Random Acts of Kindness Week Freebies

This is Random Acts of Kindness Week.  Check out http://www.randomactsofkindness.org for ideas.  I don't know about you, but it feels like my classroom needs more kindness.  Sometimes kids are just not very kind.  I am working on my own responses and reinforcement because I know I get frustrated sometimes when my students are unkind or rude.  I want to have us make a 100 Acts of Kindness Wall for Valentines and the 100th Day of School.  We just might try to do it by end of February instead of by Friday. We brainstormed ideas for random acts of kindness in our journal writing today.

Today we listed to Somebody Loves You Mr. Hatch on Storyline Online.

 

I first heard about this book from Laura Candler.  You can download her Heartfelt Causes and Effects for free.  We discussed Cause and Effect in the Story.  Then my students had to choose a theme for the book and explain why it was the theme. We are also working on writing (typing) paragraphs with evidence and following directions.  We discussed how the theme could be friendship, acceptance, love, and compassion.

I found a ton of great kindness freebies on TpT.  I pinned a bunch of stuff on my Teaching Character and Leadership Pinboard. How do you encourage kindness in your classroom?

Last minute printable Valentines ("I think you're just write!")

So like usual I am doing things last minute.  I remembered as I wanted to get ready for bed I still needed to figure out my Valentines for my students.  I had done lots of Pinterest searching, but I had not yet done anything.

I was inspired by this Pin:

Source: ideabackpack.blogspot.com via April on Pinterest

I decided to make my own.  I think they came out cute.  I used a package of mechanical pencils I already had.



You can get a copy here (just in case you are last minute like me or want to get a head start on next year).

Some ideas for Valentine's Day

I have not had as much time to blog this week because it was my birthday.  I have had a fabulous week overall, which you can read about at my new personal blog called Balancing the Backpack.  I am really trying to work on balance this year, which includes eating better, exercising more, and trying to approach each day with gratitude and joy.

I really want to change things up a little bit this week with my students and do some fun stuff for Valentines.  I would really like to do some poetry as well.  I did not have as much time this weekend as I wanted to work on some Poetry activities or my Fractured Fairy Tale Unit.  I am hoping to have some more time tomorrow night.  In the meantime, I made some TpT purchases.

I purchased Jennifer Findley's Valentine's Math centers.  All of her stuff is fabulous.

I also purchased her Valentine's Reading Skills pack. I am going to use this, as well as hopefully some poetry stuff I hope to make.

Here is a link to some funny love/Valentine's poems on Giggle Poetry you could use this week with your students.

Here is a cute poem by Kenn Nesbitt called "Lunchbox Love Note" that I will read with my students this week. We will use it to review over the structure of a poem.

I will probably use some activities from Laura Candler's February packet.  I have used her Friendship Cinquain before so I will probably use that as one of our poems this week.

 

Source: teacherspayteachers.com via April on Pinterest

I still need to figure out a gift for my students for Valentine's Day. There are so many cute ideas on Pinterest. I am leaning toward this one with a pen or pencil. I may also bring some cookies because they were disappointed I did not bring a treat to share with them on my birthday.

Source: blog.bitsofeverything.com via April on Pinterest

What have you decided to give your students for Valentine's Day?