Rainbow Fish Lesson

Rainbow Fish

My friends in first grade were having a little trouble being kind and being friends with one another. So for this week’s guidance with 1^st grade, I decided to talk about Rainbow Fish.

First we talked about different parts of a friend. Examples included: good listener, plays nice, says nice things, sits with you at lunch, etc. We then talked about parts of a not so nice friend. Examples included: bullying, pushing, saying mean things, tattling, etc.

We then watched Rainbow Fish. I found this awesome video on YouTube. It reads the story and incorporates a song along with visuals from the book. It is more of a movie instead of the book just being read.

You can find it at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzZuS3ze-Ho

After watching Rainbow Fish, I asked the students about Rainbow Fish. Questions included:

• Does Rainbow Fish fit our parts of a good friend or not so nice friend?
• How did Rainbow Fish make friends?
• How did Rainbow Fish keep his friends?
• How can we be more like Rainbow Fish at school?
• How can we be like Rainbow Fish at home?

I then handed out a sentence activity. Students were instructed to complete the sentence: “A good friend…”

I found this writing activity for FREE on TeachersPayTeachers by Leticia Gallegos. The link to the store is: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Leticia-Gallegos

After they completed their sentences, I handed out a Rainbow Fish for them to make their own as a reminder of how to be kind , make, and keep friends. (Found on Pinterest).

Overall, I was really happy with the lesson and the students loved the video! I think the video kept their interest that way they really concentrated on the message of the overall lesson. 

Here are some of the finished projects:

Christmas Bulletin Board

Christmas Bulletin Board
We Shine When We are Kind!

Now that we are back from Thanksgiving break, I wanted to change my bulletin board to a more Christmas-y theme :) 

While looking around for ideas (obviously I believe in working smart not hard-never re-create the wheel if you don't have to!), I came across a cute theme with Christmas lights. The shining Christmas lights are to remind the students to keep up good character behaviors (as we all know towards Christmas break students can forget their manners!). 

I titled my bulletin board "We Shine When We are Kind!". Again, I wanted to remind the students that although we are getting closer towards Christmas break, it's still important to treat each other with kindness. 

For my bulletin board, I made a Christmas tree from green butcher paper. I just cut three sections and added some brown construction paper at the bottom to create the tree stump. I also just got a star from Microsoft Word shapes and added that at the top of my tree. 

I found the great Christmas light bulbs at  http://www.cliparthut.com/

On each light bulb there was an example of how we can show kindness to others. These included:

• showing empathy 
• being a good listener
• smiling at a friend
• giving a compliment
• treat others with kindness and generosity
• help others in need
• use kind words. 

I also added some presents under the tree found on Pinterest

For an extra touch, I found some battery powered Christmas lights at Michael's for $9.99!

Here is my finished project:

Enemy Pie

Third Grade Guidance

Enemy Pie

Today for third grade guidance, we discussed the importance of friendship and the ingredients of being a great friend!

For this lesson, I used “Enemy Pie” by Derek Munson.

Available on Amazon

This story is super cute and relatable for the kids! It is about a boy having a great summer until a new boy moves into the neighborhood. The new boy Jeremy seems to create a great deal of trouble for our main character. The boy’s father gives him the recipe for his well-known “Enemy Pie”. While the father whips up his famous Enemy Pie, the boys decides Jeremy is no longer his best enemy, but a great friend.

After reading the story, we discussed how easy it could be to make a best enemy and not a best friend. We also discussed different characteristics we would want in a friend, including honesty, caring, fun to play with, etc.

I then gave the students their own recipe sheet for a friendship. I found this activity sheet on Pinterest, which then led me to a great blog called A Year of Many Firsts 

Link to blog: http://www.ayearofmanyfirsts.com/

There are many other different lessons and resources-great blog!

After the students made their own “Friendship Pie Recipe”, they were able to discuss with each other and create their own Friendship Pie.

Image found on Google.

Overall, I loved doing this lesson with the third graders. The book was not only funny and silly, it kept the students interested and had a great message for friendship!

Here are some of the friendship pies created in today’s lesson: 

First Grade Guidance

First Grade Guidance

The Crayon Box That Talked

Because I loved the crayon activity with the kindergarten, I wanted to find a way to make it age appropriate for first grade as well. I love the message students get from reading "The Crayon Box That Talked" mainly because there are several different messages kids can get it out of it. Whether it is kindness, tolerance, or finding beauty in being unique, I love the different messages that can be told from reading "The Crayon Box That Talked". 

With first grade, I used the book to teach tolerance and appreciating our own and others' uniqueness. 

I started the lesson by reading "Crayon Box That Talked"

As we read the book, I asked questions along the way. Questions including:

• Does it sound like our crayons are getting along?
• Why might they not be getting along?
• Did they begin to work together?
• What happened when they crayons worked together?

After the story, we continued to discuss questions like:

• Are we like the crayons in the story?
• What happens when we don't get along like the crayons?
• Is it okay to be different like the crayons?
• What would it be like if we could only use 1 color from our crayon box?
• What happens when we get along even though we are different? 

I must say, I was REALLY impressed by the first graders with this lesson. They did a fabulous job of telling me how it's okay to be unique and different and how working together makes things "way more fun". 

I then gave the students a writing and drawing activity sheet. I found a great set of writing activities from TPT at The Bubbly Blonde Store. 

Link to store: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Bubbly-Blonde

The activity sheet has a place for them to draw a picture of themselves with a writing prompt "I am SPECIAL..."

Again, the first graders did an excellent job with this activity! They wrote great examples of what makes them unique and special just like the crayons from the story. 

Monster Manners

Monster Manners

Third and Fourth Grade

Last week I did a fun lesson on appropriate behavior. It is called Monster Manners. I found this lesson FREE on TPT at the Growing Kinders store. 

Link to store: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Growing-Kinders

I began this lesson by reading "The Day The Monster Came To School"

It is a cute story about a monster coming to school and basically behaving like a monster! The kids found the story funny and liked the overall message.

After reading the story, I asked questions like:

• What kind of behaviors did we see the monster do?
• Was the monster a Super Star student?
• How could the monster become a Super Star student?

At this particular job site, students strive to be on Super Star behavior. After reading the story, we discussed the differences between Monster Manners and Super Star Manners. 

With the Monster Manners lesson, there are monster cards showing monster behaviors (blurting, interrupting, yelling, etc.) and appropriate behaviors (sharing, kind words, keeping hands to yourself, etc). I just printed the document, cut out monsters, glued to construction paper, and laminated. 

 I had the students come up and sort the different behaviors into Monster Manners and Super Star Manners. I really enjoyed this part of the lesson because it allows the students to be interactive with the lesson and decide on their own what they think is appropriate vs. inappropriate behaviors. 

For third grade, I gave them a monster from our lesson to color and asked them to describe a monster manner and a Super Star manner their monster could do at school.

Monster clipart from: http://kidsactivitiesblog.com

For the fourth grade, I gave them a sheet that asks them to draw a picture of themselves making good choices at school. (This sheet came with the Monster Manners Lesson). 

Overall, I enjoyed doing this lesson as my first lesson with the 3rd and 4th grade. Not only was it fun and interactive, it also showed the students my expectations for them at school and when I'm in the classroom. 

It also served as a great way for classroom management with the students. From now on they will know when I say "Monster Manners" they are displaying unexpected behaviors and have a chance to get back on track without having to stop the entire class to correct behavior. 

Here are the finished projects for 3rd and 4th grade Monster Manners!

Drug Dog Demonstration for Red Ribbon Week

Red Ribbon Week

Drug Dog Demonstration

As a part of Red Ribbon Week, we scheduled for the Memphis Police Dept. to come out with their dogs and have an informative and interesting demonstration for the students. Unfortunately, they were called out on duty during Red Ribbon Week.

Today they were able to come out and have a great demonstration for our K-8th grade students. 

Three Memphis police officers came in with two of their best dogs, Max and Gizmo. These dogs are trained to recognize drugs and bombs. These dogs are also trained to track and take down a suspect. 

The officers and dogs demonstrated what happens when the dogs pick up a scent on a subject. The officer demonstrated by putting the "bite arm" on and basically allowing the dog to do his thing. 

The kids asked great and fun questions! Some included:

• What do you feed your dog?
• Does the dog go home with you?
• How old are the dogs?
• Do the dogs retire?
• How long does it take to train the dogs?

Overall, the kids loved seeing the two dogs in action and the officers did a great job on informing the students on the dangers of drugs/alcohol. 

Here are some pictures of the dogs in action:

Counselor Passes

Counselor Passes

During the school day, students may need to come see the school counselor when feeling overwhelmed, angry, or upset. At one of my job sites, teachers expressed having students that need breaks sometimes when they get overwhelmed with their feelings. 

To ensure students can have a "time out" during the day if needed, I wanted to find something easy and quick for the teachers to use to let their students know they may need a "cool down" session with the counselor. 

While looking around on TeachersPayTeachers (https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/) I found these great Counselor Passes. They include Lunch Bunch Passes, I Feel...Passes, I Tried Passes..., and more. I thought these would work perfectly for the students and teachers! 

The set of passes were $3.00 from the Social Emotional Workshop Store on TeachersPayTeachers

Link to store: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Social-Emotional-Workshop

After purchasing, I received a PDF file to download and print. Once you buy, you can print as many passes as you would like from the file. 

My plan is to print a set of the passes for each teacher. Then I want to laminate them that way teachers can write the student name in dry erase and re-use the passes throughout the year. 

Here are some of the passes included in the PDF file:

I'm really excited to implement these passes and hope my goal of making things easier for the teachers and students will be a success!