What about some hands-on projects that benefit your heart and others? This winter season, talk to your children and students about acts of giving and what it means to have a kind and caring heart for others. I love doing some activities that are two-fold….projects and gifts created for those close to us (family and friends) and then gifts and cards for others in need in our community. Some beautiful ideas that can be easily incorporated into your room/home/church/daycare are:
For our writing time, we shared these gorgeous winter books for inspiration and I had two different ideas for children to write about. What snowy adventures do you enjoy having? What do you know about woodland creatures and the forest?
Children creating a classroom book for our book collection this year has been one of the most motivating and inspirational writing projects I’ve done in my 13 plus years of teaching. A class book is when each student contributes a page about a topic (decided ahead of time by the teacher- inspiration ideas below) and the teacher creates a cover (definitely laminated!) and binds all the responses together for everyone’s reading pleasure.
This summer…make a book! For teachers and students, the month of June is packed with so many end of the year activities, summer holiday happenings, graduation ceremonies and final assessments. Despite being a busy month, the actual curriculum pace can slow down, and in many classrooms – students are also able to take this month to explore various forms of writing, free style, journaling and often creating their own books. Depending on the grade level, and the child’s interest!, the process and product can be completely different.
What is already available at your fingertips?Website and Feature ArticlesExplore the Story Monsters website! The Story Monsters team is constantly updating their site with so many features and tools for teachers/students to access on their own. Issues are archived for easy access to the magazine contents and contests, opportunities for kids to publish their own work, and a teaching guide that goes along with each issue are always up to date! Questions in the teaching guide can be modified depending on the child’s age- use your teaching experience and love of literature to make Story Monsters come alive in the hands of your students! Also…When you receive your magazine, check out the features in the Table of Contents. There are usually 1-2 articles that reference specific lessons and ideas for teachers to implement in their classroom. Use the table of contents and the Story Monsters website as your guide as you determine lesson ideas for your child/student pertinent to that issue! Below are additional ideas that can be used for students of pretty much any age! They have been generally organized by age range but use your teaching experience and instincts to modify for your classroom and or/child.*Idea for any
TOP TEN PEOPLE POWER BOOKS (OK TOP 15 :)) Literature LessonsThis literature focus explores the power of EMPATHY, POSITIVITY, KINDNESS, and BRAVERY in characters and how it changes lives. I create posters of the above character traits and then ‘debate’ which fits best for the literature. Students can reflect on their OWN ‘inner powers’ through their own backgrounds and life experiences…which naturally produces thoughtful discussions. I really love to let them share how they interpret the story and I validate their feelings…any thoughts on literature are our OWN innermost reactions, and they are all valid, important, and authentic…one of the best parts of being with our younger readers…no filter!! My top ten favorite books about kindness….for all ages. There are so many I wanted to share, but these ones in particular tug at my heartstrings. And they also exemplify and portray a sense of innocence in the characters which makes them feel more relatable to our young readers. (PS- I will probably edit this post three more times thinking of 100 books I forgot to mention….seriously. Authors have such good hearts…)