End of the Year

Each year I try to end on a good note with the teachers. They are such a huge part of making my program successful and many of them make sacrifices to their own time in order to reinforce my lesson topics beyond my brief sessions with students.

This year, I took my final lesson time to make a class gift for the teacher. The students used their thumbs and an ink pad to add colorful "leaves" to the tree I created ahead of time. The resulting artwork was attractive and many teachers got teary-eyed when I gave them their gift. This was an activity that was definitely worth the time and effort.

Here is the finished product. Full-disclosure, I got the idea from Pinterest (I'm actually incapable of coming up with good ideas on my own now that I have a Pinterest account!) You can find the original idea here.

Kindness: Being a Bucket-Filler

One of my big topics each year is kindness. Treating each other with kindness is a great way to make friends and solve problems before they start. A lesson that was a real winner was a lesson I did about being Bucket-Fillers.

I read a book to each class to start off the lesson:

• Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud (K-1st)
• How Full Is Your Bucket? (For Kids) by Tom Rath and Mary Reckmeyer (2nd-4th)

Then we did a bucket filling game. I did the game Minute-to-Win-It style. I had a bucket (on which I drew a smiley face), a stopwatch, and about 20 wads of paper made out of colorful copy paper or construction paper. The object of the game was to toss as many paper wads into the bucket as possible in the minute. Then, for each paper wad that made it into the bucket, the class had to give an idea of something kind they could do to fill someone's bucket. They could choose an idea for bucket filling at school, home, or in the community. 

This lesson was such a hit that I had students asking to repeat it for later lessons. 

International Day of Peace -- September 21st

Each year on or around September 21, my school district takes part in the International Day of Peace. Our art teachers create an art piece reflecting peace (this year it was a variety of different styles of peace symbol, past years included a Pinwheels for Peace project). Classroom teachers talk about it during the week leading up to the 21st and I do a lesson focused entirely on this important international date.

This year I used a fantastically clever book called Priscilla McDoodleNut Doodle McMae Asks Why? by Janet Mary Sinke. This story shows to warring kings who are fighting over which color of hair was superior. Priscilla, the heroine of the story, had the courage to ask "why?" and it led to changes in her nation.

I challenge the students each year that they, too, can change the world. The rest of the lesson focuses on the Random Acts of Kindness challenge they will take up as a way to celebrate Peace Week. There are many ideas for this on the web, including the website: https://www.randomactsofkindness.org/

I challenged students to spread kindness as a family activity. Here is the sheet I sent home: