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!