Dear Friends,
If you have ever experienced winter, you know the saying "out like a lion, in like a lamb" is very apt way to describe the weather in the month of March. What may start with frigid temperatures, and even snow, ends with mild breezes and spring flowers blooming. Well, in my experience, it is the opposite in our schools. The closer we get to Spring Break and summer vacation the less mellow our children get. That's why I think our March book of the month. "King of the Playgrounds", by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, is so fitting, Kids are comfortable; they know the ropes and may test the limits. Bullying, our topic this month, may occur.
"King of the Playgrounds" is full of imagination and colorful characters. Children will identify with Kevin. Will any of them remember times when they were like Sammy? What a great book to use examine and explore character's feelings and emotions.
As we enter the month of March and watch as some of our little lambs exhibit lion-like behavior, share this cute but powerful book with them. And may each of us have someone in our lives, as wise as Kevin's father, comforting us while guiding us to come to our own conclusions, in our own way and time.
Look how some classes celebrated the book:
Mr. Pugatch's class loved the book King of the Playground. They noticed right away that Sammy was bullying Kevin. The felt Sammy was very mean. We discussed how Kevin stood up for himself just using his words. My students were happy that Kevin and Sammy worked together to build the castle at the end. My students were happy that Kevin was no longer being bullied.
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ReplyDeleteThe mini-lessons are working. Yahoo!!!! My students were able to make predictions by looking at the illustrations. They were able to tell that Sammy was not talking nicely and that Kevin looked sad and scared.
ReplyDeleteThen my students made text-to-self connections. Another Yahoo! !!!
My students wanted to be the “Friends of the playground”. We share playground with Mrs. South’s class. They wanted to share the slide, share the Bee, share the stepping blocks and play nicely.
Please check out the adorable photograph of our classes being “Friends of the playground.”