Today I'm excited about sandwiches! Not real sandwiches, although I do love a good chicken salad. Nope, I'm excited about the strategy sandwiches I found so I decided to try a Calm-Down sandwich for lunch. Since I de-cluttered my office by putting a lot of stuff in my new suite, I now have room for a small bistro table. One student, who comes at lunch to practice her calm-down strategies, and I made this sandwich while she ate. The ingredients - some meat and cheese, two tomato slices and a piece of lettuce - represent the things that we've talked about trying when the worries start to overwhelm. We put it in a zipper sandwich bag and she tucked it in her lunch kit. This activity leaves SO much room for variation. How about a respect sandwich? I see math integration, too, by having the students cut and identify their shapes. (The lettuce could easily be an oval or a triangle!) Here are some titles that lend themselves to a sandwich enrichment activity: In this tasty tale, Carla's Sandwich by Debbie Herman, what will Carla do when she gets teased for her odd sandwich creations? In The Sandwich Swap by Queen Rania with Kelly DiPucchio, will their difference separate these fast friends? In The Peanut-Free Café by Gloria Koster, kids in the Nutley school cafeteria learn a little bit about the challenges of coping with a peanut allergy. What strategies could you sandwich together?
