Saving Sam!

I have an amazing intern this semester! She's really become my right hand man and is a natural for elementary. So it's no surprise that she just created a winning lesson for 3rd grade. We have been talking all year about perseverance, mindset, and goal setting. So this was a perfect lesson to review and refresh on all three topics. 
Here it is:

First, she created an awesome Power Point. It introduces perseverance with a great Bruno Mars video, that even our 3rd graders asked to watch again.

It also highlighted some famous "failures." 

Here are her talking tips: Helpful Tips for PowerPoint…. Who are those people?

Walt Disney: The man who gave us Disney World and Mickey Mouse. His first animation company went bankrupt. He was fired by a news editor because he lacked imagination. Legend has it he was turned down 302 times before he got the money to create Disney World

J.K Rowling The author of the Harry Potter series didn’t magically become wealthier than the Queen of England. Coming from poverty, she wrote the first book in the series on an old typewriter only to be turned down by more than ten publishers. A year later, a publisher named Barry Cunningham agreed to publish her book, but suggested she get another job because children’s books do not typically lead to making a lot of money.

Next we challenged them to play "Saving Sam".

• Counselor will then ask, “who has felt like giving up at school”

• Allow students to discuss ways that they have persevered through their school work when they felt like giving up.

• Counselor could say, “when I wanted to give up while I was in school, I kept reminding myself that I really wanted to help students like you and I couldn’t do that if I gave up on my studies.”

SAVE SAM!

·      Poor Sam is a worm that has found himself in a rather unfortunate situation. His boat has capsized and his life jacket is underneath it.

·      Sam cannot swim.

·      His oar has fallen into the rocky waters and he is now stuck on top of his capsized boat.

·      You are responsible for flipping Sam's boat over and getting him back inside.

·      He will need to be wearing his life jacket and his oar needs to be laying on his boat.

·      Here's the catch: You can’t touch Sam with your hands!

·      You may use the two paperclips supplied but please don’t stab Sam or pop his life jacket by stabbing it!

·      Also, we can’t let him touch the water (your desk) because REMEMBER, he can’t swim

Discussion Points after Saving Sam Activity

Example questions:  “did you ever feel like giving up when you were trying to save Sam?”, “did you think that there was no way you would be able to save Sam?”, “how did you end up pushing yourself to save him?”

• Counselor will then ask, “who has felt like giving up at school”

• Allow students to discuss ways that they have persevered through their school work when they felt like giving up.
• Counselor could say, “when I wanted to give up while I was in school, I kept reminding myself that I really wanted to help students like you and I couldn’t do that if I gave up on my studies.”

Exit Ticket

Write down a goal that you will need to accomplish this week related to your school work.  For example mine would be…..

I will complete my essay before it is due on Monday. 

Then, write how you may have to use perseverance to achieve your goal.  For example mine would be…

Even if I get stuck on what to say I will keep trying and keep writing until it comes together.

You can even follow it up with an activity page from the Interactive Notebook I am using this year in 3rd. 

See more videos of this activity my following me on Instagram!

Get the lesson full lesson here or here.

Check out this great video for the introduction of Saving Sam is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-TfTdd5Dp8