Wrnkled Heart -vs- Full Heart Inspired by Molly Lou Melon

My kids love, love, love Molly Lou Melon.  They immediately related to her and want to cheer her on and protect her.   Often, they use the lessons she has taught us and try to apply it to new situations.  When we were doing our Family Meeting (sometimes called a Peace Circle),, we were talking about things that wrinkle our hearts and things that make our hearts full. We've talked a lot about thinking and be smart and not to cause a wrinkled heart.  One of our students drew Molly Lou Melon, and we hang our hearts beside it.

Here are some things the kids say wrinkle hearts:

taking things, calling names, not including someone, making fun of someone, being mean,  not sharing,

Here are some things the kids have said make our hearts full or grow our hearts (like the Grinch):
sharing, compliments, inviting others to play, cheering them on!, being nice,



Won't it make a great class book?   I think the kids will be pleasantly surprised.  We will put them side by side, to show the better choice...

Oridinary Mary (not so ordinary) - Another Character Story of Kindness

This is a story that goes along with a Pay it Forward kind of theme.  Mary does something kind for one person, who, in turn, does an act of kindness for another person.  By the end of the book, you are able to see how one act of kindness can affect so many people.  (The end of the book even shows how many!)

What I love most about the book is that it shows kids that we can make a difference in the world just by being ourselves and going a little beyond what is expected of us to do something nice for another person.  It makes us feel good, and the other person feels good too.”   This is another great book to go along with our quote "Be kind in all you say and do, 'cuz acts of kindness follow you."

 After finishing reading this story, it's fun to have the kids brainstorm how they can help others just by using kind words, smiles and compliments.

May acts of kindness follow you today and every day.  

Character-The Tiger Who Wore White Gloves

 

There's no denying I love poetry, especially when it meets on the corner with character. Kids get poetry; sadly it seems, we adults sometimes lose our ability to really get into the meat of poetry and savor it.

In my classroom, we use poetry to learn to read, to learn to write, for character education and more.
 

The Tiger Who Wore  White  Gloves, by Gwendolyn Brooks, has stood the test of time.  I'm fortunate enough to have the poem t in book form because I think it's out of print. At first sight and listening, it seems to be over the kids' heads, but slowed down and discussed, it's a perfect poem about character. It's about a tiger who is way different than the other animals because he's tired of being fierce and wants to be fancy by wearing gloves.  The animals jeer him  into being satisfied with just being a tiger.

There's a part when you actually feel the crowd get crest fallen. At their tender age, sadly, they've experienced this kind of testing and feel sorry for the tiger.

For full effect, we act it out, practicing our fierceness, and then pretending we are fancy. By the end, they feel defeated just as the tiger did.

Another great thing about this poem is that it's easy to reference to when those incidents come up on the classroom....it can be read and acted it over and over and over again.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Thankful Thursday - It's all about Happiness!

It amazes me when things fall in place.  It means that they are just meant to be.  Daily at school, we work on character.  Sometimes it's short snippets or stories or quotes, but always some reminder that our character is important.  Every day I write them a message on the board and tell them that they are amazing or wonderful or terrific and invite them to meet eyes with someone in the room and remind them they are special too.  This creates a positive atmosphere which passes on exponentially all day!  We talk about how this one act of kindness can spread much as the "Pay it Forward" campaign.

In addition, every Thursday, we have Thankful Thursday, and we pass Stanley, our class pet, around the circle, and name something we are thankful for.  To me, gratitude should be rated extremely high.  As we are grateful for things, we begin to feel truly blessed, and I believe we feel much happier.

Today, during lunch, I was able to open this video from daughter, where they show the Science of happiness.  And without me really knowing it out loud, only from following my truth inside, I've learned the Secret of happiness and wish to pass it on to you and yours

                      TRY IT OUT!    



Children don't inherently know or understand many feelings, they have to be learned, and gratitude is one of those feelings.  Now we know from Science that gratitude is an integral part of being happy.   Even if you don't believe this to be an exact Science, you should try this little experiment out for yourself.   You'll be amazed by the results.  Remember, it is an experiment that works best over time. 
:)

I cn't wait to hear about your experiments.  Report your results here!  If you've tried some other happiness experiments that you'd like to share, please post it here.  I'd love to try them myself.

Happy Thankful Thursday!

p.s.   for some reason this post didn't post on Thankful Thurs, but just as relevant!

   

RAK-Random Acts of Kindness

Merry Christmas! on this blessed day,I thought I would share some things my class has been doing for Random Acts of Kindness.
My friend Tammy, Forever in First, introduced this concept to me. I've done similar projects with notes and things, but I especially enjoy it at Christmas when sometimes our focus is more on getting than giving.
In the past, I've even asked them to write letters to Santa for children of the world. I will write about that later.
It's amazing what the children came up with on their own. Some things they thought of were ideas they got from Ordinary Mary's Extraordinary Deed, about how one small deed can change the world! Here's a partial list of things they came up with: picking up trash around the school; write cards, letters and notes;
leave treats; smile and give hugs!; give compliments;  and offer to help with things at home without asking and without looking for praise. Some of them got in trouble with siblings by writing the sibling's name while trying to be anonymous. We decided we should just pretend we were elves, and not sign anyone's name.
We decided that everyone at our school was much happier and more positive because of these small acts. one person commented that or school was"healthier" without the trash.
I know the main thing we learned was how something as simple as a smile and a positive attitude could have a chain reaction!
merry merry Christmas!\