RESULTS of MOVIE NIGHT

RESULTS of Mother Daughter Movie Night...........

Successes

*approximately 6 students along with their moms came

*Library proved big enough

*ENO board was easy to operate (was worried about that one!)
*we ordered enough pizza (was worried about that one too!)
*great movie!
*met some great moms!
*good discussion

Mistakes.......to learn from!
*should have advertised more
*Make sure to inform Custodians before the event!
*In retrospect, I should have had a table of resources about RELATIONAL AGGRESSION. (What was I thinking? Duh!)
*MAKE SURE VIDEO WORKS! I rented the movie from the video store. BIG MISTAKE! The video kept freezing up. YIKES! I COULDN'T get it to work. We tried restarting it, cleaning disc, skipping chapters/scenes. One parent could feel my pain and offered to call her husband who might be able to help via cell phone. STILL DIDN'T WORK. I did what I tell my students NEVER to do....I GAVE UP! I apologized and suggested we GIRL TALK! We went straight to discussion about Relational Aggression. Another parent began trying to fix the DVD, which I wanted to tell her not to bother at this point! MAGICALLY, she got it to work! The movie started playing and I didn't exhale until the movie was OVER! I kept imagining the movie stopping 10 minutes before it was over! WHEW! After this experience I have now ordered a brand new copy of "Chrissa Stands Strong."

Overall, the message was shared with all who came. Hopefully, mothers and daughters left the library and talked more about girl drama and how to cope with it!

Mother/Daughter Movie Night

   In efforts to bring awareness to RELATIONAL AGGRESSION, our school counselor and I are hosting a Mother Daughter Movie Night. We have invited girls and their mothers (or grandma, special Aunt) to come together to watch American Girl Movie, "Chrissa Stands Strong." The movie is about a young girl who moves to a new school and is bullied repeatedly by her female peers.
 


After the movie we will group mothers/daughters and provide discussion questions.

Discussion questions can be found here!
http://www.americangirl.com/corp/goty.php?y=2009&page=moviequestions

More activites that relate to the movie can be found here! http://www.americangirl.com/movie/chrissa/

We will be serving Pizza afterwards!

Our Mother/Daughter Movie Night is scheduled for tomorrow at 5:00. I will be sure to let you know how it goes!

Personal Space

Ahhh......the importance of personal space! I'm not sure about you, but I find myself teaching about personal space on a daily basis! I have used different size hula hoops that help visualize the amount of space needed depending on the person. I have role played the scenario with another teacher to help show and point out body language that helps cue the "space invader." I will say- this did seem to help show my students how it can make others feel uncomfortable......with the help of some serious over-acting! Another great resource is the book, "Personal Space Camp."

Sometimes we discuss how we all have our own personal "bubble." We feel safe in this bubble! We then take turns blowing bubbles. If bubbles are found "stuck" to another we say they are invading their neighbor's space, and then we proceed to pop them.  They LOVE this activity!

These would get popped for sure!

How do you teach personal space with your students?

Affirmations

Affirmations are a wonderful way to boost self esteem! We learn about self-talk and then I introduce affirmations and how they can help us practice! 

They can be easily made! There are several printable affirmations by searching Google. In the past we have made some cards...like the one shown to the left. We laminate them and cut them out. Using a hole puncher, we punch a hole in the top left corner. Your cards can now be put on a key ring! 

I encourage my students to look at their Affirmation key Ring often. I tell them to put it in a visable place. We will sometimes pick out a card on their ring and that will be the affirmation for the week. I tell them they will receive a small prize or treat if they can remember to recite the affirmation upon arrival of our next meeting. They LOVE the challenge! 

Another neat idea is to use these cards in a classroom lesson.Before your lesson, cut out and laminate affirmation cards. Attach a small piece of velcro to the back of each card. Bring a long strip of the attaching velcro side with you to the classroom. Read a book about positive self talk......for example.....

After reading the book, allow students to pick out their own affirmation card. You could have them draw it out of a box, or pass the cards around and let them pick from them! While they are choosing their cards, go aroud the room and attach the velcro to the corner of the desk top. They can then velcro their card to their desk! (You might check with Head Custodian and get permission to use velcro strips on desks!) Encourage students and teacher to trade cards daily, weekly, or even monthly! The more they SEE it, the more they read it, the more they BELIEVE it!

How do you use affirmations with your students? 

The Desk Fairy

The Desk Fairy is leaving you a pencil

'Cause your desk is clean as a whistle!

Sometimes I help students learn the importance of organization. I invite them to help me visit classrooms as the Desk Fairy! They help look inside desks and determine if the desk is organized or messy. If it is clean and organized, we leave them a note from the Desk Fairy along with a pencil! If it is messy they get a message from the Desk Monster! We do this when the class is at Specials or at recess! We leave a note on the chalkboard that lets them know the Desk Fairy will return in hopes to find more organized desks! An example of a message I have left behind on the chalkboard goes something like this...

The Desk Fairy visited and must confess

Some desks were clean and some were a mess!

Take some time to get organized

And you will soon be surprised

One day she'll be back to find your desk neat

and then you will earn a Desk Fairy Treat!

If you google Desk Fairy, you will find several printable cards that you can use! Click on Images once you search it on Google, and you will find even more!

Dine & Discuss

   In efforts to increase parent involvement, I decided to offer a Dine & Discuss Luncheon! This involved inviting kindergarten parents to come eat lunch with their child while they learned more about RESPONSIBILITY. A permission form went home asking parents to RSVP and bring a brown sack lunch with them on the day of the luncheon. Parents filled out a RESPONSIBILITY SURVEY with their child as they ate lunch. Luckily, two school counselors from our Counseling Team agreed to help out! The lunch took place in the Kindergarten classroom. After lunch we played a game of RESPONSIBILITY BINGO. We had time to play two games and winners received prizes. Before leaving parents completed an evaluation. A table was set up full of info regarding RESPONSIBILITY. We included articles and chore charts.

   We got great feedback from our evaluations! We plan to use their helpful comments to make our next Dine & Discuss even better! Next time, we plan to hold the luncheon in the gym for more space. We also decided we will send the students back to class after lunch and spend more time with the parents discussing the topic. This decision was based on the parents' requests!  We were so excited to see parents so engaged in their child's education! I'm excited to plan and make improvements for our next Dine & Discuss!

Tabby Tips

   Take time to leave kids a friendly note! It only takes a few minutes, and they will love it! After I meet with a student, I will sometimes leave them a note letting them know I enjoyed spending time with them. I sometimes remind them what we worked on and what they can practice during the week. Many times I have asked them to practice a skill and then ask them about it later and they have forgotten! These notes are great reminders!
    There are so many free stationary printables you can find on the internet. I will sometimes find stationary at a garage sale (a social worker's supply store!) I also try to find bargains after holidays. This month I am using stationary that I bought on sale after LAST YEAR"S Halloween! (LOVE LOVE LOVE finding resources at a clearance price!) I also was lucky enough to buy discounted Halloween pencils last year! I often times leave a pencil with the note! Do you leave notes? How often? Please comment!
   

Getting Started!

Well I finally did it! I started my own Blog! This is so exciting! I love following other blogs and getting the chance to connect with other School Social Workers. I have learned so much from blogs that I decided it was time to create my own! Sooooo.......thanks for visiting! I hope you come back and follow along on my journey as an Elementary Social Worker who is eager to continue to motivate, inspire, teach, collaborate, learn, share, praise, think positive, and strive to be the best Elementary Social Worker I can be!