We've been bitten by the Tease Monsters

In third grade we read the story Tease Monster by Julia Cook.  This story does a great job explaining that teasing is a part of everyone's life, but there is teasing that takes away from our life & teasing that adds to our life.  We join "one-of-a-kind" as he figures out which teasing is good-natured and which teasing is hurtful.

Afterword we discussed how we can tell the difference and tips to consider before we tease.  I used many personal examples to show students how very different our feelings can be when it comes to teasing.

Union is Strength

In one of our second grade classes students haven been struggling to make good choices.  Unfortunately it is not all the students in the class that are having difficulty, but the few that are earn negative consequences for the entire class.  Frustrated, some students approached me about ideas they could implement with their class for a positive change.  I welcomed this invitation and scheduled a time to come process their feelings and frustrations. 

I started by showing them the following video, which has 3 separate clips:


I then asked them about the message in each of the clips, what did they have in common?  Students responded with working together, teamwork, helping each other out, listening to each other, protecting each other, etc.  This was a springboard into our discussion of the key to being successful as a group: teamwork.  We talked about the behaviors that happen during lunchtime, specials, transitioning in the hallways, etc. and how we could put a stop to it.  Here is what they came up with:

Free Thanksgiving Meals

2013 Thanksgiving Meals in Austin:

LBJ High School Thanksgiving meal. Provides a Thanksgiving meal for people in the community. 2013 meal will be held Thur, Nov 21, 2013 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm. Meal will be held in the school cafeteria. Walk-ins accepted, no documents required.  7309 Lazy Creek Dr., Austin, TX 78724.

Givens Rec  Center Thanksgiving dinner. Provides a free annual Thanksgiving meal for the community.
2013 THANKSGIVING MEAL: Sat, Nov 23, 2013 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Walk-ins accepted; no sign-up required. No documents required.  3811 E. 12^th St., Austin, TX 78721.

Cantu/Pan Am Rec Center Thanksgiving meal. Provides a free Thanksgiving meal to people in the community. 2013 THANKSGIVING MEAL: Sat, Nov 23, 2013 11:00 am - 2:00 pm. People start getting in  line around 9:00am or 9:30am.  Walk-ins accepted, no documents required. 2100 E 3^rd St., Austin, TX 78702.

Rosewood-Zaragosa Neighborhood Center Thanksgiving Luncheon. Provides a Thanksgiving Meal for the community; sponsored by Mt. Carmel Grand Lodge. 2013 Event will take place on Sat, Nov 23, 2013, 11:00 am - 1:00 pm. Walk-ins accepted, no documents required. 2800 Webberville Rd, Austin, TX 78702.

First Baptist Church Thanksgiving meal. Provides a free Thanksgiving meal to the community, on Mon, Nov 25, 2013 from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm. Suggested to arrive early. Location: First Baptist Church, 901 Trinity St, Austin, TX 78701. Walk-ins welcome; no sign-up required, no documents required.

Pickle Elementary School Thanksgiving meal. Provides a Thanksgiving meal for the St. John community.
2013 Thanksgiving meal will be held Mon, Nov 25, 2013 6:00 pm -7:30 pm. Meal will be held inside the school cafeteria.  Open to St. John’s community members. Walk-ins welcome, no documents required. 1101 Wheatley, Austin, TX 78752.

Virginia L. Brown Rec Center Thanksgiving meal. Provides an annual Thanksgiving meal for the community.2013 THANKSGIVING MEAL: Mon, Nov 25, 2013, 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm. Location: 7500 Blessing Ave., Austin, TX 78752. Walk-ins welcome, no documents required.

HEB  Feast at Palmer Center.  Nov. 26, 4-8PM

Baptist Community Center Thanksgiving dinner. Provide a Thanksgiving Meal for the community. 2013 Thanksgiving meal will be held Wed, Nov 27, 2013, 1:00 pm - 6:00 pm. Walk-ins welcome, no documents required. 2000 E. 2^nd St., Austin, TX 78702.

Salvation Army Thanksgiving meal. Provides a Thanksgiving meal for the community at the main location at 501 E. 8th St., Austin, TX 78701, on Wednesday Nov 27, 2013 from 12:00pm - 4:00pm. Walk-ins accepted.

St. Louis Catholic Church Feast of Giving. Provides a Thanksgiving Day meal for anyone in the community at the annual Feast of Giving, located at: St. Louis Catholic Church Wozniak Hall, 7601 Burnet Rd, Austin TX 78757. 2013 Feast of Giving: Thanksgiving Day, Thur Nov 28, 2013 11:00 am - 2:00 pm or until food runs out. Walk-ins accepted, no documents required.

Conflict with The Zax

Conflict is a normal thing that happens in life when two or more people disagree about something.  I read The Zax by Dr. Seuss because it is a short & sweet, perfect example of conflict.  There is a north-going Zax and a south-going Zax that both refuse to stray from their path when they bump into each other.  They try to resolve their conflict by yelling and each refusing to move...for 59 years!  Students cannot believe the Zax have not heard of Kelso's choices and immediately start offering up suggestions.

We focused on "Talk It Out" as our Kelso strategy for this lesson.  I explained to students that by using "I Messages" we can let others know how we are feeling and why their behavior is causing this to happen.  We also learned how to respond empathically with "You Statements," showing the other that we are listening and will try something different to fix the problem.  We modeled this communication by using the Kelso and Lilly puppets and real problems that they have experienced.  In addition to practicing a couple of scenarios, we noticed that there are some similarities in each of the statements (feeling, behavior).

Next students were charged with helping these poor Zax talk it out.  They each received a handout with 2 speech bubbles and a list of feelings faces on the back.  Here is what they came up with:

Middle School Presentation

Please join us on Thursday, November 14th at 8am in our cafeteria for a presentation from the local magnet middle schools.

Here are important dates:

Feeling Left Out with Friends

It's happened to all of us at some point in our lives.  We make a great friend and we become inseparable.  Then one day our friend hangs out with someone else and we feel left out.  In the story Flabbersmashed About You written by Rachel Vail, we witness this all-to-common playground occurrence.

At first students reactions are that Jennifer is being mean when she plays with another student, but when we look at it closer, she isn't doing anything hurtful.  This is what happens when we feel left out, we quickly jump to blame the other person for hurting our feelings.  We discussed that it's okay when friends want to play with someone different or play a different game than usual.  We can ask to play with them or invite them to play with us altogether.  We can find new friends to play with.  Just because a friend plays with someone different, it doesn't mean that they aren't our friend any more.  If we're feeling neglected we can suggest a play date.

I then told them about Kelso's recent problem:

Dear Lee Students,

I have two friends who want to play with me at recess.  I feel like I'm stuck in the middle.  If I play with one friend, the other feels bad.  What should I do???

Sincerely, Kelso

Using our discussion as a springboard, students wrote letters to help Kelso figure out his next steps:
 

Letters in Response to Kelso's Problem:
 

Manners: The Monster Who Lost His Mean

In kindergarten we read a cute book called The Monster Who Lost His Mean written by Tiffany Strelitz Haber and Kirstie Edmunds.  In this story the Monster loses his "M" which is his "Meanness."  He is faced with teasing and exclusion from fellow monsters because he is now only an "Onster."  As an onster he is kind, helpful and makes many new friends.  This story explicitly teaches children the difference between kind and unkind behaviors.

After the story we sorted cartoon monsters into 2 groups, kind behaviors and not kind behaviors.  I found these great monsters available for download on File Folder Fun.

Students then were asked to come up with their own kind phrases and write them on their monster sheet: