50 Years Ago Today

I remember the phone ringing in our classroom. I remember the sadness on Mrs. Peter's face. I remember hearing the news of the assassination of our President. I don't remember the walk home  or what my mom said when I got there, but the TV was on and we sat transfixed that day, and for day's afterwards, watching the country mourn.

This Weekly Reader was published a few weeks later. I recently found it in a box of memorabilia, along with a biography of President Kennedy in my own third grade printing.

Music to a Health Teacher's Ears

"This salad is DELICIOUS!"

Say Cheese!

This is what makes this job so great.

Kindness Project

Big Thanks!

To Glacier Bank of Bigfork for sponsoring a community Giving Tree. They make it possible for children to receive a gift at Christmas, and they provide an opportunity for community members to give anonymously to a child in need.
And to Bigfork's Rotary Club for providing Christmas dinners for 30 local families. Your generosity is appreciated!

Unity Part 2

After telling the story and reading the book (see yesterday's post) we played the Egg Game. The teachers paired up students who wouldn't usually hang out together and we gave them a board and a marble egg. Together they kept the egg spinning on the board. The high achievers added another element to the game. Each time the egg dropped off the board, they told their partners one thing they appreciated about them. An ARFF filled activity is a great uniter!

Unity

A number of years ago, our school had some anecdotal evidence that we had a fairly good sized bullying problem. So we surveyed our kids, found out the extent of the problem and took steps to decrease bullying. We defined bullying, we made rules against it, we increased supervision, and taught all staff members to confront bullying head on.When we surveyed our students st the end of the year, we found that the problem had significantly diminished, particularly in the middle school. We asked the students what they thought had made the difference, and they said the thing that helped the most was when we divided the whole middle school into teams with people they never would have chosen to work with, and assigned a school or community service project. They had to work together for a purpose, and in doing so, came to value their class mates.

I was asked to teach a lesson on unity today, and I told that story to introduce the concept. Then I read a fun book that illustrates the power of music to bring people together. It's a good one. I hope you check it out. It's called "And to Think That We Thought That We'd Never Be Friends" by  Mary Ann Hoberman.

Pterodactyl Game

1. Stand in a circle.
2. Going clockwise around the circle, each person says "pterodactyl" without showing teeth.
3. If a player flaps their arms and makes the pterodactyl noise, the direction of the game switches to counterclockwise.
3. Players are out if they laugh or show their teeth at anytime during the game and have to sit.
4. Last player standing wins.

Try it when you need a bit of fun!

The ARFF of Teaching

Zoe's Four Pizzas

Harvest : onion, roasted butternut squash, craisins
Pesto: pesto and tomatoes
Green: broccoli, peppers, spinach
Dessert: peanut butter, Nutella, bananas

Book Recommendation

Great book for k-3 with a follow-up writing and art project.

Blessed

A third grade boy was walking down the hall with me today and we walked past a group of kids getting ready to go to recess. Many of them stopped to say hi to me and gave me hugs. The boy said, " Wow, a lot of people in this school like you! You must be the luckiest person in the whole school!"
Yes, absolutely blessed beyond measure.