers so many different topics its crazy!!!

For my Kindergarteners, we made these cute little bugs that I got from this cute place, click here.

 

Also, just wantd to share that there is a Leo the Lighting Bug app for $2.99.  I thought it was pretty cute for little kiddos.

Working Together

Here is a team building activity I did with grades 1-6 having to do with working together or team work.  The kids had a great time with this and it was fun to watch their little brains problem solve, experiment, and communicate with their team memebers.  I found this acticity out of the book 104 Activities that Build by Alanna Jones.

 

The students have to build the tallet tower out of paper, using only paper.  No paper clips, tape, or glue are allowed and you challenge the students with a goal of at least 5 papers high.  

 

Observation App for iPad: On Task

Went to a counselor meeting today with all the elementary counselors in our district.  One counselor (thank you Dianna!).  This app for iPad is awesome and I cannot wait to use this with some of my students.  This app will time intervals in which you set and you document whether or not the student is on or off task.  Then, at the end it will give you DATA!  How cool is that!  It does cost $9.99, but well worth the purchase.  I just searched for the app and it was the first thing that popped up.

 

 



On Task 

Inch and Miles: The Journey to Success

This is a FUN book.  This is the book that I currently have a grant listed with Donors Choose to try and get a clasroom set.  I will be teaching seven of these lessons this year to my students, K-6.  I am excited to begin!!!!! 

The lessons I will be teaching this year are:

Enthusiasm
Poise
Team Spirit
Skill
Confidence
Alertness
Action. 

Each month will be the beginning of a new "Citizenship" month and the lesson will represent what our school is focusing on.  For that month, the teachers are looking for students with that characteristic and can be selected for a citizenship of the month award. 


I will post my lessons as I teach them throughout the year, so you may have that resource if you would like!  Right now, I am trying to find books that go along with the certain characteristic to use for my lessons.  If you have any great ideas that fit within those topcs, please post a comment!!!!

Donors Choose Project: Journey To Success

My project that I have submitted to DonorsChoose.org has been approved.  I am very excited about this.  I would like to get a classroom set of the book that I will be working out of this year called, Inch and Miles: The Journey to Success by Coach John Wooden.  If you donate by August 25th and enter the code word INSPIRE, your donation will be matched dollar for dollar by the Board of Directors!!!  Please help me out, I begin classes September 16, 2013.  Here is the link: Donors Choose

Google Docs: My NEW Best Friend!

Hi am trying something new this year to save me some time and keep data at the same time!!!  Yes, thats right.  I am killing two birds with one stone using Googe Docs by traking my student visits and parent communication.  Here is how it works:

If you don't have a Google account yet, get one.  Go to Google Docs or Drive and create a document that is like a survey.  Create your survey, send the form to your work email, make a separate folder in your email for the link and every time you need to input student info or log a parent phone call, you just click on the link and fill in the information.   The information is then sent back to Google Docs, stored and then all you have to do is view the data. 

 

Go back to your drive tab, click on the document that you want responses from.

 

 Then it gives you DATA! 

 

Also, Google Docs will create a new spreadsheet that keeps a log of what you input.  Kind of like an Excel spreadsheet, so if you have notes, it keeps it all there for you.

I know, RIGHT!  Counselors dream has just come true!

Girls Confidence Group

I have been working with a student who has been struggling with the way she looks and had me very concerned about her.  She was entering into the path of anorexia.  So I decided to include her and a couple of her friends in the confidence group centered around The Girl's Guide to Loving Yourself.  I was able to make 8 lessons out of the several topics that it includes.  Here are the topics:

1.  Get comfy

2.  Follow your dreams

3.  Confident vs. conceited

4.  Your worst enemy

5.  Praise yourself

6.  Emotional rollercoaster

7.  Health conscious

8.  Being the best you

With each of the lessons, I pulled out questions (will upload soon) that specificially has to do with the issues we are dealing with.  I give each girl a sheet and have them answer.  Then I instruct them to take that lesson home for the week, put it where they can remember and will see it each day.  Every time they get a new lesson, they are making a book about their thoughts, feelings, progress, and hopefully internalizing their own worth as an amazing individual.

Bullying Vs. Teasing

I sent a shout-out to my teachers asking what they needed from me to help them in their classrooms.  Pretty much, the consensus was that students are coming to them with a lot of tattling issues that have to do with teasing, but students are thinking they are getting bullied instead.  So, I created a presentation to help differentiate bullying versus teasing.  I emphasized with the students that we need to pay attention to body language, tone of voice 

**Important: While using the video clips in this presentation, there are annoying pop-up advertisements that you will have to X out of.

If you have any suggestions, please let me know.   

http://prezi.com/j0ntt94uval3/present/?auth_key=4tfyxnv&follow=bkusxc3sh4ru&kw=present-j0ntt94uval3&rc=ref-37282787

CHANGE

Wow!  What a crazy year.  I have finally been able to get to my blog with all the changes in my life!  What a great thing...CHANGE!  I love it.  From my perspective, change helps me because I can always learn something.  From all the changes within the last year, I have learned so much about myself, I feel rejuvinated, refreshed, and I feel like ME!!!  It is amazing!