Don't Break the Ice with Worries

Over Spring Break I was able to attend one of Pam Dyson's trainings on "Play Therapy for Grieving Children" through the DFW Center for Play Therapy Training.  I was truly inspired by all the directive techniques I could add to my toolbox for students at our school.  One such idea was the incorporation of the game "Don't Break the Ice" in such a simple and easy way.  Inspired by Sueann Kenney-Noziska's idea on Play Therapy Corner, Pam created an activity for children that helped open them up about their grief. Children knock pieces of ice out of the ice rink and answer questions based on which ice piece fell.  At this training the game was targeted at children opening up about their grief and loss, but I thought I could easily tweak it for my anxious kiddos.

It's extremely easy to create your own version and add therapeutic value.  The first step is taking all of the "ice" pieces and adding a colored sticker to the bottom of them.  Pam used those gold foil star stickers, I chose to use bright colored Avery circle labels because I had plenty of those on hand.  There are 32 total ice pieces and 1 large ice piece for the skater.  I decided upon 4 different prompts for our discussion about worries, so that evenly divided up the stickers into 8 per color.  On the large ice piece I put 1 of each color so they could pick.  When the ice is turned over for the game, students cannot tell which color is underneath the piece of ice.

Then I created the question card.  Instead of making 32 individual question cards, I chose to simplify our discussion to 4 prompts that could easily be answered numerous times.  You could definitely make a variety of questions and color-code the stacks of cards.  I thought about which 4 prompts would help students share/vent about their worries, discuss what happens in their body, receive validation, brainstorm helpful techniques for coping and also discover that other students had similar experiences.  This is what I came up with, you can download a copy here (don't forget to add colored stickers that are on your ice pieces):

The game was such a success we played it numerous times.  Students even came up with fun variations on the rules for when more than one ice piece fell.  Incorporating games into your work with children creates a safe and engaging platform to help them feel comfortable in opening up.  I hope you have as much fun with your children as I did!

Our New PEACE PATH!!!

Our SEL Department developed a Peace Path that students can use in the classroom to help resolve conflict with their peers.  You can take a look of how it works as part of our Peace Areas at Lee Elementary here.  While this is a great tool for students to use while they're in the classroom, students are left stranded out on the playground when they have conflict.  After campuses inquired about how to translate these skills to the outdoor playgrounds, our SEL department created stencils to create a sidewalk Peace Path (thank you, thank you, thank you)!

Here is a quick video I took walking through the Peace Path so you can see each of the steps.


It took 3-4 hours over 2 days to create the finished product with two people, myself and Joelle Andrew - an amazing parent volunteer/super hero.  :)  

Our playground Peace Path provides students, teachers and our entire campus a space and a method that is safe, sincere, and easy to follow for conflict resolution.  It is another effort towards student empowerment to self-regulate and solve their problems.  Ours is strategically placed between 2 of our playgrounds and has already been a huge hit with the Roadrunners!

Once completed I took out each class to teach them how to use it.  We began by brainstorming common problems that happen with our friends out on the playground:

I had students pair up and brainstorm a "problem" to resolve with their partner, real or fake.   Then we headed outside to practice!

Our Peace Path has been a huge success!  Not only are teachers on board and helping students through conflict resolution steps at recess, but children are initiating its use during our aftercare program and kids have even been caught & featured on Instagram!
 
Here are some individual shots of each step:

Teamwork in 3rd Grade: Cup Stack

In third grade we've spent a lot of time on building positive relationships with each other.  We've noticed that the majority of conflict with these kiddos continues to happen outside at recess in less structured activities.  After our last lesson on being good sports, I decided we needed to strengthen our teamwork skills.  And what better way to do this than with the Cup Stack Challenge!

We began by clearly defining what we thought TEAMWORK is.  Then I broke the news that I was going to give them a very frustrating challenge today.  But, if they utilized the teamwork skills we just discussed - then they would find it less frustrating and be very successful.  They had 2 separate sculptures to build with 6 cups, 1 rubber band and 4 strings.  The only thing they could touch was their string.  If the cups rolled off the table, they went down to the ground as a group and used teamwork to get it back on the table.  If their elbow accidentally bumped cups already in formation, they had to pick that cup back up using only the manipulation of their groups strings.

After about 15 minutes most groups had created the first sculpture, and a couple groups were finishing their second design.  I left time for us to debrief on the experience since it is always an activity that brings up a wide range of emotions.  I ask them to rate their group on how well they worked together using the ideas we wrote at the beginning of the lesson.  I ask them what went well for their group.  I also ask them what didn't go well for their group.  We talk about different strategies and ways we an handle ourselves when things don't go the way we want them to.  Throughout the activity I walk around and facilitate positive communication, so I usually have a few examples to help springboard the discussion. 

Habit 6: Synergize

I have been waiting to teach Habit 6 to our fifth graders because team building activities are my favorite activities to do with groups of kids!  Habit 6 is all about the we, not the I.

Together Is Better:

I value other people’s strengths and learn from them. I get along well with others, even people who are different than me. I work well in groups. I seek out other people’s ideas to solve problems because I know that by teaming with others we can create better solutions than anyone of us can alone. I am humble.

To begin, we each did a personality assessment that I found available to download here.  Students rank themselves on the qualities they feel are most important to them across each row.  It is important to learn about your own strengths and weaknesses so you can function best in a group.  It is also important to learn about your group member's strengths and weaknesses so you can function best in a group.

After we all figured out which "fruit" best described our personality, I told them which fruit they would be paired up with for a group challenge.  They read through their partner's descriptions to think about ways that would improve their teamwork and communication skills.  Then I introduced the challenge...the LEANING TOWER OF FEETZA!

I found this free activity on a great website filled with team building activities, Playmeo.  I typed up a quick synopsis to explain the goal of the activity, and with such a simple task (or so we all had thought), I set them off to start right away!

Hilarity ensued, conflict ensued, problem solving ensued, chaos ensued!  We all had a really great time and an even better debrief session on the challenge, on synergizing and on how knowing more about ourselves can make such a different in our everyday interactions with others.

Practicing Listening Skills

Who doesn't need to practice listening skills?

In second grade I planned a lesson to focus on improving our listening skills.  The first activity was a test...but I didn't tell them that.  I handed them each a sheet of paper and asked them to get out 6 different colors to complete the activity with.  I explained that I was going to give them a set of directions to complete, and I was only going to say each instruction once so it was important for them to listen carefully.  If I said "Simon Says" before the instructions they were to do them.  If I didn't say "Simon Says" before the instructions they were not to do them.

Then I went through the following simple steps:

1. Simon says draw a tall blue rectangle.
2. Draw a green triangle in the middle of the blue rectangle for the nose.
3. Simon says draw 3 yellow eyes inside & near the top of the blue rectangle.
4. Simon says draw a bunch of orange triangles to look like hair on top of the rectangle.
5. Draw a red half circle ear on each side of the blue rectangle.
6. Simon says draw a large purple smile toward the bottom, inside the blue rectangle.
7. Draw one black arm coming out from each side of the rectangle.

This is what I ended up with:

Here are some examples of what they came up with:

We quickly realized that some our drawings were dramatically different.  I explained to them that they can see how well they listened based on how close their drawing resembles mine.

Then I read The Worst Day of My Life Ever by Julia Cook.  In this story, the main character has difficulty listening and following directions.  Students easily tied the ideas in this book to Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, but what's nice about this story is he has an opportunity to fix it.

 
For our second activity we were going to really need great listening skills, so we brainstormed some tips that could help us be more successful.  We used some of the ideas from the story to help us figure out the skills we needed to succeed.

Now that we were prepared, I introduced the next listening activity.  I pulled out baggies of legos that had matching pieces (same size, same color, same quantity) and they became even more excited.  I explained the simple rules, modeled it with a student, passed out the legos & privacy folders and we began!  You can download the instructions here.

My Mouth is a Volcano

In kindergarten we read My Mouth is a Volcano written by Julia Cook.  Toward the beginning of the year we read another story about interrupting (see post here) but it's always a good reminder to reinforce appropriate social skills.  Students enjoy this book and end up laughing at the predictable sequence that occurs each time he has a thought - words pop into his head, slide down his tongue, rumble in his tummy, get pushed by his tongue and erupt!  It is only when he is interrupted by others that he starts to feel the effects and changes his behavior.

After the story we brainstormed ideas that we can try when we are about to "erupt."  We wrote them erupting out of a volcano!

Then I had students pick an idea that they would try when they're about to erupt, and write it on this cute printable from Miss Gibson you can download here.