A New Year and a Kind Heart

It’s hard to believe, but Monday we began our 3rd week of school! Incredible how fast time flies… especially when you have been as busy as we have. Our first week, was pure CRAZINESS! Between collecting supplies, getting to know each other, going over the rules, collecting more supplies, labeling folders and notebooks, going over classroom procedures, and collecting you guessed it… more supplies… (Please tell me you are as excited as I am to be DONE COLLECTING SUPPLIES! ) The first week was finally over. {Please don’t think I’m a mess when it comes to supplies. I do actually have a system that I’m going to be sharing with you really soon!} One of the big problems I find with supplies is that they seem to trickle in during the first few days. And as a parent I totally get not wanting my child to carry half of Office Max in his/her book bag after a long restful summer. But the teacher in me just wants to be done with it all. Can you relate? Ok so besides supplies, we have also been learning all about being RESPONSIBLE, RESPECTFUL, TRUSTWORTHY, FAIR, CARING, PATIENT, PERSEVERANT, and how to be GOOD CITIZENs. We read stories that matched beautifully with each trait and we discussed what characters did right and even what some did wrong. (Lilly’s Plastic Purse and Angel Child, Dragon Child were classroom hits!) We then completed several flap books from my Character Education Unit which can be found here. We had a great time reading different scenarios and writing about how we could be caring and a good citizen. I really enjoyed reading my students’ responses and these scenarios actually led to many interesting class discussions. Stay tuned for another post with more details on this unit coming soon! Right along with our study about being caring, I did an activity with my kiddos that I call “Having a Kind Heart”. I found the idea while searching on Pinterest.(I’m not sure who the author is, but if you’ve seen this before and know who I’m talking about, please share with me so that I can give them the proper credit.) This activity is really easy to put together and really touched many of my kids. Their faces were priceless… All you need is a red heart cut out of construction paper (Make sure that it’s width is not larger than a sheet of paper.), a white sheet of paper, and glue. Basically, I made up a story on the spot about a boy named Timmy. I explained how a classmate told Timmy that he couldn’t sit next to them in the cafeteria and how this broke Timmy’s heart. I then ripped a piece of the heart and tossed it to the floor. I continued on with how two of Timmy’s friends teased him in class because he wore glasses. I tore another piece of his heart. I continued with a few more examples and a few more pieces of a broken heart. We then discussed what each classmate did to break a piece of Timmy’s heart and how we could have shown him a “kind heart” instead. As students gave me suggestions, we glued Timmy’s heart back together onto the white paper. It was adorable to hear my kids cheer once Timmy’s heart had been healed :0) I then proceeded to give them their own heart and each student wrote ways that they could have a kind heart towards others. We agreed to put their hearts up in the classroom and to have everyone sign Timmy’s heart as a reminder to have a Kind Heart this year. Now that I’m all weepy thinking about this activity, I think I’ll go hug my own kids now. G-night to all and remember to stay tuned for my upcoming posts.