We sang the song "If You're Happy and You Know It", replacing the word "happy" with "thankful". After a few rounds, I asked them to think about who were nice to them today. I gave them examples, like who helped them tie their shoelaces, or who played nicely with them. We went around the circle so everybody had a chance to share with us. Shriyans said that Reya was nice to him because she played with him, so I said, "That's very nice, so you should be thankful to her. Let's say thank you to Reya~" We did that with every kid, and they were all smiling as they thanked each other. It was really sweet! I believe that being thankful and appreciative is a matter of habit, and it's developed by learning to notice the daily, small things that make us happy or make our life easier, and appreciating the people for making us feel this way. =)
Then we sang some more songs, and I read them the book "Thank you, Amelia Bedelia". I didn't finish the story, because the kids didn't seem too interested. Book choices really make a difference in engaging students, and I think choosing books come with experience and our knowledge of the kids. I hope that next week, I'll be able to pick some books that interest my kids more~
I showed them the 3 colouring pages that I printed out. One is a girl helping another girl to get up after she fell down, the other is two friends riding bicycle, and the last one shows two friends playing happily together. We discussed the pictures, and then I told them the instructions for our following activity. Each Tribe got 1 colouring page, and their task was to complete the colouring as a group. I picked one person from each group to be the first person to colour. So when I said "1, 2, 3, start!" only one person from each group would have a crayon/marker in his/her hand. Then, when they heard the rainstick, they had to pass the crayon/marker to the next person, and the next person would start colouring. At first they were a bit confused, and each of them wanted their own colouring page, but after a while they got it and they were willing to pass the page~ This is an exercise that would foster cooperation as well as sharing. When they were done, we shared some of our feelings of this activity. Reya said that she likes it because Shriyans was sharing with her~ Jonah wanted to bring it home, but I said since he worked on it with Phillip, Phillip would want to bring it home too. So maybe on the weekend, I could make a copy of it and both of them could bring it home. He thought it's a good idea. =P
I noticed that Daniel was a little bit too quiet today, and when I asked everybody to go to the table, he still sat on the carpet, unwilling to move. I asked him what happened, but he wouldn't answer. So I told him that I would leave him alone, and when he's ready, he could join us. After a while, he was still sitting at the carpet, so I tried to talk to him again. I asked him is it because he didn't like his group, or did I say something that made him upset, but he shook his head. I told him that I wanted to know why he's sad because I wanted to help him solve his problems, and he could tell me when he's ready. After a few moments, when I went to him again, he was willing to stand up. I asked if he wanted to join the rest of the kids, and he said no. So I gave him something else to colour on the other table. As he was colouring, I asked him, "Are you missing mommy?" and he nodded. By the time he finished colouring, he showed it to me proudly, finally smiling. I was so glad. =)After school, I told his mom, and she said he probably missed his daddy, because he went away. Maybe all of a sudden he thought of it, and that's why he was sad. I hope he'll be feeling better tomorrow!
Sophie & Giada's:
Shriyans and Reya's:
Jonah & Phillip's:
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