Last Minute Lessons K-2

It's happened to all of us we need a last minute lesson. My practicum student and I are working on a few last minute lessons for K-2 and I must admit I like them.

K- Honesty

We are starting out with another good book: "The Dog Who Cried 'Woof!'"





You could also watch this cute story, The Dog Who Cried Wolf:

(I asked the students to guess what they thought our topic today was going to be before hand, but you could have them read the book and guess at the end).

I used these cool FREE self assessment fans as a great informal assessment along the way.

As they read I asked them to hold up a red face when they heard a lie, a green when they heard the truth, or yellow if they weren't sure. You could also have them do things like raise their hands when they hear a lie, give snaps when they hear the truth, stand up or sit down- anything to get them active.

Next we had a short discussion about honesty and what it meant to be honest and dishonest.

Next we watched the video/ story "Tell the Truth B B Wolf" on Vimeo- https://vimeo.com/117880122

At the end I used these adorable and FREE partner cards by Speckled Moose Counseling to have the students pair up and share a time they had been honest or told a lie.

To end our lesson I created this cut/paste honesty sort. It was a great way for them to create a definition of honesty and decide if the two scenarios were honest or dishonest.


1st- Caring

We started by watching  Brave Irene on http://www.storylineonline.net/

At the end I used these adorable and FREE partner cards by Speckled Moose Counseling to have the students pair up and share a time they had been brave or shown courage.

We ended with this cute courage color sheet by Savvy School Counselor.

2nd - Caring

We started by watching Someone Loves You Mr. Hatch on http://www.storylineonline.net/

Next we used a beach ball to pass around the class and share different ideas how we show people we care about them at school, then at home, and then in the community.

We ended with this cute caring color sheet by Savvy School Counselor.

What are your favorite last minute lessons on courage, caring, and honesty?

Grrr...growls and snarls and anger resources

One thing I love about my county is that once a month we all get together and share our resources! This month we talked about anger! Here are some highlights and our counselors favorite resources:

Books

When Sophie Gets Angry, Really, Really Angry

The Grouchies

Angry Arthur-  https://vimeo.com/76617063


Workbooks
Conflict Resolution Activities that Work- Lots of great role play activities on conflict resolution.

Potter Pig In Control- great for K-3.

How To Stop Before You Pop- great for grades 3-5.

Groups To Go- a great Marco product for small groups.

Websites

KidsHealth.org- this is a great tool for parents, teachers and students.  The articles  have re aloud options and even re aloud in Spanish option.

Missouri Career Education- a good resource for lesson plans especially for small groups.

Brain Pop- great videos, activities, and surveys (for your data) on anger.

Kelly Bear- tips for students and teachers.

The Do's and Don'ts of Teaching Children Anger- great article by Huffington Post

Scholastic

Videos

Gotta beat that stress

Helping students with stress is one of my favorite lessons. I think it's the former yoga teacher in me and the fact that teaching them means I naturally get to  practice as well.

Here are some of favorite resources:

Activities/Printables

*Free Spirit Publishing has so many great resources and printables, including:

*This Frustration Triangle - this is great for classroom lessons as well s small groups

*Pebble relaxation- For the life of me I can't remember where I found this! Anyone know?  It's a great visual activity to do with individual students.
You could also follow it up with activity from mindful kids. 

* Foam shield- I use this as a visual in small groups to talk about what coping skills they can use to "protect them" from stress. I found them in the dollar section of Target (aka where my paycheck goes).

*Relaxation stations- I love doing this for older students. We start with a class wide calming activity (see Go Noodle references below) or watch the Brain Pop on stress. Next, I set up stations around the room and  play calm music. The students silently work at each station and switch every  3-5 minutes. At the end they write for me what station they liked the best, why, and how it helped them relax.

Here are my favorite stations:
*Coloring sheets/Mandalas- there are one million coloring books out there now, but you can find a lot of sheets online.

*Play dough

*Journaling- Sometimes I leave it open for the students to journal on their own and sometimes I will prompt them. You can find lots of gratitude journals online and lots of gratitude prompts here 

* Brain Pop activity

*Reading- I will set out lots of books on stress and relaxation and allow them to read quietly.

*Breathing- I will put out the 5- Start breathing cards and let the students practice breathing

Technology

* iPads- if you have a few ipads you can always set up an iPad station and allow them to explore some fun apps.  Here are some ideas- Kids Relaxation and this amazing list from Common Sense Media 

Happy NSCW

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