We had visitors from a National District of Character come to visit a few weeks ago. We were the spotlight class of the week so we read The Little Engine that Could. I was surprised that so many students hadn't heard of it before! We discussed all of the things we have been working so hard on in Kindergarten and decided that we need to keep working hard. To make the activity more seasonally appropriate we changed the train's chant to "Keep plowing through!" The kids even made a motion to it! Now whenever anyone is stuck or frustrated we say our little chant.
Check out my bulletin board below. I got the idea here.
When the day of our observation came, I was very excited and nervous to have them observe a friendship character lesson in my room. I thought long and hard for the perfect lesson. I just wanted to make sure it was just right for our visitors! (Talk about pressure... Why do I do this to myself?) :-P The previous day I read the book, Rainbow Fish to my students, and we created a list of traits we would like our friends to have. The students did great!
For the BIG lesson with our visitors, I read the book, Big Al, which is about a very ugly, scary fish who is actually really nice. We made a T-chart writing about what Big Al looked like on the outside and then what he was like on the inside. The students all were giving thoughtful responses to my questions, creating a fantastic list. So I asked, "Would you be friends with Big Al?" hoping I could get an, "Of course! I would love to be his friend! He seems so nice!" Well....I called on one of the hands raised and the little boy replied, "NO! I'd like to eat him!" I about died! Ha ha ha! He said, "He looks juicy! Mrs. Shininger, it's right before lunch, and I'm starving!" The visitors were laughing too! We wrapped up the lesson with a writing and one of the visitors commented to me later how well it went. We laughed at the little boy's comment. You never know what's going to come out of their mouths!
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