Wednesday, November 25, 2015

My Wisdom To You....

To kick off the school year, Ms. Bourgeois used the picture book called 'Only One You' by Linda Krantz with her Grade 1/2 students.




This inspirational book has a number of key messages that encourage positive thinking, making memories, learning about making a difference and so much more! It’s important to build a positive classroom culture and this story helped to pave the way for helping students understand about friendship, and to celebrate their own uniqueness.


Ms. Bourgeois read this book a number of times to her students and was able to communicate the importance of being unique and making a difference. There were many brainstorming sessions about what is wisdom, how to make the world around us a better place and what makes each of us special. 



The key message in this book was inspiration for a school bulletin board developed and created by the students and their teacher. Much like the message in the book, it encouraged working together and celebrating our differences. Students were able to share their words of wisdom with the whole school. 



There were many fun activities that spun out from the book such as making dioramas of sea creatures. Students were randomly placed in small groups. Each group worked together to teach each other about getting along and listening to others. 



The book taught students about wisdom, friendship and being unique. They began to understand 
that we are all different and that they need to be 'proud to be me.' One of the ways the students were able to show their uniqueness was to pick a rock and add a design that they felt represented who they are and they talked about how they are all different but the same.



The following slide show was created with the 'flipagram' app and shows the work that was done in this grade 1/2. Click here! https://flipagram.com/f/faLuudM6fLThanks for sharing Ms. Bourgeois. You have an amazing class!


My wisdom to you is....


How do you build self-esteem in your students and create a positive classroom culture? 
Do you have a favourite mentor book? 
Please share!