Life Lesson #5 (Be a Friend)

"Be a Friend"

*This is the fourth Thursday of our school year together and that means it is "Life Lesson" Thursday.

*Our school is focusing on Be Kind, Be Safe, and Be Responsible as our three major expectations.  I wanted to tie those into our Thursday Life Lessons.  

*Last week we had a video on "Being Safe" and this week it is all about "Being Responsible".  I tried to find some fun and interesting videos for the kids to watch.  Yet, I still want them to learn about the importance of these expectations.   

*Each Thursday I share a short video clip with my writers.  The clip has some type of "lesson" I want to share and teach my fourth graders.  

*I set aside time during each day for us to work in our writer's notebooks. 

*We talk about what types of writing we can do in the notebook.  Here are some of the possibilities...

-What we notice in the video

-What we wonder about

-Connections we have to the video

-Thoughts, feeling, emotions about the video clip

-Reminders we have from the lesson/message

-Create a fiction story about the video

*Once the video is shared with the writers, we spend a few minutes "talking" about what we observed.

*My writers set up their HEADING in the notebook and we get busy writing.

*During the start-up of the year, I have my students write for about five minutes.  We slowly build our stamina for writing and slowly add time to the writing block. 

*At the end of the individual writing time, we call on a few volunteers to share their actual writing and/or further thoughts about the video we watched and wrote about.

*If there is time, I sometimes share the video clip with my class at the end of the writer's notebook time.  

Life Lessons for 2016-2017…          

Week #1 - Be Brains -                                                                             Click Here for Week #1 Lesson
Week #2 - Be Kind to Others -                                                               Click Here for Week #2 Lesson
Week #3 - Be Safe -                                                                                Click Here for Week #3 Lesson
Week #4 - Be Responsible -                                                                   Click Here for Week #4 Lesson