Random Acts of Kindness

Every year, I like to focus on performing random acts of kindness involving everyone in the school, and this year was no exception. I decided that we would perform these acts on a grander scale and choose an entire class to surprise.

I visited each of the classes and explained the purpose of the project and what a random act of kindness was. They then had to draw another class's name from a hat and had exactly one month to perform whatever act of kindness that they as a class decided. Each class also had to keep it a surprise as to who their receiving class was going to be until the act was performed.

I placed a heart with the name of each teacher to keep track of which classes had already performed their act. Once that class completed their act of kindness, the good deed was written on a smaller heart for everyone to see.

The smaller hearts show the names of the teachers whose class has not performed their act of kindness yet. The larger pink hearts have been completed to show that Mrs. X's class did a RAK for Mr. Y's class and a brief description of the act follows.

I hung this sign next to the heart to explain to the parents that pick
their children up from daycare about our secret RAK mission. 

On the last day of the month the last class completed their RAK!

There was quite a variety of kind acts and it was great seeing how everyone got involved. I also loved how none of the students would reveal who their class had selected. Some cleaned the other classroom while they were in gym class. One class baked a special treat to bring to the students. Another class read stories and made a craft together, while another made bookmarks for their selected class. One class even prepared a scavenger hunt for a younger class. Everyone seemed to have fun focusing on the act of giving rather than receiving. Mission accomplished!

Hot Air Balloon Art

This was a simple art lesson that was used to complement studying different countries. I gave each of the students a hot air balloon outline. Their task was to decorate it using the colours and elements that were found in their assigned country's flag. They could not use stars if their flag did not have stars in it. Likewise, if their flag had a circle or the colour green, it was essential that they use it in their design.

Slovakia, Canada, and Australia were very easy to spot.

I like how the student used the elements in the flag from China on the right.

Kazakhstan's flag is recreated in the hot air balloon on the top right.

Can you tell which hot air balloon represents Croatia and which one is for Serbia?

The kids had a lot of fun with this art and their designs were very accurate. It was fun for other students in the school to try and match the country's flag to the hot air balloon.

Character Traits

Last fall, I challenged my colleagues to create a decoration on their classroom door that followed certain character traits as I'm always trying to find ways to demonstrate a positive attitude in our school. For Kindergarten and Cycle 1 (Grades 1 and 2), the trait was Caring. Respect was for Cycle 2 (Grades 3 and 4) and Responsibility was the trait for Cycle 3 (Grades 5 and 6). Of course I couldn't expect my colleagues to take on this task without setting an example.

I chose to create street signs with traits that I want our students to embrace. The yellow sign is for my room, which we call OASIS.

I created a friendly competition within the cycles with a prize for the winners. The door on the left was the winning door from Grade 1, while the one on the right was a runner-up from Grade 2.

This was the winning door from Cycle 3. The students created mini posters showing how they are responsible in a variety of settings. (I may have to remind them that they depicted "submitting their homework on time" as a personal responsibility the next time they have an excuse for not handing it in.)

The Character Traits on my door.

These character traits door decorations were on display for all to see during our fall interviews. Some even left them up for the duration of the term.

There's Only One You!

(I'm guilty of not posting for a while! This is a project that I did with my students last year.)

Inspired by the book 'There's Only One You', I decided to embark on another schoolwide project to help bring life to our school. I met with each of the classes and read Linda Kranz's book. We discussed the meaning behind it and how each one of us is different, just like the fish in the story. I then explained how they were going to contribute to our "fish tank".

This is the before picture of the "fish tank".

I had each child, from Kindergarten to Grade 6, draw their fish design on one of four templates that I provided. The only restriction they had was they were only allowed to use a maximum of 3 colours, excluding white and black for the eyes (if they chose those for eye colour). They were very creative with their designs!

Once their design was complete, they were given the same fish shape made out of canvas. They now had to paint their design on the canvas.

The students in Grades 5 and 6 were mentors to the younger kids and helped them paint their fish. Once all of the fish were painted, they were sewn together by the Grade 5 and 6 students. I used recycled material as the back of the fish, which also went with our school theme for the year on Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.

These students were concentrating on painting the fine details on the canvas.

It was now time to hang all of the fish. Coincidentally, there were 8 windows that overlooked a main hallway that would make a perfect "fish tank". First, I cut and laminated waves to create the water and attached these to the window facing the hall. Then, I attached several chains of fish together with fishing wire and attached those chains to a wooden dowel which was hung at the top of the window. Once all of the fish were hung, I made sure that all of the painted parts of the fish were facing outwards before placing a piece of Plexiglas on each window to create a "tank" effect.

Testing out the design.

Samples of some of the designs.

More designs.

 The final step was to hang letters on top of the design to showcase our project.

This is the display that we get to look at every day. It is a big improvement over the picture at the top! 

This project lasted throughout the school year. It was quite exciting to see the children try to find their fish and see the glee on their face once they did. It truly showcases our differences and celebrates how we can all "swim in the same school".

Social Skills Lesson Using Cooperative Art!

I had a Grade 5/6 class who needed help in working together. I introduced the project to them by first having a discussion on teamwork.

Each student was then given a piece of 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of paper with a design on it. They were told that they had to create designs using colour on their paper. The only rules were that they had to use marker where I identified with an X, pencil crayons in the other spaces, and they were not allowed to use any logos.

They were then told that their piece would be assembled together with the other students in the class to create a word. I did not tell them what the word was! Despite many requests to reveal the word, I informed them that they would have to wait to see it when everyone was finished.

I used 24 sheets of paper to draw the letters on. A letter/number code was used on the back of each sheet so that I would have an easier time assembling it.  Each student would receive 1 piece of the puzzle to create their design on. I also made sure that the sheets were mixed up before distributing them so that the students wouldn't solve the word before the completion. This added to the mystery.

Once they were finished, I outlined the letters in black to make the word stand out. I then laminated it before hanging it on the wall in their class.

The design turned out much better than I expected and the students were thrilled with their masterpiece! I hung it up in their classroom as a reminder of their collaborative project and what the word "Respect" means. At the end of the year, I moved the design out into a hallway in the school so that more students could enjoy it.

Canadian Remembrance Day Art

I wanted to do something special with all of the students in our school for Remembrance Day this year, especially because of the recent attack on Parliament Hill and the killing of two of our soldiers on home turf.

I had every student in the school make a red poppy, and had the students in grades 3-6 make an additional poppy in white. I made the background of our flag with construction paper and glued all of the poppies on it.

The finished product is 3 1/2 feet by 6 feet. I have a sign beside it thanking our soldiers. It's nice to see the student's reaction when they see the finished product and know that they contributed to it. That's what motivates me to create more cooperative projects in our school!

Gratitude Tree

It was a busy start to the school year - aren't they always? An ongoing mission of mine is to create a caring and peaceful environment in our school, which means having student involvement. We have a tree that is painted on the wall at our front entrance that I often use as a display for various projects. This time, I decided to create a 'Gratitude Tree', given that our (Canadian) thanksgiving is the second Monday in October.

I began by removing the old decorations (I took this picture before removing the old decorations at the top). I added the slogan so that visitors would know what our tree represented. With the help of my daughter's Silhouette cutter , I prepared 325 hearts in fall colours.

Next, I met with each of the classes and explained their assignment. They were each given a heart and were asked to write what makes them happy on it. We brainstormed ideas together ... a good book, friends, family, the sand between my toes, homemade cookies, etc. It didn't have to be complicated - just something that makes them feel good.

Above are some examples of what makes these students happy.

The green heart in the top rights says "When people give me good news, they make me happy." "When mom is happy" is written on the yellow heart in the middle. I had an "Aw!" moment when I read that one. For the most part, the kids really understood the message and had written many beautiful things.

Our completed "Gratitude Tree

Once I collected all of the hearts, I placed them on the tree to simulate autumn leaves. The expression on the student's faces when they pass the tree and see the hearts on it is priceless. I feel it motivates them to recognize and appreciate people and things that feel good to them. In turn, they will hopefully extend this to others.