Valentines Postcards for Veterans

In conjunction with Random Acts of Kindness Week, our first grade students wrote Valentines Postcards for our local Veterans.  The Austin VA Outpatient Clinic contacted our school asking for students to make Valentines for their patients.  The clinic is 184,000 square feet - the largest, free-standing VA outpatient clinic in the nation!  Although we couldn't arrange a visit to hand-deliver these unique messages, I know that our positive thoughts will bring a smile to their faces when they arrive.

We first talked about who Veterans are and I reminded students about our Veteran's Day Ceremony we had in the fall around the flagpole in front of our school.  Many students shared stories about their own family members serving in our nation's military.  We brainstormed which ideas would be nice to write in our postcards.  Students thought about what personal message they would like, then decorated the themed designs on the front to make them extra special.  I will be mailing their Valentines to arrive on time for Valentines Day on this Friday, February 14th.

Update: We received a nice thank you letter...

The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty Videos

 

Imagine a World Where Beauty is a Source of Confidence, Not Anxiety

 

The Dove^® brand is rooted in listening to women. Based on the findings of a major global study, The Real Truth About Beauty: A Global Report, Dove^® launched the Campaign for Real Beauty in 2004. The campaign started a global conversation about the need for a wider definition of beauty after the study proved the hypothesis that the definition of beauty had become limiting and unattainable. Among the study’s findings was the statistic that only 2% of women around the world would describe themselves as beautiful. Since 2004, Dove^® has employed various communications vehicles to challenge beauty stereotypes and invite women to join a discussion about beauty.  In 2010, Dove^® evolved the campaign and launched an unprecedented effort to make beauty a source of confidence, not anxiety, with the Dove^® Movement for Self-Esteem.

The following videos are from The Dove^® Campaign for Real Beauty.  I used them as a springboard to a discussion with my 6th grade girls about self-esteem and the way the media shapes the way we think about beauty.  Enjoy and be inspired. 

Bucket Filling from A to Z

Last year I read Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud to many of my classes.  This year I found a great sequel to expand on the idea, Bucket Filling from A to Z by Carol McCloud.

I usually introduce bucket filling at the beginning of the school year to promote community, however this year I thought it would be a great reinforcement during Random Acts of Kindness Week.  This video is a great summary of how bucket filling works...



Inspired by fellow counselor and friend, Sheila Wessels, I used Bucket Filling from A to Z to get our students thinking about what they can do to be bucket fillers.  I found colorful foam letters that students glued to heavy white construction paper to spell out their names.  Then they created an acrostic to describe different ways to be kind using each of the letters in their names.  I was overly impressed by how creative and thoughtful they were!

 

 

Random Acts of Kindness Week 2014

Research shows that students who learn in a positive classroom environment have a better school experience.  They earn higher test scores, learn new skills at a faster rate and are overall happier at school.  To help schools across the country build and sustain positive classroom environments, The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation developed a series of activities to teach kindness in the classroom and school wide.  Practicing kindness in the classroom transforms kids, which leads to positive learning environments.

During the week of Feb 10-14, we will be promoting kindness at Lee Elementary.  Students will be completing a series of random/secret acts of kindness toward those they care about and respect at school and at home.  This is a week where our students take initiative to thank those around us and participate in a pay it forward effort to make the world a better place.

Posters are hung around our school that display kind quotes and simple ideas to try throughout the week.

Upper grade students are on a secret mission to perform one kind act a day throughout this week.

Lower grade students are filling up a bingo board with kind acts they do for others throughout this week.

We also have morning announcements each day that suggest easy ideas for students to try.  In addition to learning about bucket filling, some grade levels will be creating Valentine Postcards that will be sent to the Austin VA Outpatient Clinic to thank our Veterans for their service to our Country.

Click here to read about activities Lee students participated in during RAK week 2013.

Don't Be An Interrupting Chicken

In kindergarten we are continuing to work on appropriately using our voices, see My Mouth is a Volcano post, and not interrupting when others are talking.  I found another adorable picture book that clearly illustrates the difficulty of having self control.

What's nice about Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein is that it easily opens up a discussion about why we interrupt.  In the story, the little red chicken tries to help the characters in the fairy tales out by spoiling the ending.  Children are often told "Don't Interrupt!" but not explicitly taught alternatives.  After reading the hilarious story, we thought about the reasons why we interrupt.  It was easy to use the little chicken in the story as a springboard for this discussion.  Then, we came up with alternatives for when we're tempted to shout out what we're thinking.

Students then completed a handout that had them think about why the little chicken interrupted her papa's story telling.  They came up with 3 ideas the chicken could try next time.