Perspective of a Bully

Our school is doing anti-bullying activities this week and I racked my brain to try to come up with something different that I could do with my kiddos. We talk a lot about what bullying is (and isn't), they know what to do if they are being bullied. 

This is a great book: 

I like it because it gives kids more strategies of how to deal with a bully themselves, than just tell and adult. We all know that's a hard one for them to do. It says to not play alone and become a target, to confront them in a group, etc. It's certainly a different world out there than when we were little! I worry for my little ones as they grow up and go off to middle school.

So for something different we tried to put ourselves in the shoes of a bully. Why do kids bully other kids? How does it feel to be a bully? Hopefully, they will think about that before they ever decide to become one!

I wish I could be so nice my best friends would forgive me.

I wish I could be happy and be nice not violent and mean.

I will feel sat becaue I don't mean it. I'm just too angry.

I will be sad...kids won't be my friends.

I will push people if they push me. But I realize I can be nice.

Sometimes I wish I could start the day all over and have at least one good day. (*my favorite answer)

                                        I hurt someone's feelings and I can't find a school because I keep bullying people.

I would hope not to be one anymore and my dream would be to still be one. It {does} not feel good.

I would take my energy out of my system.

I would wish for friends because I feel lonely and I do want to be nice.

I would feel sad of the kid I bullied and feel sadder because someone will try to bully me.

The Epitome of Teamwork

Today was our 100th Day of school. I wanted to do some different activities with the kids-something fun! We did a lot of science-related things-estimating and then finding out how full a cup gets with 100 drops of water (no one was even close with their prediction). We weighed unpopped and popped popcorn to see which weighed more and did an activity with 100 candy hearts.

My favorite part of the day was the 100 Cup Teamwork challenge. I've never done this with a class before. I split them up into teams and there were no rules other than they had to use all 100 cups in some sort of tower. I timed them and then the other teams competed to see if they could beat that time.

Now normally I am not a fan of the "Everybody Wins" mentality. I worked in a daycare center years ago and the owner insisted if you played musical chairs you had to do it without removing any chairs. The music stops and everyone sits down--yay! How boring! I think it's really important for kids to learn how to lose-personally, I think that attitude is doing more harm to the kids than good. Healthy competition teaches you a lot. Losing teaches you a lot too!

That being said....my heart smiled a bit today. At first the class was cheering for particular classmates. "Let's go 'Johnny', lets go". Then I heard this (please excuse the messiness of the background-it's been a looonng week!)

They all just started chanting "Let's go everybody, let's go". What a great moment!

I know they learned a bit about how hard it is to stack 100 cups :), but I also think they learned a little bit about teamwork today.

Reasons to Read

I was inspired by a post from Tammy over at:

Her Saturday Sayings are just awesome for reflection on practices in your classroom. This one: http://foreverin1st.blogspot.com/2014/02/saturday-sayings-without-books.html

is about developing a passion for reading in our kiddos. Defintely food-for-thought.

Well, today I came across an Instagram post from Scholastic with their #100reasonstoread (the above was one of my favorites). I shared some with my kids and asked them to come up with their own reasons-Instagram-style.

                                  I think you should because when you get hurt and you are in
                                          the hospital, you could think you are in a castle.

                                                   To learn more and get more ideas

They make you colorful. :)

Let the dreams begin.

                                                    To open your brain

                                               If you are new to Texas, you can go to the library so you can know
                                                                          lots about Texas.

                                      When you do work in high school, you use the words.

                                           So we can spell the right word on our spelling tests.

                                             You can go on an adventure

                                   Because when you are a baby, your mom can read you a book
                                                       to make you fall asleep.

You can read the story to your baby brother or write a story to your baby sister.

So we can be smart and learn about animals.

Making new friends (we are reading Toys Go Out right now, Frank is the Washing Machine!)

It helps us be awesomer.

So you can imagine the beautiful pictures.

Helps kids read better and with fluency.

Our New Community Service Project

I have a long list of things I want to teach my kiddos in the course of our school year. Along with the curriculum and the basics, I also want to instill in them a sense of compassion and community. We try to do several community service-type projects throughout the year. With Valentine's Day right around the corner. we have been talking about the spirit of friendship and wanted to something that might make the day of someone who maybe needs a smile. I saw this idea on a website with random acts of kindness---we are making gift bags that will be given out at a local clinic for chemotherapy patients. The patient will receive a decorated bag with things like chapstick, crossword puzzle books, magazines, ginger tea, etc-things that will hopefully make them feel more comfortable as they get their treatment. And of course, some get-well cards made by the kids. We got the bags done, they decorated them with fabric markers:

Now we are in the process of collecting donations and will hopefully have them ready to deliver by next week. 

Inventions Over Time

Can you believe this is my 600th post?!? If you had asked me a few years ago if I would have 600 ideas to share on a blog, I'd have thought you were a few McNuggets short of a Happy Meal! :) Now blogging is one of my favorite things to do.

I work at a Magnet School. Part of our mantra is to have yearly presentations where the kids get an opportunity to practice some public speaking skills and they create a project that they have researched. We decorate the gym and the kids are spread out all over standing in front of an "on" button, ready to present when activated. This year, with the 1st Graders, we decided to do inventions over time. I showed them, very primitively, the fundamentals of research. They each chose a different tool. Their products were 3-D timelines that showed with models how it looked in the past, present and then their idea of what their tool would look like in the future. They did such a great job, especially considering that this was their first big project.

We had a stove that he imagined would have an alarm when the stove was on and nothing was on the burner (seriously, why don't we have that already-I wanted to send him to SharkTank with that one!). 

We had diapers that are more earth-friendly.

We had flying motorcycles, cars and houses.

A solar-powered, voice-activated refrigerator

Her camera has a 1, 2, 3, that pops up so the person you are taking a picture of knows when you are going to snap the pic.

A triangle clock

Holographic glasses for books

A longer-lasting lightbulb

I think I can remember owning a phone that big! :)

A remote control lawnmower

Solar-powered, two-sided computer (so you don't have to wait in line to take AR quizzes)

History of the football helmet-his invention included bluetooth technology so the coach could talk directly to players---genius!

Steamboats

Parking lots

History of shoes

I know the kiddos learned something new-especially because they chose topics that interested them. I even learned some new facts-did you know that the first computers in the 30's used movie film as their memory?

I think it's a great way for them to show what they learned and get some practice in public speaking. I wish I had those experiences early on, I may not get so nervous to present today! :)