SNEAK PEEK!!

I will write about what we are doing this week and right after break when we come back but the kids are so stinking cute I can't help but give you a sneak peek! Here are some photos from the past couple of days to hold you over until the New Year!

Mrs. Lampe's Sunflowers

Ms. Weber's Cuties

Ms. Chostner's Class Hard at Work

Mrs. Swopes Kiddos

Kindness is like a boomerang! Have you ever thought about that? That is what we have been talking about in Counselor this week. The kids and I have been having WONDERFUL conversations about acts of kindness and how important it is to think of others and what they might be needing or wanting. We talked about how when you do something kind for another person, many times that kindness comes back around and is shown to you. We talked about the motivation to do kind things for others and how hopefully we are motivated by wanting to help where help is needed or wanting others to feel good when we feel good or have someone to talk to when they might not be feeling so great. We discussed that when we do a kind deed hoping for something in return we miss the point a little bit. The kids watched the clip below to illustrate how kindness comes back around like a boomerang.

Kindness Boomerang

We also read the book The Giving Tree by Shell Silverstein and talked about how at first glance/read we might think the little boy in the story is quite selfish, always taking from the tree and never giving anything in return. When we talked about it a little more though, we realized the tree never expected anything in return and if we looked really closely, the only time the tree was sad was when the boy wasn't around. He always came back and therefore he gave her his friendship, his loyalty, his time (not all of it) and his love. Some of the best things we can give might not be seen at first glance but hopefully they will be felt. The kids made apples with a kind deed they could do  that wouldn't cost any money between now and January 6 when we come back from break. We added the apples to the Giving Tree bulletin board outside my office.

When everyone finished they had a chance to practice throwing our "kindness boomerang" to illustrate the concept of our kindness being thrown out into the world and coming back to us. Fun was had by all:)

I hope everyone has a safe and fun winter break! See you in 2014!

Time is really flying by and I am having trouble keeping up with the blog! The schedule gets really hectic around school this time of year and with only three weeks between Thanksgiving Break and Winter Break, we are all feeling the craziness! This will be a post to fill you in on what you have missed and what we have coming.

Since the last post the kids and I have started talking about safety. We learned that at school we prepare for all kinds of situations so that we always know how to be safe. We practice for bad weather, fire, intruders etc. We talked about how we hope these things never happen, and they don't happen very often but when they do we can feel more comfortable because we have practiced and know just what we should be doing. In 3rd grade we watched a game show type video where the kids played along on white boards answering safety questions and keeping score. In 4th grade we watched a video called If You Feel Danger and the kids completed a handout in which they had to think about a time when they made unsafe choices and then identify what they should have done instead. In 5th grade students watched the Out of the Danger Zone video Mrs. Lenz's class watched a couple of months ago.

This year I have implemented a Positive Behavior Incentive program the kids refer to as the "Happy Cup/ Sad Cup." Ask them about it, they can tell you what it is all about. All of my current 3-5th grade classes earned their first positive behaviors reward at the same time so we celebrated last week by watching a "non-counselor movie" as they put it;) They were all thrilled and encouraged to start earning positive behavior points toward their next incentive.

This week we are having our Abuse Prevention lessons much like we had for K-2 earlier in the year. Parents should have received a pink note from me after they viewed the material and we had our discussion. Please contact me if you have any questions. There is one class left to watch the video and have the lesson (Miss Tedrow's 4th grade) and they will have it tomorrow.

After we finish up Abuse Prevention we are  moving into Kindness and Self-Esteem.

I will try to add some photos of our busy times here at school but I know that lately I have been so busy I forget to take pictures during class! I think I have a few though:)

Happy Holidays!

3rd grade playing along

3rd grade game show

4th grade safety activity

 4th grade safety activity