Lessons for April

K and 1st- Fairness

We are talking about our character education word "fairness" this month.
We started by reading one of my favorite books It's Not Fair.

As a follow up we used this super cool activity from www.teach-a-roo.blogspot.com 

The kids had to cut a pizza in a "fair" way for 5 people. It was awesome to see them problem solve. 
When we were done we did a fairness coloring sheet.

2nd Grade- Choices and Consequences

We started by reading If You Give A Dog A Donut or If You Give A Cat A Cupcake.

 

We talked about cause and effect. Then we did a venn diagram about consequences and punishments. We had a great discussion. To finish up we played a Plicker or Kahoot game based on Win Or Lose It's How You Choose.

 3rd grade- Test Taking

We started by watching a Brain Pop Test Taking Skills video and taking the quiz.

Visit TPT for the test taking version.

Then we completed "teat taking" gold pot activity by the amazing Savvy School Counselor. Get yours here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/School-Counselors-March-Activity-Pack-Savvy-School-Counselor-1110842

As a final follow up we drew comic strips about testing perseverance.

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 

Best New Video

Looking for an adorable video that covers topics such as: goal setting, perseverance, courage, problem solving, and determination??

Check out this adorable video. I showed it to my 5th grade to introduce our lesson on goal setting and they loved it. I can't wait to show it as part of my perseverance pig lesson.

Want to use it for goal setting? After the video had the students complete a "My Goals" sheet.

They divided their construction paper into 4 squares:

1) 5th grade goals

2)5 year goals

3)10 year goals

4) life goals

I had old magazines they cut out to represent their goals. They loved it. 

Perseverance as summer approaches!

This time of year is all about testing, field days, and more testing. I know this time of year I start to lapse on my training with Brooklyn and the dogs get away with a lot.

This time of year I love to do lessons on perseverance (although I still need spell check to help me with that word after many years of teaching.). My favorite book this time of year is "The Three Ninja Pigs" by Corey Rosen Schwartz. I love it so much I've blogged about it many times . I love it so much that I created a packet designed to help teachers and counselors tie it into testing, perseverance/resiliency , team work, problem solving, cultural appreciation, and of course CCSS.  Also, you can connect this book to bullying (link at the end of the blog post).

So here is my latest packet for a book you all NEED to have on your book shelves:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Three-Ninja-Pigs-Activity-Guide-a-lesson-on-perseverance-test-prep-and-more-1792121

Testing TIme

It's that time of year! Testing time.
Here is what I am doing to help our students and families prep for testing this year:

Class Lessons

3rd Grade- Since this is their first year taking it, we are doing test preparation.

We read "The Big Test" (or "Testing Miss Malarkey") and discussed the strategies in the book. Then we practiced in our class.

Visit TPT for the test taking version.

We completing the "teat taking" gold pot activity by the amazing Savvy School Counselor. Get yours here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/School-Counselors-March-Activity-Pack-Savvy-School-Counselor-1110842

Then if time allowed we practiced relaxing, just like the students in the book did. We did a Go Noodle, but you can also have them practice 5-star breathing.

4th Grade- We addressed perseverance and not giving up. We talked about ways we show perseverance at home, at school, and on "the test." We read my favorite book on this topic "The Three Ninja Pigs" and then students drew a Ninja Pig that represented something they wanted to practice, persevere and get better at. We then took turns guessing what each persons pig represented. On the back of the pigs I had a copy of the Scholastic word search (for my speed racers.)