Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
Kindness Blooms
This week, we focused on the importance of kindness and how even small acts can make a big difference. We explored this concept through some wonderful stories, including Be Kind, My Friend is Sad, and You Can Be My Friend. We also started reading the book, What Should Danny Do? This story is a choice based story that helps us look into the consequences our actions can have. We talked about how we are constantly making choices throughout the day and that the more positive our choices are, the more positive our day can be.
Our circle time discussions centered around what kindness looks like in action. As we reflected on what kindness means to us, we were able to come up with a whole host of examples of kindness that we have either performed or experienced. Some examples were:
- Hugging friends and family.
- Helping a classmate who needs assistance.
- Offering a tissue to someone who is sad.
- Telling our grandparents how much we love them.
- The importance of listening to others during circle time.
As our discussions became more in-depth, we talked about problem solving in situations that involved some sort of conflict. We had a refresher on asking for toys or tools in the classroom and reminded ourselves that if we weren't finished using something, we could always tell our classmate "I'm still using it, please wait", or "You can use it after me".
We also spoke about how being kind doesn't mean giving up all of our rights for the other person. If someone asked us to play, and for whatever reason, we couldn't or didn't feel like it at the time, we could tell them "I'm sorry, I'm busy right now" or "I want to play by myself, maybe later" or "Not right now, can you ask (insert name here) to play?"
One of our circle time games involved using our listening and concentration skills. We discussed how another way to be kind is by really listening to what our classmates are saying, whether they are asking a question, sharing their needs, or contributing to play by developing ideas. For this game, the first volunteer had to come up and choose a partner and ask them 'what's your favourite colour?'. After hearing the answer, they would then put a coloured magnet onto their partner's picture on the board. They would then go and sit down while their partner called a new classmate out and ask them what their favourite colour was.
In our circle time review of emotions, we first called out all the emotions we could think of, including some of the more complex ones like 'jealousy and 'guilty'. We brainstormed a whole host of scenarios that we came up with, working together to think of solutions to any that gave us negative emotions. After reading the book, How Do You Feel?, we talked about how the character felt and the fact that we all make bad choices sometimes, but what could we do to fix our mistakes when they negatively impact others. These discussions have had a big impact on the Dolphins and they have been sharing instances of classmates being kind to them, or them reaching out and being kind to others throughout the school day.
Team Building
Following a number of colour experiments with paint, we decided to bring our knowledge to a team project. In circle time, we sat in a circle and called out the colours of the rainbow. After learning that we would be creating our own rainbow using classroom objects, we waiting patiently until we were given our small group colour. We started off with the red team who sprinted off to find anything red. Once they had found something they returned to the centre to put their item down. Orange, yellow, green, blue then purple followed after. If anyone had any difficulty finding an object, the class worked as a supportive team, shouting out suggestions and pointing out where to look.
In the playground, we started playing some team ball games. Our first game involved sitting in a circle and passing the ball all the way around the circle. In this game we had to make sure we were all watching and listening to ensure we weren't missing anyone. If a classmate wasn't looking and hadn't noticed it was their turn, we worked as a class to call out their name to alert them! We learnt that if we threw the ball, it was end up bouncing to the wrong area and would stop our progress around the circle. We also learnt that we could only pass the ball when the music was playing. When the music stopped, we had to freeze. Both classes were given the chance to choose which song we would play, and BOTH classes enthusiastically shouted for pop song, APT.
In another game, we stood in two teams, along two different lines. Our goal was to get all of the balls in our basket from one end to the other of the line, where our second basket was. As there were multiple bouncy balls being passed along the line, we had to make sure we were paying attention the whole time. We found that if even just one person wasn't helping, our whole team had to slow down. We used our voices and gentle hands to tell our team mates they had a ball to pass them. Our final game saw us splitting into three teams. We sat on the carpet in three lines, all facing the front. We again had to transport the balls from one basket to a second one at the back of the line. This time we had to pass the ball over our heads and trust the person behind us to stay aware of any ball being passed to them.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Google Photo Albums
Comments
Post a Comment