The Thankful Book

With Thanksgiving later this week, we're spending some time in 1st grade learning about gratitude. Below is my lesson plan for this lesson. I loved this story as a way to help students brainstorm some of the things they are thankful for!

Hook: When someone does something nice for you, how do you let them know you appreciate it? (saying thank you, hugs, smiles) How do you feel inside when someone does something nice? (happy, thankful) With Thanksgiving later this week, we are going to talk today about some  of the ways you show gratitude.

Activities:

•  Read The Thankful Book by Todd Parr. Discussion – what might the author do when he feels thankful for all of these things? How would feeling thankful change his actions?
• Watch video trailer summary of book.
• Activity: Students will write and illustrate their own “The Thankful Book.”
• Students will read books to class as time allows.

Closure: There are so many things to be thankful for! Try to think of something each day you are thankful for. “I can be thankful for so many things!” 

And how sweet was this page that showed that one of my students was thankful for me! Warmed my heart today!!

Technology Guide for Counselors

I hosted a PLC session for elementary counselors in my school district last week. I'm fortunate to have worked in schools that have invested in technology, and I use a Smartboard and computer and iPad daily at school. I know that not all school counselors have equal access to technology tools . But if you do, here are some links that I shared with my colleagues that may be of use to you as well!

Clicking on the picture should take you to a copy of the technology guide.

Listening.

I discuss listening quite frequently in my lessons. Whether I frame it as good listening, respectful listening, or active listening, the basic concepts of listening with our ears, eyes, and heart are covered.

In first grade (earlier this year) we read the book Listen Buddy by Helen Lester. This is one of my all-time favorite stories to read to students each year. After our discussion about what Buddy needed to do to improve his listening skills, I told the students I was going to test them to see how well they could listen. With some silly directions, students had to listen (and not ask questions) to follow my directions for how to color Buddy (I adapted this resource.)

In second grade, I read The Worst Day of My Life Ever! by Julia Cook. We discussed how much listening can affect how we feel and what happens to us. I reinforced the lesson with some of the resources found in the activity guide that accompanies the story. The listening game from this guide is great fun for the students (though still a bit complex for 2nd graders.) We will keep practicing this throughout the year! 

7 Habits of Happy Kids - 1st Grade Style

After hearing a lot about Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Happy Kids in the past year, I decided to give it a try. While there are school-wide curriculum resources through The Leader In Me website, I wasn't quite ready to purchase the whole curriculum. So I purchased two items that have enabled me to teach the content and found various other resources online that have reinforced my lessons. The students have really mastered the basic concepts of each habit. I used the book The 7 Habits of Happy Kids and I downloaded this awesome craftivity pack from Teacher's Pay Teachers. I did have to tweak some of the craftivities to simplify them for the sake of time and paper. But overall they have been a great reinforcement for what we've been learning.

Habit 1: Be Proactive

Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind

Habit 3: Put First Things First

Habit 4: Think Win-Win

Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then Be Understood

Habit 6: Synergize

Habit 7: Sharpen The Saw

There are tons of other resources for 7 Habits available via Teachers Pay Teachers and Pinterest. I've also been teaching this to my 4th grade students and will have some follow up posts about what I've been using to teach them.

Anger Management Lessons

I've taught lessons on anger management to several grade levels over the past few weeks. I know it is vital that children learn that feeling angry is okay but you must not hurt yourself or others when you feel this way. Here are some of the ideas I've used in my teaching of these topics.

In Kindergarten we read the book Mouse Was Mad by Linda Urban. We practiced the standing still and deep breathing skills that Mouse uses as well as brainstormed some other things we could do when we're mad to control our anger. Students drew an angry face and colored a picture of a mouse. This is available for download here.

In third grade, I shook a bottle of soda and we talked about what would happen if we opened the bottle. We saw that if I slowly release a little fizz at a time, it would be safe to open. We connected this with our reading of Julia Cook's Soda Pop Head.  We made a list of all the strategies Lester learns in the story to control his fizz. We practiced several of these strategies together.