knocking out bullying in october!

October is National Bullying Prevention Month. My very first ever See Bean Teach post was about that very topic, so I thought it would be a nice throw-back to look at some more anti-bullying ideas! Here, I've listed three lessons I've taught so far this month and two more I plan to teach. I like to be able to to link our content with talking about social skills type topics (just so we can make connections between what we learn and the real world)...  I also feel like lessons that help build our classroom community are a tool to help prevent bullying because I've notice that it is much easier for students to pick on those they know very little about... but when they know another's story and where they come from and who they really are, they find it easier to choose to say and do uplifting things. Pacer.org is a great online resource for some facts, along with Stomp Out Bullying.

(1)

As mentioned, my very first post, many moons ago was about a lesson I did with a kindergarten class during my senior year of college. It all focused around The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin and how to avoid bullying. It went over really well, so this year I decided to whip that baby back out! My class had a bunch of fun listening to the story on YouTube and then making their own unique pumpkins a couple weeks ago. Of course, I added in an attempt at some academic content and had them make a verbal text-self connection before they could craft their own Spookly, but it was a much needed afternoon of creative thinking and fun after a week of 6 weeks tests (BOO ON THAT.)

(2)

We learned about adjectives in language arts this week, so we combined that with a lesson I saw on good ol' Farley's blog a while back. We described my "friend" that I'd drawn on chart paper using adjectives. When the children slung out unkind words, I crumpled it up. When they said kind things, I uncrumpled the paper. We noticed that the wrinkles were still there, and even after we tried to smooth the paper out by saying nice things, the wrinkles didn't totally go away. I think it made a bit of an impact, because after the lesson we did a full on "share you feelings circle" for about 10 minutes. I made sure to end it by asking all of the students to share something that has been a positive interaction with another person in their life so that we could have some emotional closure and a way to bring our thoughts back to a happy place if they'd traveled a little away from there.

(3)

We also drew portraits of a classmate (they had to draw out of a jar so it was random!) and described them using 10 adjectives. I was so pleasantly surprised that no one had unkind things to say on their drawings AND they were all excited about who they got (even when it wasn't there bestfriendevereverever). I am proud of how close-knit and sweet my students are. We even had a "special visitor" from another class in another grade our room that day (yep, I get to be that teacher) so I threw his name in the bucket too and my sweet little nuggets just acted like that was totally normal and drew him a beautiful portrait as well!

(4)

We watched the BrainPop Jr. video on bullying and then did a class sort to clarified the difference between true bullying and teasing someone of having a "mean moment" using the phrases I cut from a chart that I found on Ms. Sepp's Counselor Corner. It sparked a lot of great discussion about what kinds of things we could problem solve on our own or by talking with the person who offended us, versus what kinds of things we couldn't solve unless we got help from an adult.

(5)

We read The Recess Queen, Chrysanthemum, Giraffes Can't Dance. Then we practiced making Text-Self connections. We talked about how we felt and how the characters felt, and experiences that we had that we similar to experiences the characters. We used Venn diagrams to compare both our life experiences and that of the characters AND the characters in the books. There's a freebie in my TPT store- it's not fancy by any stretch of the imagination, but it works! (:

I linked up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to share these five ideas! You should participate, too!

P.S. Real talk- this post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Check out my About Mrs. B page for more info on that!

Monday Made It: August 4

{one}

see the difference?! the entire thing is done now, don't you worry!

Ok, so we did not actually make the fence. A kind gentleman who spoke primarily español did all of the construction (and did a fantastic job, if I do say so myself!), and then quoted us a pretty high number to seal it. Both B & I decided that was a project we could take on ourselves to save some money, so we marched up to Home Depot, purchased materials and weather sealed that bad boy. BY HAND. 

...until I realized that a sprayer is less than $20 (and our brushes were like $9 each...) and picked up one of those to use on the second coat. We worked two days + one morning with my darling father and sister on staining/sealing/whatever, and both days it was well over 95 degrees. Probably closer to 105. Brutal. And of course, we did it between like noon and 5pm each day. The whole time, I told B that when we list the house I am FOR SURE insisting that the phrase "hand-sealed fence" be added in. His response every time was a variation of "Um, we'll see when the time comes..."

{two}

My second project of the week is my teacher planner/organizer/binder. I mentioned in my August Currently that I am fighting off mild feelings of panic and overwhelmingness about my classroom. 

Let me tell ya what: when I printed out that lesson planner and started filling it up with all of my grand schemes and plans for the sweet nuggets that will waltz into my room and demand that I fill their heads with knowledge (... a girl can dream, right?) I felt better. This is what it's all about y'all. My classroom will come along. It will be reasonably acceptable by the time school starts. BUT my kiddos will have things to learn and do that are super fun and engaging and they will all become a part of our classroom community because I will be intentional about it. That, my friends, is the part that I am truly jazzed about. 

Back to the "MADE IT" part: (which again, I didn't actually make BUT I did put together!) Check out this cutie planner from A Modern Teacher. I am loving it. I downloaded one from her last year, but it just didn't fit my needs as a special education teacher so I rarely used it. Nothing against the planner- it was awesome!* I couldn't find the file from last year to reuse it, and I just loved the new colors and patterns + I wanted the forms that matched so I went ahead and bought this year's version. I put it in a 2" binder (overkill? We'll see...) and I really like the way it looks. I also like the options I have for layout, and I LOVE the small group planning sheets. 

*If you are a multi-age/multi-group special ed teacher, I might recommend this guy. I haven't used it, but it would have been a MUST HAVE for next year if I stayed at my last job. It looks like everything I was missing in my life and more.

Sell It Saturday: KISS

Though I am moving into a new phase in my teaching life, I did (and do, and maybe will again!) love my time in special education.

Two of my favorite products on my very undeveloped TPT store are my favorite because they are {not fancy}. When working with students who have more significant needs, I like to remember this lil phrase:

KEEP IT SIMPLE, S...ILLY

Both of these products you could easily make on your own, I'm sure, but if you slip me just one smackeroo, I can save you at least five minutes!

check it out here!

check it out here! 

They can be used in a special education classroom OR a pre-k/kinder class, and the possibilities for use are pretty much endless. They support differentiated learning opportunities, too, so lots of kiddos at lots of levels could use the same materials at the same time. I listed some ideas on my TPT product listings, but just off the top of my head you could use either of the printables to make:

• flashcards
• file folder games
• matching games for 1-1 correspondence
• matching games to learn numeral/set correspondence
• matching games to learn numeral/number word correspondence
• matching games to learn number word/set correspondence
• matching with clothespin games
• laminate and glitter glue them for tactile counting practice
• ________________________ <your idea here!

We also know that with young children and students with significant special needs, using the SAME things when teaching a skills can be really beneficial initially. So, you can use these bad boys over and over again!

Alright, I'll get off my soap box and back to working on my Sub Tub! Happy Saturday!

[Thanks for the cute linky, Kristin. It's motivating me to get to work!]

choose to see the good!

The past couple of weeks I've been settling into my new role as PPCD teacher (morning) and case manager (afternoon) at our little elementary school. Though I was initially a little stressed about having to do this AND show the new teacher the ropes for the older students, I forced myself to remember that I could be back doing it all by myself (YIKES) and have really settled into a beautiful routine.

It is amazing what you can do with students when you are in relationship with them and their families. Spending all day with a group of kiddos (as opposed to bopping in and out of rooms for about 45 minutes at a time) has allowed me to really dig into each child's individual interests and preferences. While getting to know your students is definitely a best practice in all realms of education, anyone who teaches special education knows that this is absolutely KEY to seeing progress from our friends who may... um... simply refuse to do anything that they don't want to.

Last week in PPCD we introduced a few winter concepts, and but mainly focused on getting back into the swing of things. Students with autism really struggling with schedule disruptions, and coming back from break coupled with the fact that I restructured our classroom a little threw us for a loop the first couple days... Oops! This week, we have been learning more about winter. It hasn't really felt like winter (um, hello 60 degree South Texas afternoons), but we're improvising with cotton balls in the sensory bin, snowman themed file folder games, and winter vocabulary PECS and signs.

*these are obviously copyrighted by board maker- just an example of what we're talking about!

I am getting especially jazzed about February! We'll be learning about Valentine's Day and the post office and I got approved to take a field trip to our local post office so we can authentically learn how letters are mailed! Check out my TPT shop to see the beginning of some items I'm putting together for next month (never too early to be planning ahead!). The cards are free for the next few hours! (: