Articles:
Can Emotional Intelligence Be Taught? {The New York Times}
“It’s like saying that a child doesn’t need to study English because she talks with her parents at home,” Brackett told me last spring. “Emotional skills are the same. A teacher might say, ‘Calm down!’ — but how exactly do you calm down when you’re feeling anxious? Where do you learn the skills to manage those feelings?”
Finding Flow with Daily Invitations to Create {Childhood 101}
“If students are afraid of mistakes, then they’re afraid of trying something new, of being creative, of thinking in a different way. They’re scared to raise their hands when they don’t know the answer and their response to a difficult problem is to ask the teacher rather than try different solutions that might, gasp, be wrong. They’re as one teacher told me, ‘victims of excellence.’ “
Activities:
Fingerprint Spiders for Halloween {Tinker Lab}
I love this Halloween inspired creative activity! Simple set-up for me, easy execution for the kiddos — sure to keep everyone at the table happy! (Pictured Above)
Adding Fun {Mothering with Creativity}
This is just plain genius! Tape, paper towel rolls, paper cups, and a basket. You’ve got that, right? Then you’ve got the makings of a sweet hands-on activity for early addition concepts!
Make an Experience Book to Build Language {Two-daloo}
I loved doing this after a field trip! With beginning writers, sometimes I’d bring in the photos and have them help me write it. Always a hit! (Pictured Above)
Guess what made me happy this week:
Seeing this post from a first grade teacher (ah, remembering my first-grade teaching days….). It’s a great resource on its own, but I particularly liked that she showed her kids using my Cinnamon Spice Playdough! (Which, by the way, is my all-time favorite playdough recipe!) Seeing those kids with my dough in their hands just did something awesome to my heart! And I couldn’t agree with this description more:
“Then we got to use it to create our spelling words. (this made for a happy class and very happy teacher because of the wonderful fall smell that encompassed my classroom… someone call Scentsy I discovered a scent that will sell like hotcakes!!)”
Enjoy your weekend!
Thank you so much for including our experience books in your weekend reads! I just adore this series and look forward to it every week. Have a wonderful weekend!