6th Graders Encouraging our Newest Test Takers

Each time spring rolls around the topic of our standardized test, STAAR, begins to enter the conversations of our students at Lee Elementary.  Since we have some resident experts on the ins & outs of what the STAAR test is really like, I thought it would be a good idea for them to impart their knowledge onto our newest test takers: 3rd graders!  I typed up a list of all of our 3rd graders and then our 6th graders picked 2-3 to write an encouraging letter to.  They could write encouraging words, test taking tips, confidence boosters and any idea that they thought would help lower their anxiety about testing.  We had a great conversation about empathy and tried to remember back to when it was our first time taking the STAAR test or even how we feel now about it.  Once all of the letters were all written onto colorful bordered stationary, I put them into an "Special Delivery" envelope from the White House (also our nickname for the house beside our school that 6th grade is housed in) and delivered them to their homeroom teachers for students to receive before the test.

Grumpy Cat Visits Ms. Sepp

One of our 5th grade students came up with such a creative idea that I had to share!  We were talking about some of the other silly animal pictures with puns I have outside of my office and how it'd be fun to find one about Grumpy Cat seeing the counselor.

A few days later a large poster arrived in my office, created by the same 5th grader I had chatted with previously, and I was amazed by her creativity and initiative.  Check out what is now hanging outside my office:

Teamwork & Sportsmanship

In second grade we worked on teamwork and sportsmanship this week.  By introducing this topic early, I hope to be preventative in the increasing number of playground conflicts that happen as they develop.  I found this great video that shows 3 different examples of teamwork:


We brainstormed ideas that we saw in the video.  How did the animals show teamwork?  How did the animals show great sportsmanship in their challenges?  How can we show these skills when we're playing with each other or learning in the classroom?

After our discussion, we played one of my favorite games, Transformation Rock Paper Scissors!  I recently played this with third grade, you can check it out here.  I can't take all of the credit, I stumbled across this fun game here.  

I left a few minutes at the end of the lesson to process how we each did with teamwork and sportsmanship.  What went well?  What do we need to work on for next time?  Are there any rules we should take out or add to make the game more successful?

Fairness & Compromising

In kindergarten we read You Get What You Get written by Julie Gassman.  I could hardly get past reading the title without students shouting out, "And you don't throw a fit!"  This short and sweet story shows how one little squirrel follows this rule at school but has a difficult time following the rule at home.  He accidentally lets "the cat out of the bag" with this school rule, and his family jumps on the opportunity to implement it at home as well.

We brainstormed what fairness is and many students felt that it is everyone getting the same thing.  (The blue pen represents changes we made after the different activities)  I asked them if they've ever said, "That's unfair!" before and how they knew that something was unfair.  We talked about our feelings that bubble up when we think something that happens isn't fair.

I then introduced a few activities to challenge their idea of fairness.  I had everyone sit around in a big circle around the carpet.  Then I chose 4 volunteers to create a "fishbowl" for modeling.  I had them sit inside the larger circle in a smaller circle that everyone could observe.  I passed out 12 different erasers unevenly (on purpose) to each of the students.  Some of the students ended up with only a little and others with a lot.  I asked them if the way I passed them out was fair.  They had lots of qualms about how I divided it up.  I asked them to redistribute the erasers in a way that they felt was fair.  After many attempts, they eventually came up with a solution and we debriefed how it went.

I asked them questions such as,

• What did you think of the activity?
• Did you have more or less erasers then you had at the beginning?
• By the end did you think it was fair?
• Is it always possible to share things fairly?

I introduced the concept of compromising.  What our 4 volunteers just did is called a compromise.  Compromising is something we do when different people want different things.  Compromise is finding a win-win solution.  I asked them about a couple of scenarios to test their compromising skills:

• You want to watch a cartoon, but your brother wants to watch a movie
• You want to carve a scary Jack O'Lantern, but your sister wants to give it a silly face
• You want to go swimming, but your friend wants to ride bikes

I then started a second activity to further expand their knowledge of fairness.  This time I asked 3 volunteers to come up to the front of the room to be my actors.  I told each of them that they were going to act out a different injury.  The first student had a broken arm (so they held their arm with a pained look), the second student had a scratch on their arm (so they looked at that part of their arm) and the third student had a sore throat (so they coughed and asked for water).  I then pulled out 3 band-aids.

I told them that I wanted things to be fair, so they were each going to get the same medical treatment.  I put a band-aid on the broken arm, the scratched arm and the sore throat.  Then I asked the class, was this fair?  They were rolling around in laughter about how ridiculous I was.  I reinforced that they said fairness means everyone getting the same thing, so I gave them each the same thing - what was wrong?  After a little more discussion we came up with a compromise that fairness isn't about everyone getting the same thing, but rather everyone getting what they need.  Sometimes this might mean different people will receive different things.  We also learned that Ms. Sepp would not be a very good nurse. :)

Counselor Appreciation Week Feb 2-6

I have been so SPOILED this week!  I've felt extremely appreciated and I've loved receiving notes from staff members, homemade cards from students, books, posters, lunch, iced tea, candy, videos, songs, hugs, collages and so much much more!  I am so lucky to work with each and every one of you at Lee Elementary and I want to thank everyone for supporting me and trusting me with your kiddos.

Here are a few pics from the week:

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.