Life Lesson #9 (Be Kind)

"Be Kind" by Sophia 

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

*I have used this video clip many times in the past and it is always a hit with my writers.

*The video is quite simple, but with a POWERFUL punch.  Young people seem really drawn to this girl and her message. 

*We had our annual Kindness Retreat with Youth Frontiers and I wanted to tie something in with that.  This is the perfect "life lesson" video clip for that.  

*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
Week #5 - Be a Friend -                                                                Click Here for Week #5 Lesson
Week #6 - Be Courageous -                                                          Click Here for Week #6 Lesson
Week #7 - Be Life Changing -                                                      Click Here for Week #7 Lesson
Week #8 - Be Spooky -                                                                 Click Here for Week #8 Lesson