Life Lesson #13 (Be Merry)

"Be Merry"

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

*We are going a little "light" on our life lesson this week.  It is our last Thursday together before our winter break begins next Thursday.  

*This is one of my favorite little video clips and makes me smile and so happy.  It is my hope that my writers get the same emotion from it as well.   

*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