He's Got It, Got It, Got It!

I think he got the point! I'm teaching a unit on self-control and on understanding misbehaviors to our school's 17 first grade classes. During the opening lesson, I explain that FEELING like doing something bad doesn't get us in trouble, but actually DOING it does. We go over lots of examples, and I stress the fact that WE are responsible for what WE say and do. If we've done the wrong thing, we can always turn it around. We don't have to keep on doing it. After discussing these points, I read the children a story about a class of critters who decide to stop squabbling and have peace week. On most pages of the story, a character uses self-control, either by doing something good that he DOESN'T want to do or by NOT doing something bad hat he DOES want to do. When the animal character uses self control, we do a cheer: "Hallelujah, bless your soul. You were using self-control!" To get our wiggles out, we stand up and dance to "I Like to Move it Move it" from one of the Madagascar movies, and the children have to show self-control by freezing their bodies every time I stop the music. It's really fun, and I know from experience that it's hard to do! Well one day recently we danced and had a good old time. As class dismissed and I was packing up to leave, a sandy-haired boy with kind eyes tapped me on the arm to get my attention. "Miss Mimi, I was dancing when I saw Joanna's watch on the floor. I didn't want to stop dancing, but I knew it would get stomped on, so I picked it up and gave it back to her." I was so thrilled that I jumped up and down with tears in my eyes. "Halleluia, bless your soul, you were using self-control," I squealed. Since this child was assigned to a neighboring classroom, I accompanied him back to class, told his teacher and friends what he had done, and the whole class spontaneously gave him a standing ovation. It's always such a feel-good moment when educators see children applying what they're learning, and this incident made my day!