Connecting w/ Class Activity Sheet For The Week Of September 6, 2010

Feeling Word: Sad

• Put the feeling word and a picture of the emotion on the board.
• Pick a student or two to share about when they felt sad, what made them sad and pay special attention to the way they were thinking about the situation.
• Have students talk or journal about how they can make themselves feel better when they’re sad.
• Have students journal about a time they felt sad & who they can talk to when they’re sad.
• During reading time, ask students how they think the characters feel with special attention paid to the characters who are feeling this week’s word.
• Have students draw pictures of the feeling during art or free time.
• Character Circle Check-in.  Have students pick a number between 1-10 & a feeling word to describe their day.   Example, “I’m a 5 and I feel upset because my brother and I fought.”  Any information you get from this activity can be really valuable in creating solid connections with your students and their families.   If a student shares that they are doing something fun this weekend, you can follow up with them next week to see how it went.  If a student shares that a parent is sick, you can send a quick email to the parents offering your thoughts.
• Visit http://www.acpl.lib.in.us/children/feelings_other.html for a nice list of children’s books about feelings.

Manner Motto: Call before you visit.

• Share with students why you appreciate people calling before they come over.
• Have students journal about a time someone just showed up with being invited or about what might happen if someone just showed up.
• Visit http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=7912 for a list of children’s book that deal with manners.

Bully Byte – School belongs to all of us.   School is about education and education is about equality.

• Talk about why school is different from their home and how no one is “better” than anyone else because of how they look or dress.  It’s not about being rich or poor, big or small.  It’s about learning, growing and moving forward here at school.
• Have students journal about what it would be like if school was not safe and hw hard it would be to learn.
• Visit http://www.best-childrens-books.com/childrens-books-about-bullying.html for a list of highly recommended children’s books on bullying.

Daily Topics – Great opportunity to journal and then role play what they have learned.

• Mon – Homework helps lock in the learning – TB?  Why do we have homework & why is it important to do it everyday?
• Tue – Team players make everyone around them better – TB? What does it mean to be the best of the best?
• Wed – Exercise improves your mood - TB? Why does improve your mood??
• Thu – Feelings – TB? What are feelings and why do we have them?
• Fri – Quiz:

1. Team players A) Make everyone better B) Look out for #1 C) Want attention
2. T or F – Homework is a punishment.
3. Where do feelings come from A) Heart B) Head or C) Stomach
4. T or F - Exercise can improve your mood?