Connecting w/ Class Activity Sheet For The Week Of August 30, 2010

Character Circle Check-in - Happy

• 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.
• Pick a student or two to share about when they feel happy, what makes them happy and who makes them happy.  Have students journal about a time they felt happy.
• Visit http://www.acpl.lib.in.us/children/feelings_other.html for a nice list of children’s books about feelings.  During reading time, ask students how they think the characters feel with special attention paid to the characters who are feeling happy.
• Have students journal about a time they felt happy.  Have students draw pictures of the feeling during art or free time.

Manner Motto: Knock before you go into someone’s room.

• Share with students why you appreciate people knocking before they enter your room or your house.
• Have students journal about how they feel about their own room and how it feels when someone barges in.
• Talk about what might happen if we don’t knock.
• Visit http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=7912 for a list of children’s book that deal with manners.

Bully Byte – Everyone has the right to feel safe here at school.

• Talk about how it feels to be safe and how it feels to be scared.
• Have students journal about what it would feel like to be scared all the time.
• Have student’s think about how hard it would be to learn if you were scared.
• 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 – School gives us tools – TB?  What is a tool and why are they important?
• Tue – Rules at school – TB? Why do we need rules here at school?
• Wed – Your diet is your fuel - TB? What is fuel and why is it important?
• Thu – Positive thinking takes practice – TB? Why do we need to practice how we think?
• Fri – Quiz:

1. Why do we have rules A) Too keep us safe B) So we can get things done C) A & B
2. T or F - The tools we get at school make life easier.
3. What's the best fuel to put in your body A) Junk Food B) Fresh Food C) Energy Drinks
4. T or F - Thinking is easy and it comes naturally to us.