K/1/2 Leadership in Consul

+Michelle Salt

We started this theme by brainstorming what a leader is, does, says, and is not.  The kids had lots of ideas to share in all categories.

We talked about places where they can be a leader and told about how they could use leadership skills in that area.

Then we watched Michelle's video and took up the challenge.  I showed them short youtube videos introducing each topic.  Then we worked in groups of four to try to solve big world issues such as hunger, homelessness, bullying and climate change.  The kids worked well together in their groups, with many offering suggestions and ensuring that everyone in the group was heard.

Leadership

Hello,

For the month of March, the students learnt about leadership.  Every class from grades 1-8 watched the video from Brad Bowden.  For the grade 1s, we created a giant acrostic poem together on the white board about leadership.  They had to pick one word that starts with each letter of the word leadership.  For the grade 2/3’s they did the same lesson as the grade 1’s but created their acrostic poems independently.  For grades 4-6 they had to create a sentence about each letter about leadership. 

               With the grade 7/8s I was able to split them into two groups.  On the first day the grade 7’s went to help out at a group home in the community as the grade 8s stayed back with myself.  We talked about different leaders in the community and also created the acrostic poem.  With only having the grade 8’s in the room we were able to discuss how we can be leaders in the school and how the younger students look up to them.  We also talked about role modeling appropriate behavior within the school because they will be setting the tone how the students at Holy Rosary will be acting.  I also did this same lesson with the grade 7’s the next day without the grade 8s. 

               Part of our Phys Ed. program has a leadership outcome that ties right into this topic that we were able to utilize in the school.  Our grade 7/8 teacher in the past ran a record breaking day with his students.  We broke his student’s intro groups of 3 and they had to lead an activity for the entire school.  Each grade would rotate through each station and try to break a record for their age category.  For example, we had three students run a push up station.  The students would come to that station and see how many pushups they could do in one minute.  The students would record their results and announced the winners for each category in a morning assembly.  We ran this activity for an afternoon at our school.

Leadership Summary

Let me start by saying I love this new topic! Already in third grade you can see the natural born leaders starting to emerge. It is so important for all students to know that they can all be leaders.

Lesson 1

My goal for this lesson was for the students to understand the characteristics of a leader. We discussed that leaders have to have commitment. That they have to be able to communicate effectively with others. That leaders have to make decisions. Self-control is very important for leaders. How can they lead others if they can’t control themselves?  Next, we watched the YouTube clip by Kid President called a Pep Talk about Team Work and Leadership 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWmxgYwcrLE. I loved that my students connected part of the message back to perseverance. I love that this video included a message about teamwork. The students need to know as a leader they are still part of a team. To conclude this lesson, we played the Leadership Game. A student goes out of the room and when he/she returns, they have to figure out who the leader is in the room leading the other students in various movements. Afterwards, we discussed how they were able to identify the leader. It was interesting that almost to a child, they noticed who the other students were watching.

Lesson 2

My goal for this lesson was for the students to understand that before they can lead other that they have to be in control of themselves. An area in which many of my students struggle. We began by reading the story. Bored, Bored, Bored! Afterwards, we discussed story and brainstormed ways that we can be in charge of ourselves. Next, students made a poster of themselves and included a way that they demonstrate they are in charge of themselves. To the shoes, they added two more things that they are working on to be in charge of themselves.

Lesson 3

My goal for this lesson was for the students to understand that being a leader is not being bossy. I read them a quote from John Quincy Adams: “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” Next, we did a sort: leaders are people who… and bosses are people who… We spent time talking about the characteristics of each.  I picked this particular lesson because several of my students get to bossy during group work. I definitely think the lesson had an impact.

Lesson 4

Today the students watched our mentor’s video and accepted her challenge. They listed the qualities of a good leader, then wrote a paragraph about how they demonstrated these qualities. Next, they thought of someone they know that is a good leader and listed the leadership qualities the person demonstrates.

I loved this topic! I feel like this is a subject that I could teach the entire year with my grade level.

Leadership

This month was incredible! We had the amazing opportunity to have volunteers from Crescent Point Energy join us for our leadership lesson. We watched Tyler's video and took on the challenge with the CP employees.

In order to prepare for our thinking about leadership, we worked through a lesson from 3rd Grade Thoughts (an educational blog). The lesson was about Bosses vs. Leaders and determining the characteristics of each type of person. Students then wrote about the following John Quincy Adams quote: "If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader." Here is the chart we created with characteristics of bosses and leaders:

Each volunteer supported a small group in researching a famous leader and their contribution and how they demonstrated being a leader.

The students absolutely loved having our Crescent Point guests supporting and working with them! Students then planned out how to present their information to the whole class.


The standards that were included:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.2
Determine two or more main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by key details; summarize the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.7
Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources, demonstrating the ability to locate an answer to a question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.9
Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.5.4
Report on a topic or text or present an opinion, sequencing ideas logically and using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.2.B
Develop the topic with facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples related to the topic.

Students used a variety of resources to complete their research with our awesome technology! They put their information on charts to share and post in the classroom. The charts are below!

Friendship

Everyone know what makes a good friend.  If your school days are anything like mine they are spent with kids seeking out other kids that are not being good friends and them telling you about them!  We talk a lot about tattling in our class so when the topic of Friendship comes up the kids are very familiar with what makes a bad friend, but we do not often enough take time to acknowledge when kids are being good friends.  That was are focus for the month.  We worked really hard on telling when kids were bing good friends.  Our end of the day community meeting focused on kids telling on other kids.  It didn't take long before the kids could easily find many ways through out the day when they saw people in our class doing really nice things for one another.  Just like every other monthly theme, I make it a goal of mine to keep the momentum going.  I think getting kids to focus on the positive instead of the negative is something worth spending a lot of time on.  It really helps to build that sense of community, especially this time of year when students know each other so well and are quick to get annoyed with little things.

Besides are daily community meeting we also took time to complete activities centered around Nate's challenge.  He asked us to think of ways that we can be good friends with our classmates.  The students created a list and worked on checking the list off.  They enjoyed the challenge and realized that "it is actually really easy to be a good friend", as one student told me!

My students also really love the app Keynote, so I should them a cool feature called "Instant Alpha" and they created Keynote presentations to show good friend qualities and bad friend qualities.  They love learning cool tech features and it makes it more engaging to combine our Classroom Champion theme with the new tech learning.

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.2
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.2.A
Introduce a topic and group related information together; include illustrations when useful to aiding comprehension.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.2.B
Develop the topic with facts, definitions, and details.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.2.C
Use linking words and phrases (e.g., also, another, and, more, but) to connect ideas within categories of information.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.2.D
Provide a concluding statement or section.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.3.1
Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.

Below are photos of students creating their Keynotes and a sample of a completed one:

Consul Friendship

Wow! We needed extra time to do this theme justice.  We started with +Michelle Salt 's video and paired up with someone in our classroom that we were less familiar with.  The challenge was to find two ways that they were the same and two ways that they were different.   The kids were hesitant at first, thinking it would be hard to find ways that they were the same but surprised themselves through their discussions.  Some pairs found out they had the same colour of dog for a pet, liked planting flowers, or going swimming in the summer.  Their ideas were varied and they gained an appreciation for each other - these pairs likely wouldn't have had this contact without this activity.  Here they are working together . . .

Our next activity was centred around the book "How Full Is Your Bucket?"  I read the book to the kids and then we sorted some ideas that would be bucket fillers or bucket dippers.  They grasped the concept easily.  Kids then decorated their own buckets and drew the names of three classmates.  They had to think of a way to fill their classmates' buckets.  This proved to be a challenge for those who drew names of less familiar classmates, but they did it.  Lots of thought went into 'what is this person good at' or 'what have I seen this person do that was bucket filling'.  These comments were then added to each child's bucket - each child gets their bucket filled by three classmates.  Our display is in the hall.  Here's some pictures!

This activity I downloaded for free from scholastic.com.

Friendship Part 1 & 2

Friendship is a term that kids use rather loosely.  Especially for the younger ones, anyone and everyone can be their friend.  However, when these kiddos get older, they need to be a bit more selective of those that earn the honor of being considered a true friend.

After watching +Alex Rigsby's video, we had a classroom discussion regarding what friendship means to us.  You will see some of the kiddos' work in the link below as they created Google Slide shows to express their feelings about friendship...which is our part 1 of our 3 part Friendship Fiesta! 

Here is one example (the link below takes you to the class folder)

Friendship According to Georgia

Friendship According to Room 21 Rockstars!

Over the next few days I had a couple of girls get into some pretty serious trouble out on the playground.  Now these girls are typically super sweet and kind, however when they get together outside of the classroom, they tend to have a somewhat negative influence on one another.  The girls came in at lunch and we talked about how friends help each other make good decisions.  We asked the age old question, "Would I want to be friends with me?" They decided that maybe it would be best if they took a little hiatus from their friendship and see what happens.  Well, as you know how 5th grade girls are, that hiatus lasted about 3.11 seconds.  Choices were made once again and this time it led to parents being contacted and consequences.  They both determined that even though they got along, that they really weren't helping one another make the best of choices.  They know that it's not because they don't like one another, but they aren't "good" together...right now.  I've peeked on the playground and I've seen them hanging out with people I've not seen them with before.  They're having fun and they're not getting into trouble! 

We then launched into our 2nd little project for the month.  Our lunch is only with 5th, 6th, and kindergarten.  So their interaction with other kiddos is limited.  I decided to take it upon myself and email some of the 1st-4th grade teachers and see if they had any students who have had challenges making and/or keeping friends.  

I immediately got responses and asked for some more specifics and then paired them up with one of my kiddos.  

My kids visited their new friends in class to introduce themselves, took them for a little walk around campus to "get to know one another", one even took her new friend a birthday pencil on her special day.

 Just last week in our staff meeting, one of the teachers celebrated my students by saying, "Ya' know, when the 5th graders walked in my kids thought they were in trouble.  But after they came back from their walk, they were all smiles! And these two NEVER SMILE!"

 I knew we hit the jackpot.  We are going to continue this project and my kids are going to go have lunch and go out to recess with their new friends.(photos to come)

I am so proud of my kids who are now role models and helping some other kiddos come out of their shells.  I specifically chose my shyest and quietest kids to take part in this project because I know how hard it is for them to open up. 

 But I see a little more swagger in their step and much more confidence in class.  They're raising their hands more, talking more, and just smiling.  I have a feeling they will SHINE in our next month's theme of Leadership!  Oh how exciting!

Part 3 will be up in a couple of weeks as it is bigger undertaking and had to coordinate with schoolwide testing schedules and such!  It's pretty awesome and my kids are BEYOND jazzed to tell you all about it!