Showing posts with label citizenship. Show all posts

Friday, April 22, 2016

PPBF: What Does It Mean To Be Green

Posted by Amazing People, on 4:00 AM
Today I'm happy, because we're celebrating my Dad's 79th birthday. 
On Earth Day. 
So fitting for a farmer, who made his living off the land, right?
Today's PPBF is the perfect fit for Earth Day, too.


Title: What Does It Mean To Be Green?
Author: Rana DiOrio
Illustrator: Chris Blair
Publisher: Little Pickle Press
Date: March 15,  2010
Suitable for ages: 4-8
Themes: recycling, conservation, citizenship
Brief synopsis: This treasure trove offers lots of ideas that we
 {young and old alike!} can all use to go green and save our planet.
Opening page: What does it mean to be green?

Resources:  Sign up to download lesson plans for the book {here}.
Share this beautiful tribute song to the earth. 

Encourage students to upcycle something, like this, brought to me by a fifth grader. It's an empty tissue box that he filled with handwritten, heartfelt cheer-up notes, perfect, he said, for a counselor like me. And he was spot on! 


Download an Earth Day freebie from Denise at Sunny Days {here}.
Watch the book trailer on You Tube:


Let your students host a recycling campaign.


Our Student Council is collecting clean grocery bags this week.


Don't you love their handiwork that's hanging all over our school?


Or make a Go Green wall of fame, like this one spotted by the character cam in the second-grade hallway at the school next door.


Why I like this book: Its silly start and simple conservation suggestions hooked us; its adorable illustrations reeled us in.


Looking for green things like the frogs subtly placed on the pages sealed the deal. Actually, it took an observant kindergartener to point that last part out ... 


and oh, what fun we had going back through the pages once we realized that there were little green frogs hidden on most every page!


We started the lesson with Boris the bear, who told our young sponges that he was "green with envy" that they get to go to school at Westwood, his former school. That engaged them and got them laughing and thinking and ready to read. 
But first, a song.

If You're Green And You Know It
by Barbara Gruener
Sing to the tune of If you're happy and you know it. 

If you're green and you know it, plant a tree. {clap clap}
If you're green and you know it, plant a tree. {clap clap}
If you're green and you know it,
then the world will surely show it; 
if you're green and you know it, plant a tree. {clap clap}

After singing the first verse, let the students write the next verses by suggesting phrases to replace the lyrics plant a tree. 



We sang about four verses, then we read the book aloud before singing a few more verses, all sparked by the new ideas we gleaned from the book. Check it out and enjoy going green!

For other PPBF picks today, hop to Susanna's blog next.
While you're there, wish HER a blessed day as well.
{A little birdie told me it's her dad's special day, too!} 







Thursday, June 25, 2015

Aaaargh You Up For A Kindness Party?

Posted by Amazing People, on 5:30 AM
Today I'm excited because I've been re-reading Dave Burgess' treasure,
 Teach Like A Pirate, and it beautifully dovetails with something adventuresome. creative, and daring that we're trying tonight on FB: A Kindness Party!


Consider it a hook, to engage our readers by sharing stories and strategies for making kindness an intentional, purposeful ritual in our homes, our school and our communities. And it's your chance to chat with some ordinary individuals who are doing extraordinarily kind things.


Door prizes include a copy of my book, What's Under Your Cape?, and two Carol McCloud titles, Have You Filled A Bucket Today? and Growing Up With A Bucket Full Of Happiness. Just click either graphic above at 8:00 pm {CST} and be transported to the fun.

We'll swap ideas like the Which Wich? #FlagYourBag campaign. If you decorate the back of your sandwich bag, they will recycle it by filling the bag with goodies to send to the troops. Isn't that AmAzInG? So, here's mine. It was a blast to color. All it took was a Penny of Time, and it creates such a citizenship win-win.  


I'm just delighted that we're reading Pirate as a faculty because I connect personally and professionally with so many parts of Dave's pirate treasure, especially the engagement, passion, and movement pieces. 
In fact, I used this quote from his book in mine.

 Shelley makes the best graphics!
Then I sent him a copy of my book, to thank him for his ins-pirate-ion, and he invited me to host a #tlap chat last September, on Labor Day. In case you missed it, here are the questions we discussed. 

My friend Jen and I are planning to channel our inner pirates and host a practice chat in the second part of our Hashtags and PLNs and TweetChats, Oh My! workshop in our August Tech Symposium, so we're going to use these questions.

And last, a story from yesterday. I was driving the carpool when I saw a homeless man on the corner of 288 and Binz. At the red light, I gave him $5 to help him out a bit. After he thanked me, he introduced himself and told me that he'd be happy to help me if I were ever in the area and needed anything. 
Isn't that thoughtful, his offer to lend a hand, to pay me back.
Because kindness matters, 
even when things aren't going very well. 
Maybe especially then.  
See you tonight!





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