Adding Some Christmas Spirit

Christmas Spirit in Guidance

“I can make the Grinch grin by…”

We are quickly approaching Christmas break, so I wanted to incorporate some Christmas spirit into m guidance lessons these last 2 weeks.

With first grade this week, we went back from last week (Rainbow Fish) and refreshed on our adjective words when describing a friend. The students did a GREAT job remembering all of our adjective words when characterizing a good friend and a not so good friend.

After our review, I played the original Grinch song.

(found on YouTube-about 3 minutes long https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgP0aUKlmNw). 

We then used our adjective words to describe our Mr. Grinch. I found a FREE print out at Twin Dragonfly Designs. Link: http://www.twindragonflydesigns.com/

I hung up our Mr. Grinch and wrote all the adjectives around him. Examples included: mean, angry, sad, sneaky, plays tricks, robber, hates Christmas, etc. After we completed describing Mr. Grinch, I asked students if he fit our description for a good friend or a not so good friend. All the students were VERY confident in their decision that Mr. Grinch is a not so good friend.

After determining our Grinch was a not so good friend, I asked students if there was a time they were a not so good friend. We discussed that sometimes we can all make poor choices when it comes to being a good friend everyday. I then asked students if they thought having a bad day meant never being nice to someone again. They all agreed that having a bad day or sometimes making poor choices does not mean that we can be mean to others.

After a productive discussion, I passed out a Grinch (found at: http://coloringarena.com/grinch-coloring-pages/) and a writing sheet called “I can make the Grinch grin by…”. (I made this sheet myself in Microsoft Word). I encouraged the students to think of ways to still be nice to others when we or someone is being a not so good friend. I then instructed them to use their ideas to come up with a sentence on how they could be nice to the Grinch and make him smile.

Overall, this lesson was very cute and also gave a GREAT message to the kids about making poor choices, getting past those choices, and always being nice and being a great friend! The students did an excellent job with describing a good friend, characterizing our Grinch, coming up with ideas on being friendly, and remembering that everyone has bad days but to always remember to treat others how we want to be treated.

(Plus it was a fun and inspiring way to incorporate Christmas!)

Finished project: