Classroom Community

      I am still trying to catch up to share all of the things we did last week!  I thought this was important to share with you because this was a foundational lesson (www.firstgradewow.blogspot.com) that we will refer back to all year long.  We read the book Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes and wrinkled up the heart every time the children made fun of her name.  You should have seen the look on your kiddos' faces.  The empathy was abundant!  They felt so bad for poor Chrysanthemum.
     We then talked about how hurtful words can be.  The children wrote their names on band-aids to symbolize how kind words can heal the wrinkled heart.  The white heart says, "Before you speak, think and be smart.  It's hard to fix a wrinkled heart."  The big red heart says "Always use kind words."  I don't think it's ever too young or too early in the year to talk about the harm that bullying can do.  We will revisit this theme throughout the year and I thought it might come in handy at home, too.
     I did not have a blog entry yesterday.  But....it was for a good reason!  I went to Crayons to Computers.  This is a "free store" for teachers.  I got lots of supplies for our classrooms.  One great find was a box of 200 vinyl page covers.  You will see these when you get Monday's math homework kit.  The children can put a game or activity inside the vinyl sleeve and use an overhead or dry erase marker so that the game/activity can be reused throughout the year.  Please be on the lookout for the math homework kit.  These stay at home and we'll build on it all year long.  This is a new homework plan, so please share your thoughts....I'm pretty excited about it.  We had a very productive week and today was a great day!  Give your kiddo a pat on the back and have a great weekend!