Thanks to everyone who left a comment or sent a note about yesterday's post. My dad is doing great and he's even got enough spunk to subject the cute young nurses to his horrible jokes! Thanks also for the amazing ideas for my name wall. I've gone from having no inspiring ideas to having way too many! I'm heading into school tomorrow for the first time this summer, so I'm going to visualize my options and ponder when I get there. I think I'm leaning towards jeeps or sailboats but I'll keep you posted. I'm really psyched to go into school tomorrow. Each year, a few weeks before school starts, we host a little summer program for the incoming kindergartners. It's called S.A.I.L. (Summer Adventures in Literacy) and it's an hour a day for three mornings in a row. We do read-alouds and crafts and it's a great way to meet the kids and let them get a little acclimated to their new "big kid" school and make some new friends. It sure makes the first day of school a little less scary for the kids (and the moms). I have my class list handy so I can scope out who I'll be spending the next 10 months with. I can't wait! I have a whole bunch of stuff to bring with me to laminate since the work room should be pretty deserted. One thing that's ready to go is a new set of mini-posters illustrating the age-old "Give Me Five" behavior management trick. When making visual reminders like this, I think that for them to be effective, it's important to have graphics that really show he kids what the expectations are. I couldn't find any clipart that matched the "Give Me Five" actions, so I tried my hand at making my own. They're not that fancy, but I think they'll get the job done. Whatta ya think? Leave a comment and let me know! You can grab a set if you think you can use them in your classroom this year. Enjoy! Grab your freebie here.

We have a lovely school counselor this year who came to visit each of our classrooms and explain a common "Peace Process" for conflict resolution. I loved this for so many reasons and can't wait to share it with you! For one, common language across all grades is invaluable, especially when kids experience conflict at recess, in the lunch room, or even in the hallway when they are away from their classroom teacher and intermixed with other grades. Also, the fact that this process is broken down into such simple and manageable parts gives kids the confidence to go through it themselves, complete with sentence starters and all. I want to share this Peace Process with you in case you are looking for a way to help manage conflict and empower your students to problem-solve with one another. Feel free to download the freebie to share with others in your school, or even send home to parents... this can work with anyone in any situation! Step 1: Breathe The first step is the most important: make sure your body is calm enough to engage in the process of making peace. In the heat of the moment, the "fight or flight" response is in high gear, anger may be driving the show, and there is no way the rest of the process can be successful. By stopping to breathe, everyone can get back into a more calm state. How you breathe is just as important. Start by "smelling a flower" by breathing in through your nose and counting to three slowly. Then, hold for one count, and exhale our your mouth as if you're "blowing out a candle" for four counts. Practice this with your students and see how it changes the feel in the classroom. Some may be silly for the first breath or two, but after practicing for several breaths, the whole tone of the class will be calmer and more subdued. It's a good practice to keep on hand for other times during the day, too! Remind kids to take as many breaths as they need. This process can't be rushed, so even if they need some time alone to compose themselves, that's a-okay. I would still encourage a few common breaths together at the start of the process to be sure there's lots of fresh oxygen in the brain! Step 2: "I" Statements This is the first back-and-forth conversation that takes place. The person who feels harmed begins with a statement about how they felt. The framework of: "I feel ____ because ____" always gives kids a good place to start. During this time, the other person must stay silent and practice listening. This is important, because the second part of this step is to repeat what that person said. When the first person is done with their "I" Statement, the second person repeats what they heard, including all of the important parts, not just generalities. "I heard you say you felt ___ because ___" is a perfect launching point. At the end of their retell, they need to ask if they got it right. Person 1 needs to feel confident enough to say no, if needed, and retell the parts that were left out. This may need to happen a few times, especially at the beginning. The inclusion of "I heard you say..." is also crucial because it reinforces the idea that this is a listening exercise, not just an airing of grievances. Step 3: Repairing the Harm We want to encourage kids repair the harm, and sometimes "sorry" is enough. Other times, they may need an apology and an additional follow-up about what will happen if this occurs again. There may be something that they need or can do for one another, like get an ice pack or take turns with the item in question. There are other alternatives, too, and usually two or three actions are needed to repair the harm that was done. The important part is to make sure they are reasonable, and that both are agreeable to the ideas. Person 1 should feel that the harm is indeed repaired, or on the way to being repaired as best as possible. Step 4: Moving Forward While a physical touch may not always be appropriate, it is often a useful and effective starting point for moving forward. A handshake, high five, or fist bump can be powerful "wrap up" gestures that solidify the discussion and resolutions discussed. The important part, like the rest of the steps, is that both parties agree on the common gesture. Even a thumbs-up or peace sign can work. ... Always be sure to offer your presence and guidance, especially at at the beginning, as kids are working on practicing and internalizing these steps. After a while, you will not need to be as present, although you should always need to be available to help. Some conflicts go beyond the Peace Process and will need additional intervention by you or others to be truly effective and safe. However, I think you will find that this can be an excellent tool for navigating issues throughout the day. * As you introduce this to your classroom, have kids role-play through the Peace Process with common conflicts and/or issues that you have been hearing about. Extend the areas beyond the classroom and onto the playground, bus, neighborhood, and lunchroom. This activity will also get them more familiar with the steps and language in real-life scenarios. * An even more powerful way of incorporating this schoolwide is to have older student be "Peace Aides" and help younger students work through the process. How powerful for all parties involved! If you're interested in the freebie, click HERE to find it in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store. Have you used a process like this at your school? Do you have additional steps or any feedback? Please leave a comment and share your experiences!

I invite you to just take a moment and focus your attention on your heart center in your body. Imagine all of the people, pets, memories, and other significant things resting here. They are being c…

Thanks to everyone who left a comment or sent a note about yesterday's post. My dad is doing great and he's even got enough spunk to subject the cute young nurses to his horrible jokes! Thanks also for the amazing ideas for my name wall. I've gone from having no inspiring ideas to having way too many! I'm heading into school tomorrow for the first time this summer, so I'm going to visualize my options and ponder when I get there. I think I'm leaning towards jeeps or sailboats but I'll keep you posted. I'm really psyched to go into school tomorrow. Each year, a few weeks before school starts, we host a little summer program for the incoming kindergartners. It's called S.A.I.L. (Summer Adventures in Literacy) and it's an hour a day for three mornings in a row. We do read-alouds and crafts and it's a great way to meet the kids and let them get a little acclimated to their new "big kid" school and make some new friends. It sure makes the first day of school a little less scary for the kids (and the moms). I have my class list handy so I can scope out who I'll be spending the next 10 months with. I can't wait! I have a whole bunch of stuff to bring with me to laminate since the work room should be pretty deserted. One thing that's ready to go is a new set of mini-posters illustrating the age-old "Give Me Five" behavior management trick. When making visual reminders like this, I think that for them to be effective, it's important to have graphics that really show he kids what the expectations are. I couldn't find any clipart that matched the "Give Me Five" actions, so I tried my hand at making my own. They're not that fancy, but I think they'll get the job done. Whatta ya think? Leave a comment and let me know! You can grab a set if you think you can use them in your classroom this year. Enjoy! Grab your freebie here.

The “safe place” or “peaceful pillowcase” project is something I have found helpful for all ages (FYI these pillow pictures are courtesy of my two youngest sisters who made …

Grab our FREE coloring page so you can spread a little peace, love, and happiness in your own neighborhood Little Free Library!

Teaching about peace and what it means to be a peacemaker at school and at home? You'll want this resource filled with activities that help facilitate your talks & teachings! This is perfect for first grade students & even mid-end of the year Kindergarten too! Includes: Peacemaker poster Peacemaker words/vocabulary Symbol poster Sort sheets (peacemaker/peacebreaker) & (symbols/not symbols of peace) Drawing symbols Handprint craft This is peace response This is love response Be a peacemaker reader Check out my MLK Jr. reader and timeline to help with peace too!

Ideas and resources for early elementary teachers - First grade printables - classroom organization tips - classroom management tips -

My little ones and I have been having a blast together! We are loving and learning like crazy. I always start the first few weeks with a TON of bonding activities to help students get to know each other and form loving relationships. The classroom climate is THE most important thing to focus on (in my opinion) to have a successful year together! Teaching my kiddos to have empathy and treat one another with kindness and respect is first thing! When I saw this perfect idea on Cara's wonderful blog "The First Grade Parade", I knew I had to make it my own and do it with my tiny tots. We began by reading the story Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. I explained that we were going to read a story that shows how very important it is to treat one another with love and kindness. I held up a large heart cut-out and explained that each of us has a heart and our heart's hold all of the good feelings and love that we have. We were pretending that the heart was Chrysanthemum's heart. As we read the story, the kid's passed it around and every time someone said something hurtful to Chrysanthemum, we crumbled her heart a little more. This showed how our hearts are feeling when we get our feelings hurt. At the end of the story, the other characters say much nicer things to Chrysanthemum. The littles tried to smoother her heart back out now that she was getting some love back, but the damage was done and they quickly noticed that her heart did not look perfect. They realized that it is quite hard to fix a wrinkled heart, no matter how hard they tried! The moral of the activity was that the words they say to each other can leave hearts feeling sad long after we say them. We worked to heal her heart by bandaging it up! We glued the cute poem in the center as a reminder to choose our words carefully. I also made little bracelets for them to wear! I used strips of black construction paper as the bands :) We hung up the heart in our room as a reminder! You can download the heart poem and bracelets for FREE by clicking below! Hope you are having a relaxing weekend :) XO

Carry a positive memory in the palm of your hand to help you feel safe and calm wherever you are! I have seen this intervention done before and I have always found it powerful to use with children …

Try This Powerful Social Emotional Activity: The Love Light

Teaching Our Children About Diversity and Compassion. Help children and the children to face racism, anti-Semitism, and misogyny in loving, peaceful ways.

Here's a quick little post to share a coloring page that you can use to celebrate Johnny Appleseed's birthday tomorrow. I have the day off - yippee! - so we're celebrating on Friday with an Apple Extravaganza. Tomorrow I'm playing gopher for my sister who is getting married on Saturday. Squeebi (childhood nickname) if you're reading this, 3 days, 12 hours and 3 minutes to go!! Click on the picture to download Have a great day tomorrow!

Want to practice mindfulness activities at home? You'll love these mindfulness crafts and your kids will too! Try them at home or at school.

Try This Powerful Social Emotional Activity: The Love Light

THIS IS FOR A DIGITAL DOWNLOAD ONLY This Digital Design will be in high resolution transparent png file format. Thank you so much for your purchase and we hope you enjoy these creative resources! This digital design is perfect for various printing methods such as but not limited to Sublimation, HTV, DTG, DTF, and screen-print.Sharing - Redistributing - editing my files IS NOT ALLOWED. These are FINISHED PRODUCTS. After placing your order, your file with be available for download. It can be used for personal use on your own products, but cannot be resold as graphics. TERMS OF USE Thank you for your purchase. By purchasing and downloading these items, you are agreeing to the personal use terms herein. The license is a single user license. It cannot be sub-licensed, resold, transferred, or redistributed in any way. We do not allow the images we create to be resold as files or vectors. If you would like to purchase a resale license, we can set that up for you. Items downloaded may be used in the creation of personal projects, as artwork added to creations that you offer for sale, and for client projects. The one caveat is that the art purchased may not be used in the creation of other digital graphics for resale. Items may not be used on print-on-demand websites, redistributed or offered as-is elsewhere for any reason, which includes the creation of digital or printed transfers. And, they (the graphics themselves), may not be offered for sale (e.g. reselling to a stock resource website). Due to the nature of this product I do have a NO REFUND POLICY. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to reach out to me. *NO WATERMARK AFTER YOUR PURCHASE IS DOWNLOADED IT IS PART OF MY WATERMARK. *PLEASE DO NOT EDIT/ALTER/SHARE/RESELL MY WORK. IT IS A VIOLATION OF MY TERMS OF USE. Please use a watermark when using my designs on social media posts, personal blogs, and websites. The watermark should have your business name. This is to hopefully help to try and get people to stop stealing my work. Please always contact us first with any questions or concerns and we will be happy to help in any way we can.

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"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." My "word of the year" was supposed to be "calm". I had every intention of learning calming techniques, looking into yoga, doing some meditating, etc. However, things have changed. I'm not calm right now, and that is okay. In fact, when you feel passionate,

Ready to learn how to stop overthinking and worrying…Let’s take control of your thought life, rather than your thoughts controlling you! Do you over think and worry incessantly about things? If so, it probably seems a lot like circling the same block over and over. I call it – getting a case of the what-ifs!…

It's hard to talk to students without making it a lecture. Empower students while you teach them about respect using hands on activities

Beautiful 'Peace love Pilates' Poster Print by Andreas Schellenberg ✓ Printed on Metal ✓ Easy Magnet Mounting ✓ Worldwide Shipping. Buy online at DISPLATE.

Navigating the Storm: Understanding and Overcoming Burnout in Modern Life Burnout has become a silent epidemic, quietly seeping into our lives and eroding our well-being. We often find ourselves caught in a relentless whirlwind of work stress, social isolation, the demanding pressures of parenthood, marital challenge

Explore simple yet impactful phrases and gestures to express your love and support during this challenging time. Learn how to navigate conversations with sensitivity and create meaningful connections with your dying loved one.

This identifying emotions activity will students learn to recognize the physical signs associated with different emotions.

Behold the magic of the elementary art classroom. This blog is intended as a venue for parents and students to check out what is going on in the art room at Thomas Elementary. Also, possibly more importantly, it is a place for other educators to find free art lesson plans and share ideas. Art, art education, art classroom, bottle cap, mural, elementary art blog, painting, ceramics, fun, awesome, interesting.

Resolving conflicts in 6 steps. Teaching elementary school students to resolve conflicts can improve their social-emotional understanding and help your classroom management.

Have a chatty class? Do your talkative students get louder and louder during small groups until it feels like chaos? Do they talk when you'r...

Is tattling an all too common occurrence in you preschool or in your home? This one, very simple trick that will put a stop to tattling!

The beginning of transition can often be a time of serious confusion. Once you have you’ve been through the process of seeing a gender therapist and you have begun to deal with the reality of who you are, there comes…