For our first lesson on this topic, I introduced the word "perseverance" and explained what it meant. I then told them that they would have to show perseverance in our next activity - making butter. I gave each group a mason jar with heavy whipping cream and a marble. The kids had to shake the jar until it turned into butter. The whole process probably took around five minutes, which seems long when you're eight years old and your arms are tired! Luckily, they kept going and we all got to enjoy a delicious snack of our homemade butter on some rolls. There is a video on Google+ if you want a sneak peek of the actual process! Here are some pictures of the kids working hard and the aftermath.
Once we finished making butter, we made a "Looks Like, Sounds Like" chart to reflect on what perseverance had looked like and sounded like during that activity. The kids came up with many examples. They thought it looked like trying your best, never giving up, and using effort, among other things. They also thought it sounded like saying "I can do it!" and other similar phrases.
The next week, we read a wonderful book called "Thank You, Mr. Falker" by Patricia Polacco. It is about a young girl who is having trouble learning to read. She struggles through all of elementary school until her fifth grade teacher, Mr. Falker, finally figures out that she has a learning disability and helps her learn to read. I loved this book for several reasons. First, my kids could relate to the girl's age. In one part of the book, the girl is in third grade, and still doesn't know how to read. The other students make fun of her and call her names. I was proud that when I read that part of the book, my kids were really taken aback and could not imagine doing that to someone. Second, I have students that are in special education, like the girl in the story. I think that they realized that it is ok to learn differently than other kids. I also think the other students in the class took note of the mean kids in the story and will treat their classmates with kindness, regardless of differences. Finally, in theme with our topic of the month, the main character had to show so much perseverance. She never gave up learning to read from kindergarten all the way through fifth grade. At the end of the book, we talked about how difficult that must have been for her. I revealed that the main character was actually the author of the book, and the story was real. The kids were floored - they couldn't believe that she never gave up. We added to our "Looks Like, Sounds Like" chart with examples from the story. They are shown in red below.
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| Can you catch my spelling mistake? I will have to keep persevering and learn how to spell this word! |
In our third lesson, I focused on building a growth mindset and how that could help them show perseverance. I read another awesome book called "The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes." It is by Mark Pett and Gary Rubenstein. This book featured a main character that was perfect in every way, until one day, she made a mistake. She dropped everything when she was juggling in a talent show. She had to decide if she would give up and walk off the stage, or learn from her mistake and persevere. She realized that she did not have to be perfect and sometimes it is ok to just laugh at your mistakes. We used this book as a springboard for a discussion about having a growth mindset. We made a chart to show the differences between growth and fixed mindsets.
Together, we practiced turning some negative expressions into positive expressions. For example, instead of saying "I'm not smart enough", we decided we could say "I just need more practice." Finally, the kids did a sort to help them see the difference that language can have on their attitude and their ability to persevere.
In our last lesson, we watched Alex Rigsby's video. The kids loved meeting some of her teammates and hearing that she had talked about them to her teammates before. They were also so impressed that she had recovered from hip surgery and continued to persevere and play hockey. We listened to her challenge and met it by each writing about one time we had showed perseverance in the past month. Here are some of the kids' examples.
