Life Lesson #17 (Be Happy)

"Be HAPPY"

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

*We are enjoying all of our life lesson video clips this year.  I have found if there are "quotes" involved in the video my students really enjoy those.  

*Each day we focus on making ourselves better and being the best we can.  This simple video captures so much in such a complex way.  It is my hope that my writers will be able to relate to it and capture the essence in their writing.  

*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
Week #9 - Be Kind -                                                   Click Here for Week #9 Lesson
Week #10 - Be Courageous (To Continue On) -       Click Here for Week #10 Lesson
Week #11 - Be Motivated -                                        Click Here for Week #11 Lesson
Week #12 - Be Inspired -                                          Click Here for Week #12 Lesson

Week #13 - Be Merry -                                              Click Here for Week #13 Lesson

Week #14 - Be a Team -                                            Click Here for Week #14 Lesson
Week #15 - Be Giving -                                              Click Here for Week #15 Lesson
Week #16 - Be SHOUTful -                                        Click Here for Week #16 Lesson