There's Only One You

 
We started off the school year with a community building project inspired by the book, Only One You written by Linda Kranz.

I visited each class to read the beautiful book and discuss the powerful words of wisdom Adri's parents teach him throughout the pictures.  Some important themes discussed include:

• Always be on the lookout for a new friend.
• Look for beauty wherever you are, and keep the memory of it with you.
• Blend in when you need to, stand out when you have the chance.
• Find your own way. You don't have to follow the crowd.
• Know when to speak; know when to listen.
• No matter how you look at it, there is so much to discover.
• If you make a wrong turn, circle back.
• If something gets in your way, move around it.
• Set aside some quiet time to relax and reflect. Every day.
• Appreciate art. It's all around you!
• Make wishes on the stars in the nighttime sky.
• THERE'S ONLY ONE YOU IN THIS GREAT BIG WORLD, MAKE IT A BETTER PLACE!

I focused and spent time discussing different pages depending on what was relevant for each grade level.  For example, "Know when to speak; know when to listen" was more pertinent in the lower grades while "Find your own way, you don't have to follow the crowd" was relevant in the upper grades.  After reading the story I explained the schoolwide project we were beginning: painting their OWN unique rock!  Students were able to brainstorm different designs to plan how their rock would look.

Each Lee student created a unique rock fish to beautify our campus.  Our school of fish represents the diversity and acceptance of others as unique individuals.  By respecting individuality, we can each make a difference in our own lives and the lives of those around us.  Trasi Judd, an artistically talented parent at our school, joined me in each class to help students design a fish to represent themselves.

 

Some different tips Trasi showed the students to create expression!

Here is our Rock Fish Garden in progress...

 50 Kindergarteners rocks

3rd-5th begin appearing

 Sign is up!

 

Our school of fish is growing! 

And...the final product:

Monster Feelings

In kindergarten this week we began discussing feelings.  I started by asking, "What are feelings?" and let the students practice raising their hands and waiting patiently to be called on (an important skill to reinforce from day one!).  Many feelings were named including lonely, sad, mad, happy, tired, nervous, etc.  Then I introduced our read aloud for the day, Glad Monster Sad Monster written by Ed Emberley and Anne Miranda.

Glad Monster Sad Monster is a book about feelings that uses funny monster masks the reader can try on, while giving examples of times when you might experience a certain feeling.  The kids loved seeing how my nose poked out the monster's nose on the mask!  For example, the yellow monster is glad when he gets to open presents and slurp ice cream.  While reading the story I paused to ask students if they would feel the same way the monsters do.  I also asked about what kinds of things they do that make them experience that same feeling. 

After the story I showed them a poster highlighting the different monster feelings we saw in the story.  I asked them to tell me how we knew how each monster was feeling.  We discussed that looking at facial expressions can let us know how someone else might be feeling.  I explained that we have to use facial expressions as clues to help us figure out how others might be feeling.

Finally we made our own monster feeling masks!  Using paper plates, die cute construction paper and googley eyes, the students created a face to describe how they were feeling at that moment.  Here are some of their creations: