On a whim yesterday, I came up with an idea for kids to honor each other as we continue to build our new-semester communities. I had already planned on buying some candy bars from some of my choir kids who are raising money for their trip to Disneyland at the end of April. So, I bought five candy bars, and decided to give one away each period, but I attached a string. I would give the candy bar to the one who was selected by his/her/their peers as a champion of community.

I placed the paper in the image above on the classroom floor to generate some curiosity as kids entered the room.

After Smiles and Frowns, I asked the kids to nominate one of their peers for our first Community Champ award. They wrote the name and reason on a sticky note. I collected and tallied. And, at the end of the period, I announced the champion . Below are the nominations from third period. JT was our champion. I also handed the sticky-note nominations out to the kids who had been nominated, so they could read what their peers had to say about them. We will do this every Wednesday from here on. Kids can only win the title once, so each week we will have a brand new champ.

 

In the end, this is nothing too sophisticated or special. It is simply an intentional effort to add some novelty to our community-building experiences here in 211. The chocolate was a nice bonus for the champs, but the sweetest deal was kids’ honoring each other.

Today’s Trail

Bit of a cluster today. Sophomores are doing registration orientation this morning, so I will have a number of kids gone each period. As well, many of my kiddos will be gone for an FBLA competition all day. We will just go with the flow.

Along today’s trail we will…

…begin with Smiles and Frowns

…make progress with our Book Thief analysis. 

…end with a Sappy Sy Ryhyme.

Happy Tuesday, all. Short and sweet post this morning.

Do. Reflect. Do Better.