Creating a Classroom Community that promotes kindness

Let's flash back to January of 2017, shall we? I was 7ish months pregnant with a high risk pregnancy that had left me drained emotionally. Then, I got the flu. The flu. That drained me physically. If you've never had the flu, I can only describe it as feeling like your body is shutting down. I remember laying in bed one afternoon, literally contemplating if I should just pee myself because getting up and walking the 10 feet the the bathroom seemed like an impossibly exhausting task. (TMI? That's my specialty.)

Here I was, broken tired. And while I was laying in my bed, believing that this was what death felt like, I got a few emails from parents informing me of events that had happened in my class. I can only describe them as "mean girl" issues. I couldn't deal. 

First, I cried (did I mention super pregnant, and super overwhelmed?) Next, I pulled out my computer and typed out the only thing I could think of, "Kindness: The only thing more contagious than the flu!" That was actually the first draft of this bulletin board, y'all! Probably not what people want outside their walls, so it quickly morphed into what you see here.

When I came back from being sick, I reviewed our community expectations with my class. We discussed how we treat others, and how we respond when we see others being treated disrespectfully. We talked about being bold. A word we used all year long. We have discussed being bold as doing the right thing, even when it's hard, even when we know it won't be popular. We are a class that does the right thing, and by doing the right thing, we will make our classroom, our school, and our community better.

So I challenged my kids to be bold. Then I challenged them to look for others showing the character values that we spent so much time practicing all year. And not just to look for them, but to notice them. And when they noticed them, to write them down on these notes, and pin them to the bulletin board. On these notes, they got to highlight who they saw showing kindness, but they did not sign it. This was not meant to be a popularity contest. It was not meant to be friends lifting each other up. I wanted genuine, anonymous responses.

My heart leapt for joy, when within the first few days, our board was already covered in the sweetest notes. My kids were asking if they could spend their recess writing notes of kindness that they witnessed. Kids from other classes started asking if they could write down things that they saw. It was beautiful. My kids were even shouting out teachers, cafeteria workers, and the custodian probably had more notes than anyone. I tried to keep tabs to make sure everyone was being noticed, but our board covered up so quickly that notes were getting pinned on top of each other.

Dummy me, I left for maternity leave without taking a picture of it all beautifully filled, but it's amazing what kids can notice when we provide them with the opportunity!

Want to do this activity in your class? It's a FREEBIE! :)

YOU CAN FIND IT HERE: 

OR PIN IT FOR LATER:

Create a Meaningful Class Birthday Gift

I'm a summer baby, which means that in all of my school years, I never got to have a school birthday party. I'm obviously not over it, since I'm in my early 30's and still feel sad about missing out as a kid!

My first year of teaching, I decided two things. One, every child, even those summer babies, was going to get a party in my class. Everyone deserves a day to be celebrated! And two, I was going to create a handmade gift for each student that showed them how much our class cared about them! I also was a poor teacher, drowning in student loans, teaching at a private school. I needed something cheap, if not free! So I decided we would make a birthday book for each student on their birthdays!

I did this every year that I taught Kindergarten. On each student's birthday, as a whole class, we talked about reason why the birthday kid was special, things we appreciated about him/her, and discussed adjectives that described them. We would make an anchor chart and leave it up all week! The birthday kid always got to color the cover of their birthday book while they listened in as our whole class bragged about them. They usually acted embarrassed (wouldn't we all), but they beamed from ear to ear all day long!

After discussing all the adjectives, characteristics, etc about the birthday kid, I had my class create a page to be added to the birthday book. Depending on the time of year, and the ability of the kid, I game them different tasks. Early on in kinder, I just wanted them to write one word; by the end of the year, I expected a sentence or more, depending on where each student was. After collecting all the pages, I compiled them in to a book. The book book was super simple to assemble. I used a large 12x18 piece of construction paper, folded in half, with the student created pages stapled inside, and the cover that the birthday kid drew glued to the front. About as simple as you can come, right?!

I always scheduled the parties at the end of the day. *I ain't no fool...I know what sugar does to kids!* We would read the birthday book while eating our cupcakes (and then immediately play a movement game to burn off sugar!). As soon as the birthday kid's parent came to pick them up, they were begging their parent to read their birthday book to them! It was beautiful to watch them be so excited about something so simple (and cheap!). I can't promise that the book was treasured forever, but it was certainly impactful in the immediate!

What do you do to make your students feel unique and special on their birthday?

CHECK OUT THE BOOK I USE BY CLICKING HERE:

 

 OR PIN IT FOR LATER:

Why I Still Teach Cursive, and You should too!

A few years ago, my school was contemplating giving up cursive in exchange for keyboarding. I'm all about those 21st century skills (actually, I'm a huge proponent of it...I wrote my masters thesis on technology integration!). There is no denying that we live in a technology driven world where digital literacy, keyboarding, and coding are imperative skills for students to learn. Unfortunately, these are replacing handwriting in many schools. Many policy makers, administrators, teachers, and parents believe that handwriting is a think of the past, an art form rather than a necessary skill to aid in the education of a child. but ya'll, there is actually a plethora of research behind the importance of kids learning cursive! Cursive is absolutely still relevant!

So here are 5 reason that I still teach cursive, and you should too!

1. Quality handwriting increases brain function. Brain research shows that kids with good handwriting activate brain regions associated with cognition, language, and executive functions more than kids with poor handwriting. Quality handwriting comes with practice. Cursive is especially important, because it is a quicker form of writing than print. As kids develop fluency with their writing, they are able to put their thoughts onto paper quicker and more efficiently. (And before you argue that you can type faster than you type...read the next point).

2. Information is processed and retained better when written. There has been an abundance of research that studies the rate of retention for information written versus typed. While students are able to type information quickly, it is an automatic, thoughtless process. As students write, they have to form their own thoughts, by summarizing, paraphrasing, and organizing information. When it comes to retaining information that has been typed or written, students who wrote information perform higher than students who typed information.

3. Cursive is an art form. This is often said as though it's a bad thing. As if art has no place in academia. Art is essential for brain development. It allows kids (and adults alike) to be creative, to express themselves, to be unique, and to take ownership of something personal. Art can also have a calming effect on our brains and help relieve stress. As kids practice cursive writing, they must focus on the fluid motions of the letters, the connections, etc, and this activates different parts of their brain.

4. Cursive helps develop fine motor skills. This goes along with the previous point. Handwriting, and cursive specifically, requires us to use and develop different hand muscles than keyboarding would. Additionally, as these muscles are used, they send signals to the brain, similar to whey you learn to play an instrument. The signals sent between your hand and your brain when writing are stronger and more developed than with typing. Research has shown that students with good handwriting also have more confidence and perform higher on evaluations.

5. So kids can read artifacts of the past  Ok. this might be a completely selfish point here, but I want for kids to be able to interpret historical documents. I want them to be able to read cards from their grandma. I want students to be able to sign documents. I want for students to be able to connect to the past! In our never-ending quest to move forward, we shouldn't completely forget about the past!

Honestly, I love teaching cursive. When I was a kindergarten teacher, my students were constantly begging to learn cursive, so when I moved to third grade, it was a dream! Except, the only cursive curriculum I could find looked like it belonged in 1983!

Like any rational person would, I grabbed my computer and took on the challenge of making a cursive handwriting book that looked like it belonged in this decade! I'm pretty excited with how this turned out! You can check it out by clicking the pictures below. :)

Do you think cursive is a thing of the past or do you think that it still has a place in schools? Let me know in the comments!

Why I Teach Class Values Instead of Rules

Confession: I don't have any rules in my classroom. Not a single one.

Before you roll your eyes, hear me out...

My son is 3. Which means that he is the master of taking what you say he can't do, and looking for loopholes to see how far he can push the boundary that's been set. Sound familiar? He is only three and he does this, which means darn tooting the kids in your class will do it too! Let's be real, how many times in school did your teacher tell you that you needed to write enough to fill a paper front and back, so you wrote in your biggest handwriting and skipped two lines to get done faster? (guilty, here!) Or, have you ever told a kid "keep your hands to yourself" to then watch them elbow someone and say, "but you said to keep my hands to myself, not my elbows." (insert eye roll here). Friends, these are normal kid responses. I mean, even as adults, we find loopholes to the rules.

So...I got rid of rules in my class and I replaced them with expectations. Not just any expectations though; I replaced them with character traits, or as I call them "Our Class Values".

Did you know that research has shown time and time again that kids become what they are told they are?! This gives a whole new urgency in how I want to treat and respond to my students. I wanted to use this to my advantage and and that is where the idea of creating our class values started. These values are things that are a part of our community; a part of who we are and who we will strive to be.

When discussing class values with my students, I obviously have values that I want our class to embody, but I also let my kids choose. We create the list together. We sign a class contract. These values become a part of who we are and who we will strive to be each day. The classroom dynamic takes on a whole new level of ownership for students when it is addressed this way.

This is a class that shows kindness.  

This is a class that dares to be bold.

This is a class that laughs daily. 

This is a class that thinks critically. 

This is a class that works hard.

This is a class that learns from our mistakes.

This is a class that gives generously.

This is a class that shares selflessly.

This is a class that respects others.

This is a class that cares deeply.

This is who we are.

I made these banners (above) to serve as visual reminders of who we are. They are simple, but I printed them on my favorite Astrobrights paper to make them pop. They hang in the front of our classroom where they are always within our view. I deliberately chose to frame the wording as "This is a class that..." because I don't want them to be seen as rules. I don't want it to be seen as "do this, do that". I don't want kids to look for loopholes or exceptions. I want them to be seen as, "This is who we are", because research shows that if you tell a kid they are something enough times, they will actually become it!

*This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure statement to learn more* 


Please note: I hate that I even have to add this to my blog post, but it has been happening repeatedly, and it honestly feels hurtful and violating. You may not take the information in this blog post and/or recreate this product for any commercial purpose. This includes, but is not limited to freebies or items for sale on TpT, your blog, a Facebook group, or a website. This is a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. It violates my intellectual property, and it is just plain rude.

GRAB THESE BANNERS BY CLICKING HERE:
There are 15 ready to print banners and an editable template to add your own.

OR PIN THEM FOR LATER:

Spring Break Vibes

Y'all, I love me some spring break. Like loooooove spring break! But, I miss my kids. All of them. Even the kids that make me want to rip my hair out and visit my favorite Mexican restaurant for a Cadillac Margarita by 9 am. ;) I miss them!

I wanted to leave them a little something, something when they came back. When I walked through the Easter candy and saw these little Peeps, I knew what it was going to be!

These have been my "welcome back" treat for 3 years now, and they are a hit every time (even if some kids don't get the pun!). Some years, I write personalized notes, some years, I just don't quite have enough time and kids are 100% satisfied with candy and a cute note. Either way, it's one more way that I can make an effort to encourage my kids and make them feel loved.

What are some things you do to make your kids feel loved? I'd love to hear them in the comments!

Interested in welcoming your students back from break in the same punny style I do? You can grab these notes and nearly 100 others by clicking the image below!

Social Media Icons

    

Spook Menu-A Halloween Tradition

I was blessed to grow up with the worlds sweetest grandmother. She was the most loving, tender, sincere woman you could ever meet. You couldn't be around her and not feel deeply loved; no matter who you were or where you came from. She loved people. She loved spending time with people. It is from her that I truly learned that the most important gift you can give someone is the gift of time. My grandmother gave her time generously. I think her favorite time of year was fall/winter, because it was Holiday season, which meant that there were many opportunities for family to get together. So many of my favorite memories with her are sitting around her table enjoying food and cards.

Spook Menu was a Halloween tradition in my family. Around Halloween, my grandmother would  invite us all over for dinner. She would serve ordinary foods; however, she game them new, spooky, names. Before dinner started, my grandmother would read the Spook Menu (think restaurant menu...usually she wrote it on a Halloween card) and we would learn the new spooky names for our food. Throughout dinner, if you wanted something passed to you, you would have to ask for it by it's assigned spooky name.

That was basically it...normal foods with new names; but to a kid, this is exciting, ya'll! Obviously, if you are a creative type, and you want to make unique foods, like rolls in the shape of skeleton heads...you could take this idea and run with it! However, if you are like me and you aren't exactly sure the last time you took a shower, then you can create this tradition with chicken nuggets and mac and cheese!

My grandmother passed away nearly two years ago and it's holidays like this that make me miss her terribly. My son is now three and is at the perfect age for this to be an exciting tradition for him. I am excited to share this tradition with him and watch it unfold with the next generation.

Here is our menu (and spooky names) for this year:
BBQ Werewold: Teryaki Chicken
Pumpkin Guts: Mac & Cheese
Ghost Poop: Potatoes
Mummy Pillows: Rolls
Zombie Skin: Salad
Goblin Fingers: Pineapple
Bat Hearts: Olives
Jack O'Lantern Teeth: Corn
Witch Warts: Carrots
Teryaki Sauce: Werewolf Blood
Frankenstein Seasonings: Salad Dressing
Casper's Breath: Milk
Witches Brew: Apple Cider
Frankenstein's Delight: Beer
Owl Pellets: Chocolate Chip Coookies
Spider Eggs: Brownies

Part of the fun in the tradition is mixing it up each year. Next years menu will be completely different from this year. Have more ideas for spooky food names? I'd love to hear them in the comments!

Postcard Exchange

Last summer, I saw this post on Facebook about a Postcard Exchange. I had never done one before, but was instantly intrigued by the idea of my kiddos getting a postcard from each state around the US. I quickly signed us up for Oregon and then started to worry about what I had gotten myself into! Am I the only one around here who acts first and thinks second?!

How to Create a Simple Silhouette

I'm a 30 something and my mom still has those gifts I made at school as a kid in a box. You better believe that my family Christmas tree is still decorated from school projects from my childhood (anyone else?!). Moms are sentimental people, ya'll! So I know how important it is to have kids make something sweet for moms in school. But I have 30+ students, a limited budged, small children of my own, not a lot of time... Ya'll, I need simple (and cheap) projects in my life!
Silhouettes are one of my all time favorite projects to do with students. I often do them for Mother's Day gifts in the spring, but really you can do them with any holiday/theme/occasion. Most recently, I made a patriotic version for Veteran's Day. They are virtually free and snapshot a moment in a kids life that can be looked back on decades later. And if you have a bigger budget (or smaller class) you can add in a Dollar Store frame and make them a true keepsake for moms (or grandmas, or aunts, or dads, or whoever fills the "mom" role!)