GIVE A HUG DAY

January 21st is National Hugging Day, but I think it should be changed to National Hugging MONTH! Could anything be better than a hug on a cold winter day?

If your school is cautious about hugging, demonstrate how to give a hug in sign language by making fists with your hands and wrapping your arms around your chest.

How about a “hall hug”? Cross index and middle fingers and wiggle.

An “eye hug” is a good way to greet visitors to your classroom. Children squeeze their eyes as they wrap their arms around themselves and then open them up and share the hug.

A “hand hug” can be done by placing your palm next to a partner’s palm. Wrap your thumbs around, squeeze, look in your partner’s eyes, and smile!



Someone told me that a “rainbow hug” is when you hug yourself, make a wish, and send love to someone far away.

Can your students think of other ways to give a hug?

Discuss why we hug people. How does it make you feel when someone hugs you?

For a writing activity ask your students to make a list of all the people they’d like to give a hug.

Give children a paper plate and ask them to draw their face on it. Let them trace around their hands and cut them out. Give them two strips of paper (12” x 2 ½”) for arms. They can glue the arms to the paper plate and then attach the hands. Use the “hugs” for a bulletin board or let children give them to someone special.

Here’s a great big hug from me to you today!!!

RAINBOW WISHES

As the 2025 school year winds down so does my brain. However, I wanted to give you something today that would be simple, meaningful, and full of LOVE and HOPE!

Karen Eldred shared this idea for Rainbow Wishes several years ago at a workshop. I think you'll all agree we need to do this now more than ever.

Close your eyes and make a picture of special someone in your brain. (Close eyes.) 

Rub your hands together slowly as you think of special someone. (Rub palms) 

Rub faster, thinking of everything you remember or love about them. 

Send them your LOVE. (Throw arms up in the air.) 

Grab the love and bring it back to your heart. (Cross arms over chest.) 

PEACE AND LOVE TO YOU TODAY

I am jealous of you today. I really am! Of all my classroom memories one of my favorites was watching the children open up their little valentines. "Look, I got a Minnie Mouse!" "See what Jamie gave me!" They were so thrilled. It's a reminder of what I always say about children being happy with plain vanilla. They don't need the world's fair or another toy or video game.

Peace and Love to YOU!
You can do this for your students and tell them to pass it on.
Peace (Make sign for peace.)
Love (Make sign for love.)
You (Point to someone.)

Love It Cheer

Make a heart with your hands (index fingers touching at the top and thumbs at the bottom) and extend from your heart.


Air Hug (Jane McPartland)
Say, “Give me an air hug.” Students open arms and pretend to squeeze.

Air Kisses (Beth Jenkins)
Kiss your fingertips numerous times as you scan the class. Blow kisses to all the children. Cross your arms across your chest and rub your arms as you say, “Feel the love.”

Thumbs Up Statements
Have students repeat positive comments as they stick up their thumbs.

I am a kind friend.
I am caring.
I am responsible.
I am polite.
I am a hard worker.
I am a helper.

"LOVING" SKILLS

Are you working on your February lesson plans this weekend? Here are some "lovely" ways to tie the holiday in with skills and standards.

I LOVE YOU! 

How many ways can you say, “I love you”? Teach children sign language for the term, and then challenge them to demonstrate other ways to say “I love you.” (For example, curl in your fingers and then touch your thumbs to make a heart shape. Hug yourself and then point to someone. Explain that people put “X O” at the end of a letter to represent a kiss and a hug.)

*Make a list of all the school helpers that you appreciate and make cards for them using thumbprints or hand print flowers with sign language for “love.”


LOVE IS…
Fold two sheets of paper in half and staple. Ask children to write predictable books starting each page with “Love is…” Younger children could draw pictures and older students could write detailed sentences.





LOVE WEB
Draw a heart in the middle of a sheet of paper and write the word “love” in the middle. Younger students could draw pictures of things they love, while older students could write synonyms for the word.

*This would be a perfect opportunity to demonstrate the use of a thesaurus.

ROOTS OF LOVE
Take the word “love” and use it for teaching tenses, comparisons, prefixes, etc.
“He love me.” What would sound better?
Love – unloved
Love - loving


STICKER POEMS
Put a heart sticker in the middle of a sheet of paper. Challenge children to write a poem about the sticker and around the sticker. They could also write an acrostic poem with the word “valentine” or “heart.”

POSITIONAL WORDS
You can use a paper heart or three-dimensional heart for this activity. Have children close their eyes while you hide the heart somewhere in the room in plain sight. When they open their eyes, they can stick up their thumb when they spy the heart. If they are called on, they have to describe where the heart is using positional words. For example, “The heart is under the clock beside the calendar.” That child then gets a turn to hide the heart.


POINTERS
Make pointers by attaching heart stickers to craft sticks. Children can use these for reading and also for demonstrating positional words. “Put your heart over your head. Put your heart under your chin. Put your heart behind your back…”

#4 THE HEART OF A TEACHER

Dear Friends,

It's Sunday and so I'm allowed to do a little "preaching" today.  

This is a thought by Max Lucado.  I'm not sure where I found it, but it makes me smile.  If only we could instill this unconditional LOVE in each child we teach!

Blessings to you always,

Jean

THROWBACK

Special Me (Tune: "Twinkle Little Star")
Special, special, special me (Point to self.)
I'm as special as can be. (Open and close fingers.)
There is no one quite like me. (Shake head.)
I'm as good as I can be.
Special, special, special me, (Point to self.)
I'm as special as can be. (Hug self.)

RAINBOW WISHES

As the 2022 school year winds down so does my brain.  However, I wanted to give you something today that would be simple, meaningful, and full of LOVE and HOPE!  

Karen Eldred shared this idea for Rainbow Wishes several years ago at a workshop.  I think you'll all agree we need to do this now more than ever.

Close your eyes and make a picture of special someone in your brain. (Close eyes.) 

Rub your hands together slowly as you think of special someone. (Rub palms) 

Rub faster, thinking of everything you remember or love about them. 

Send them your LOVE. (Throw arms up in the air.) 

Grab the love and bring it back to your heart. (Cross arms over chest.) 

I’m sending each of you rainbow wishes for 2023!!!

TEACHERS UNITED IN CHRIST

Last summer Meghan sent me a photo of the children in El Salvador singing the "Tooty Ta."  It's a beautiful story and I asked them to share it with you.  We can't do everything, but we can all do something.  I'll bet you'll get goosebumps just like me when you read about their mission trip. You'll find more information about this mission and how to contact Meghan and Madison at the end of the blog.  

Note!!  Wouldn't helping the children at La Magdalena be a great project for your class this year?  Instead of thinking about "stuff" they want they could think about someone else.  

There is a very small Christian school named Escuela Cristiana Canton La Magdalena located in La Magdalena, El Salvador. Madison's husband is the chair of a non-profit organization called One Child El Salvador that supports this school. After both Meghan and Madison's husbands had traveled there and saw how special the community is, they knew they must go! Unlike previous mission trips, they felt a different calling. In the past, most mission trips were construction related. That didn't seem to fit how they were being called to serve...

Meghan is in her 15th year teaching early childhood and Madison is in her 11th. Both ladies teach at Blackburn Elementary School in Dawsonville, GA. Dr. Jean has always played a vital role in both our teaching careers. We sing and dance with our students daily. We utilize the songs to approach different academic areas. After beginning to plan for this trip we knew we wanted to incorporate some of Dr. Jean's magic as a means to connect with the students in a different country and language!

                          

The mission laid on our hearts was not only United in Christ but specifically TEACHERS United in Christ. Our goal was to partner with the ladies and men teaching in remote El Salvador and give them tools and materials they might not otherwise have access to. Thankfully Dr. Jean's Ole! Ole! would lead the way and bridge the gap between us and the students. The teachers let us do a classroom takeover, even though we spoke very little spanish. We got the opportunity to introduce some of our favorite songs to these children in spanish. As the kids were enjoying the songs, the teachers got a glimpse of the ideology of Singing to Learn. We drew the animals of the Color Farm, wrote color words in English and Spanish, and constructed silly sentences about the animals on the farm. Every lesson was wrapped up with everyone's favorite........TOOTY TA! Another wonderful concept we got to share was KISS YOUR BRAIN. The first time we told them to kiss their brain when they did something wonderful it blew them away! The idea was so well loved. The school principal/pastor thought the idea of thanking your brain was remarkable. Kiss Your Brain will forever be remembered in La Magdalena we are sure!

 

As Dr. Jean said the sweetest part of this trip was seeing that children are the same all over the world. They wanted to sing, dance and learn! The students in La Magdalena are receiving a high quality education with minimal resources. That can only be attributed to God and the dedication of the teachers working there. This mission trip was not so much of a manual labor trip, but a labor of love. Sharing a calling to teach is a special bond that reaches across all borders and oceans. We are all truly united in Christ. 

Here's a video of our trip:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TLKh0rrtgHCXgUQ-0tVxw0KjH4MhFMvO/view?usp=drivesdk


There are many opportunities to get involved with this extraordinary non-profit, as well as the students and teachers in La Magdalena. Monthly sponsorships for the students are available. You may also be feeling the same call to serve. The website below can provide you with more information on how to get involved.

https://onechildelsalvador.org/

OR email at: onechildelsalvador@gmail.com

TELL ME A STORY OF HEARTS AND LOVE

It seems so many of the good stories that we used to tell children have been replaced with cartoons and videos. I might be "old as dirt" (as I heard someone say about me), but I've got some special stories to pass on to you. Think of them (and me) as "antiques" instead of out of style! You might be surprised how much your children enjoy them and beg, "TELL IT AGAIN! TELL IT AGAIN!"

A HEART FOR YOU
Materials: red construction paper and scissors

Child’s name wanted to make some special valentines for her friends. So she got some red paper and folded it in half and tired to cut out a heart.
(Let the scraps fall to the ground.)

She opened it up and didn’t like the way it looked so she tried to trim it down a little bit. (Again, let the scraps fall to the ground as you cut out a smaller heart.)

“No, that’s not quite right,” she said. “Let me try again.”

Continue cutting smaller and smaller hearts until there’s only a tiny heart left. “Oh, dear, what can I do now?” Then she looked down on the floor and one by one picked up her scraps. “Oh, goodie! Now I have enough hearts for all my friends!”  

Hint!  Pass these out to the children and then tell it again and again until every child has a heart.


THE BROKEN HEART
                        

Here’s a story just right for this month to help children think about how words can hurt. Cut a large heart out of red construction paper and hold it in your lap as you begin to tell the story below:

This is a story about a special friend named (imaginary name). He always came to school with a smile on his face and a big heart full of love for his classmates. (Hold up the big heart.) (Name) listened to his teacher, did his best work, and helped his friends. However, some of his friends weren’t always so kind. Joe made fun of his shoes and broke a little of his heart. (Tear off a piece of the heart and let it drop to the floor.) Ann said, “I’m saving this seat and you can’t sit here” at story time and broke a little more of his heart. Sammy wouldn’t share his crayons (tear off a little of the heart) and Sara called him a mean name. What are some other things that might break his heart? (Let the children name other things that cause hurt feelings as you let the pieces fall to the floor.) By the end of the day his heart was all in pieces and it was so sad.

Who can tell me how to put his heart back together? What are some kind things you can do for your friends? As children name different acts of kindness pick the pieces of the heart off the floor. Glue the pieces together on a poster as a reminder to have a kind heart. Encourage children to write friends’ names on the poster when they are kind and helpful to them!

King Kong (The more dramatic you are, the better the kids will like it and get engaged! Say “King Kong” in a loud deep voice & “teeny tiny monkey” in a squeaky little voice.)
KING KONG (Flex arms.)
Was just a teeny tiny monkey (Hold up pinky.)
Compared to my love for you. (Cross arms over chest and then extend.)
KING KONG (Flex arms.)
Was just a teeny tiny monkey (Hold up pinky.)
Compared to my love for you. (Cross arms over chest and then extend.)
I love you day (Make circle with arms.)
And night. (Lay head on hands.)
My love is out of sight. (Hands in air.)
KING KONG (Flex arms.)
Was just a teeny
Tiny monkey (Hold up pinky.)
Compared to my love for you! (Softly say this line as you point to children.)

I'M JEALOUS!

I'm jealous of all of you today. One of my sweetest teaching memories is the Valentine party. The children would be delighted as they opened their cards. "Oh, look! I got Mickey Mouse from Laura!" Those little paper cards were almost as good as the big expensive toys they got at Christmas.

It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes: "We are so busy trying to give children things we didn't have that we are failing to give them what we did have."

On this day we are giving children a memory that each of us had when we were growing up. A memory of a cupcake or cookie and an envelope filled with love. A memory of a classroom family being happy and enjoying the moment together.

Take a deep breath and enjoy all the LOVE today!!!