A thoughtful, caring class

After winter vacation, we finished up our beloved Gingerbread Man unit by reading The Gingerbread Bear by Robert Dennis. As we read, we quickly noticed one big difference between this version and

the other versions: all the characters were different and the author used interesting words to describe them: the clever park ranger, the sweet mom, and the little girl. After a second read, we tried to think of some interesting adjectives to describe some of our favorite characters from the book. We learned adjectives describe a noun (a person, place, or thing) and that when you describe a character or person you can think about their physical (outside) and personality (inside) traits.

The children enjoyed brainstorming adjectives, which got this creative teacher thinking. To tie in with our wellness goal to strive to be bucket fillers, we should try to showcase the positive qualities of others!

First, the children got to take their partner's picture. The helpful Mrs. Nichols held the ipad while each child practiced zooming in and zooming out before taking the photo.

Next, we worked hard together to come up with a list of possible character traits. Then, the excited children went back to their seats and eagerly got started right away. They couldn’t wait to surprise their partner with their kind words!

Finally, it was time for the fun part! I introduced to the children how to use the cool iPad app Pic Collage.  They learned how to upload their partner’s photo and choose their font style and color after typing the adjectives from their character map.

Thankfully, the gracious Mrs. Mack was available for a last minute request for help with the Pic Collage portion of this class activity.

The masterpieces look stunning and were the efforts of much thought and conscientious work. I am truly impressed! It was so touching to see smiles spread across their little faces as they heard the kind words others thought of them. Then, seeing all of the heartfelt work in the Animoto video, I couldn’t help but get a little teary. I think this little activity on adjectives made everyone’s heart grow three sizes.

Now, without further ado, I present the efforts of my hardworking class. Please understand that the students are very enthusiastic writers and are trying hard to listen for beginning, middle, and ending sounds in words small and large. I wanted to honor their efforts and showcase their spelling that they should be so proud of!

We challenge you to surprise a friend, loved one, or passerby with a kind word or gesture. Fill someone’s bucket with a note of thanks or a picture of beauty.