This week we talked about responsibility. I asked the children if they knew what responsibility was and at first they just looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language so I regrouped and talked about how responsibility is a big word because it is an important word. I talked to them about how the word responsible means that others can count on you, you do your best in everything, and how being responsibility comes from the heart and your actions show what's in your heart. I told them my responsibility was to come to work everyday and teach them, take care of them, and help them in anyway I can. Then I asked the question again and some raised their hands with ideas such us: doing what your mom says, cleaning your toys, doing what the teacher says, getting your work done, and being good. After that we made promise coupons that had their name on it and a promise of something they would do at school like be good, do my work, cleanup around my area. I keep the coupons in class on a ring to remind them of their promise.
NCATE indicator 2 on human development was addressed this week in teaching students how to be responsible for what they do and how they act. This is such an important life lesson for children so that they learn they are responsible for the choices they make and no one else.
www.goodcharacter.com and www.atozteacherstuff.com

This week was all about honesty and playing by the rules. I talked to the children about how if I can trust them with small task then I will eventually give them bigger task. I used the example if I send someone to the office with a note and I say walk and they come back huffing and puffing and I ask were they running (to see if they will be honest) and they so no well you can't be trusted to do anything else. All the signs are there that you were running and yoy still told a story how can you be trusted with anything else. We talked about there being no such thing as a 'little story". Either you tell the truth or you don't. We talked about not telling fibs to stay out of trouble because you end up in more trouble. One because you did wrong in the first place, two because you fibbed about it, and three you have to keep telling fibs to cover up. I told them that rules are made to protect them and spoil their fun so if I tell you not to do something DON'T DO IT. I told them a story about 2 of Wilbur's owl friends. The friends "Yolanda" and "Jason" were outside playing and Wilbur told them to stay in their own backyard they both said yes sir. They decided to play catch and each time they threw the ball it went longer and higher moving out of their yard. Jason goes to get the ball and throws it to Yolanda really high and really long and the ball goes through the neighbor's window and shatters it. They run home scared and over hear the neighbor talking about her broken window. Jason and Yolanda told the truth about what happened, Wilbur was disappointed but glad they were honest. They went to the neighbor's house explained what happened and repaired the window. Mrs. Miller (the neighbor) appreciated their honesty so much, she shared her fresh baked cookies with them. The moral was Jason and Yolanda broke a rule meant to protect them and trouble happened. It is a good thing they were honest before too late. No matter what happens, being honest is always best. We played Wilbur Says modeled after Simon Says as an honesty game to see who would be honest enough to sit down when they didn't follow the rule of "Wilbur says" and we made honor badges.
Indicator 2 of the NCATE standards was to teach children to be responsible in all they do. This standard really hit home in this weeks lesson on being honest and owning up to their mistakes. Indicator 6 dealing with creative instructional strategies came alive through color characters, manner hearts, golden rulers taped to the table, and "Wilbur Says." Indicator 7 dealt with teaching proper communication skills. Each week that the students journaled about their weekend with Wilbur showed how they express themselves in writing although it was obvious someone helped them with the spelling against my wishes they were able to discuss their picture with Wilbur and they were able to discuss what they had written so I do know it wasn't made up by the parents or older sibling. Also communication played a big part in how they reviewed with the class what they had learned that week and corrected each other when not properly displaying good manners.
www.teacherplanet.com/resource/honesty/php
www.humanityquest.com.topic/art-activities
www.babycenter.com for the parents who come to me saying their child has started fibbing (There is one every year.)

This week at school was Drug Free Week so I decided to tie that into our manners lesson this week. We discussed just saying no. The counselor also came this week and did a lesson on having a peaceable class and the right way to just say no. Having also these activities interwoven together makes the learning that much more meaningful for the kids. In class we discussed proper ways to say no such as:

• No thank you
• No mam
• No sir
• No I don't want to but thanks anyway
• No that's not good for me

We discussed to say no when a stranger ask you to come with them, offers you candy, or ask for your help finding their pet. We talked about saying no to things that may harm your body. On Monday we all signed a banner that said Just Say No, We Are Drug Free. Each day this week we dressed different ways to show we are drug free and in the classroom we tweeked ours a little to show we can say no. On Monday we wore Red to show we are bold enough to say no. On Tuesday we wore silly socks and slippers to sock it to the wrong things and slip into good behavior. Wednesday was career day so we dressed as our future careers to show we are smart enough to make good decisions. Thursday was sunglasses day to shade out drugs, but we were gone to the pumpkin patch in Clanton all day so we didn't participate. Friday was red ribbon day and wore ribbons to just say no.

We also discussed just saying no during trick or treating since its Halloween weekend. We talked about to be safe and say no for those that may be going to large halloween parties, fall festivals, and trick or treating with friends. The kids said things like don't eat candy before your mom or dad tells you to, do go with someone who says that have more candy inside, and don't go to anyone's door alone. We talked about making sure you could see through the head of your costume and don't runaway from your parents or group of friends at halloween parties or fall festivals no matter what anyone says.

The counselor talked about how it is okay to say no when you don't want to do something. She talked to the kids about talking to their parents about when its okay to say yes and no. She brought her friend Tuggles (stuffed bear) who talked about situations when he had to say no to a friend. He told a story about how one of his friends tried to get him to take something from the teachers desk and he said no because it was the wrong thing to do and he didn't want to get into trouble. He also talked about how a strange adult offered him candy and he said no thank you and walked away and so he wouldn't have to continue his walk alone he asked the kids walking ahead of him to wait up.

www.goodcharacter.com, www.halloween-safety.com,

http://family.samhsa.gov/teach/refusal.aspx

This week we discussed citizenship. We talked about ways to do our share to make our school, classroom, and community a better place. We shared ideas on how to protect the environment and recycle. These are some of the ideas:

• Put trash in the trash can and not on the floor or in the street
• Put paper in the big blue buckets in the hallway
• Recycle like my mom and dad. They put plastic, paper, and glass in seperate bags and then the city workers pick it up.
• Pick up trash in the hallways.
• Don't write on the walls or the floor only on paper.

After we talked about ways to do our part in and around the school community we discussed ways to improve our own classroom. I told the students how I noticed that they don't pick up behind themselves like they should after cutting paper, dropping crayons, or completing art projects. So we took one of our trash cans and drew a happy face on it and we call her "Mrs. Trashy." Each day the students must pick up paper or trash off of the floor and feed Mrs. Trashy or she will get a stomach ache from being hungry. I have never seen my floor so clean at any point of the day unless the custodian has cleaned. I even had one child to go home and draw a face on his trash can in his room and his mom asked him why and he told her about the class project. Naturally she let him keep it but told him he must keep his room clean of all trash since he drew on the trash can. So far its working. The other kindergarten teachers also liked the idea. www.hummingbirded.com and www.rudebusters.com

This week we reinforced some of our past lessons including saying please, thank you, being kind, and being respectful. We added using our color friends to help us use correct manners. We have "Rudy Red" who never says thank you, please, or excuse me. There is "Alright Orange who is very polite, takes turns, and is always willing to help. Some of the others include "yelling yellow", "pokey pink", " butt in brown", and "pouty purple" just to name a few. Each day we introduced 2-3 color characters and discussed things that they do that are wrong and how to make them better. We also discussed how we don't want these characters living at our house or coming in our classroom. As the week went on I noticed the children calling each the color character name and explaining how they were being that character and what they could do to become an alright orange. Noone got upset about being called a rudy red or pokey pink instead they fixed the problem so they could become an alright orange. We found a cute manners song on the internet that we now sing at the start of everyday. It goes like this and its to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell":

Manners are the way

To brighten up my day

Please and thank you's what I say

to brighten up my day

Sometimes through out the day I hear the children humming the song at their tables. Normally that would probably bother me, but I can make an exception for this and truely it makes me smile to hear them humming it and know they mean by the way they treat each other.

Some interesting websites are http://www.education-world.com/ and http://www.teacherplanet.com/

This week my students and I discussed the "golden rule": Be kind to others and they will be kind to you. On Monday we talked about ways to be kind and respect each other. The kids came up with ideas like playing nicely, helping each other when they fall, saying thank you, please, and excuse me. On Tuesday we made "golden rulers" and each student taped their personal ruler to their table to remind them to be kind to others. On Wednesday Wilbur did rude things like drawing on someones paper when they weren't looking, he hit someone, and he bumped someone without saying excuse me. When the children saw what happened they corrected Wilbur. This let me know they were noticing Wilbur and what he does and not just thinking of him as another stuffed animal. On Thursday the students looked for who was being kind and showing respect to each other. When they spotted each other being kind they had to tell me who it was, what they saw, and how it was kind then the student received a heart with his/her name on it and the reason why they received the heart. On Friday we recapped what we learned this week and chose the student to take Wilbur home. Our school counselor also launched the six pillars of character program and this week she also discussed respect and gave out yellow bracelets that said respect to anyone she saw being respectful. She gave each teacher bracelets to hand out also. One of my students got a bracelet because he accidently ran into someone and stopped to say excuse and see if they were okay.
www.goodcharacter.com www.teach-nology.com

My students have been working on manners and how to treat each other. The students have been working real hard to earn a heart with their name on it to put up in the room. Last week we discussed hitting. We read the book "Hands Are Not For Hitting" and they sat so quietly as I read, it was amazing. I have noticed that everytime someone gets hit they repeat the chorus from the book, "hands are not for hitting" and then they some something that we discussed about what hands are for such as "hands are for saying hello." The children love taking Wilbur home and being able to share what they did with him. This week we talked about using kind words. Well my husband had to be rushed to the hospital and I was out for two days. When I came back my students said Mrs. Myrick remember what you said about kind words and I said yes well one by one they all said something to cheer me up. They said things like me and mommy prayed for your husband, I hope your husband feels better, and we love you Mrs. Myrick we are glad you are back. Needless to say they all received a heart with their name on it to put up for using kind words. I can see the children are really learning to use proper manners and the appropriate way to treat others just by thier actions and words. I love this! A good website on ideas for building manners is www.getset4k.org

Proposed Weekly Calendar

Each day students will look for someone displaying good manners and kindness and that student will get a heart with their name and good manner or act of kindness on it and it will be displayed in the room.

Each Monday we will review the previous weeks manners lesson. The student who took Wilbur home will share their weekend experience and then the new manners lesson will be taught.

On Tuesday there will be an activity to go along with the manners lesson for the week.

Wednesday will be alter ego day for Wilbur. This is wear Wilbur shows bad manners hoping that the children have learned how to show good manners and will correct his behavior and tell why it was wrong and then tell how it could have been different.

Each Thursday one student will review with the class Wilbur’s lesson for the week, he/she will talk about a bad display of manners they witnessed from another student and then the other children and I will talk about how the behavior could have been changed for the better.

Friday will be the main detective day where the students, Wilbur, and I look for someone displaying proper manners.

As a culminating activity we will have a manners day where children will have a special snack in the cafeteria or classroom to practice what they have learned.

The project is great! Just another test.

Just trying to see if I'm blogging correctly!