Life Lesson #22 (Be a Friend)

"Be a Friend"

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

*Wouldn't this world be a better place if we could all just be "friends".  One of the major themes that I stress, talk about, and teach is the concept of friendship.  I try to break down all the "walls" that some children put up between them.

*This is one of my favorite videos to share with my students and have them experience.  They love the song, the images, and the message that is being thrown out into the world.  I always get excited when I know this is the life lesson for the week!  

*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
Week #17 - Be Happy -                                               Click Here for Week #17 Lesson

Week #18 - Be a Reader -                                          Click Here for Week #18 Lesson
Week #19 - Be Powerful -                                           Click Here for Week #19 Lesson
Week #20 - Be Brave -                                                Click Here for Week #20 Lesson
Week #21 - Be Positive -                                             Click Here for Week #21 Lesson