Last weekend I was invited to be a part of the Kids' Book Fest in Owego, New York. It was like the movie “Field of Dreams”…if you build it they will come. Host a book fest and hundreds of children, parents, grandparents, teachers, and caring people will come! Kristin Barton put the event together with a “little help from her friends” and it was such a happy time for all. The children sang, danced, made books, listened to stories, played and had a love of reading planted in their hearts! (I think the grown ups had
just as much fun watching the children’s joy.) These trips are always a little bittersweet for me. “Sweet” because I meet such amazing people, but “bitter” because I have to say good-bye.
One of my new BFF’s has a blog that you will definitely want to check out. Someone once said, “Teachers don’t steal ideas…they harvest ideas.” Carolyn Kisloski reminded me of that with her fantastic ideas. She says she borrowed them from my blog, but she really made the better!
The ideas that I borrowed from your blog are the Quiet Spray, which I made into the “Sh Spray” since we were working on that sh blend. I add magic glitter to the water, shake it up, and give a spray down the line once the children are lined up for the hall.
I also used your Self Control Lotion idea as My Favorite Things lotion. I wrote about it here http://ckisloski.blogspot.com/2013/04/my-favorite-things.html but basically the children bring in their favorite thing to share with the class. We write a book about it, and we learn the song “My Favorite Things.” That is when I introduce the lotion. If a child needs some thinking time, they can get a little magic My Favorite Things lotion and as they rub it into their hands, they think of their favorite things that make them happy. I told you that I had one little guy who used it a LOT. It was sort of like a "truth lotion" for him. He just started telling me things as he rubbed that lotion into his hands. Poor sweetheart.
What I remember loving about your post where you wrote about the Self Control Lotion- or one post about different ways to help with behavior - was when you talked about having a sock that a child could tie into a knot and untie. You said that someone said, "What if everybody wants a sock?" and you said, "So what! Give everybody a sock!" I LOVED that! :)
I could weep when I hear stories about what some of you are going through, and then I meet teachers who are passionate about children and who have learned to SHUT THE DOOR. I don’t want my blog to turn into a whining and complaining blog, but I hope when you hear these stories you realize that you are not alone, and you are inspired to use your “powers of good” like Kathleen (kidpeopleclassroom.com)!
I was having a horrible day – testing-- standardized, computerized testing for FIVE year olds.. it makes me so sad, and so MAD! They had to drag me down the hall kicking and screaming! How can we stop this??
…We made some adorable hats! The more I have to do horrible stuff like this testing, the more I go back to my roots to do fun stuff like hats! Using my powers for good to counter the evil- HA :)