Happy Days in First Grade

  • Home
  • MY TPT STORE
  • Travel
  • How To Start Your Own Teaching Blog
  • Privacy Policy

November 12, 2016 · Leave a Comment

Dear Teachers, Let’s Continue to Build Love, Acceptance, and Respect in the Classroom

Uncategorized

What an election year it has been and what an election it came out to be.  While us teachers try to resume normalcy in the classroom and continue to do what we know and love, which is to teach our students to the best of our ability, it is hard to ignore the harsh words and feelings that came out of this election year.  The older our students are, the harder it may seem for us to explain what has transpired.

Yet no matter how challenging it is,the best thing that we can do for our students still is to continue to do what we have always done – continue to teach love, acceptance, and respect in the classroom.

We are all teachers because of the love that we have for our students.  Let’s continue to teach love in our classrooms and let that still be the fabric of our classroom community.  Regardless of all the changes around us, the basic principle of love for one another should not be changed and will not be changed.  As we step into the holidays and the new year, there are even more opportunities for our students to continue to practice showing love in the classroom and in the community- collect canned goods for food banks, make greeting cards for nursing homes, send care packages to soldiers abroad, adopt an angel as class, and the list goes on.

Let us also continue to celebrate our students’ uniqueness by encouraging them to accept one another as they are.  As a primary school teacher, I have had the privilege to witness my young students accept and celebrate each other’s uniqueness everyday.  The kids get it, and they love that their friends can be similar, yet different.  Let’s continue to celebrate that acceptance going into the holiday season by learning and celebrating our students’ holiday traditions as well as people all around the world. We can also connect with classrooms from across the country or the world to become pen pals or simply read a book on friendship together.  

Respect.  What a great time to teach that to our students and show it as adults.  No matter who we feel, respect for our fellow Americans is crucial and it is what makes our country and classrooms great- we respect differences, we respect contrasting ideas, we respect each other, and we respect the democracy that allows us the freedom to experience and teach about elections.  Therefore, continue to teach our students to speak with respect towards each other.  Saying thank you, I’m sorry, and please, being polite, showing empathy, taking turns, and respecting one another even when we have different opinions will never get old and will always be the cornerstone of character education in our classrooms.
After a long year of divisiveness and tension in our country, there is one thing that we as teachers should and continue to build together is love, acceptance, and respect in our classroom for our students, our country’s future.

Additional Resources for building a positive and nurturing classroom environment:

Related posts:

My New Reading Corner
My Summer So Far & All About Me
Previous Post: « 5 Simple Ways to Keep Your Classroom Connected
Next Post: Santas Around the World »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Hello There!

My name is Ha. I am a Primary STEM teacher from Texas, a passionate educator of little ones, a teacher-author of interactive educational resources, a lover of Makerspace and STEM, a mother to two, a wife to my high school sweetheart and a forever learner. Welcome to my site!

Search It Here

LET’S CONNECT

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Follow Me On Pinterest

Happy Days in First Grade

SHOP MY FAVORITES

Subscribe to My Newsletters

Subscribe

* indicates required
  • Home
  • MY TPT STORE
  • Travel
  • How To Start Your Own Teaching Blog
  • Privacy Policy

hellomrsdinh

👩🏻‍💻 Primary Teacher since 2007
📚 Author of MY FOREVER HOME @penguinrandomhouse @waterbrookmultnomah SUM 2023
🌟 Brand Ambassador
👇🏻SHOP my TpT Store

Ha ~ Happy Days in First Grade
🚨FLASH SALE for 24 hours!!! 🚨 Get a head st 🚨FLASH SALE for 24 hours!!! 🚨

Get a head start by snagging up this EDITABLE Farmhouse Slideshow for your Meet-the-Teacher Night and Back to School!!! 🥳

It has all the slides you need to introduce yourself to your students and it’s EDITABLE!!!! Buy now, edit later!🪴 

Snag it up now while it’s on SALE!!!Link in bio! https://bit.ly/3uqvW5T
Are you planning on doing a photo op for your stud Are you planning on doing a photo op for your students on Meet-the-Teacher Night?! 🌟

📣If so, here’s a fun and easy hack! 📣

Turn your anchor chart rack to a cute and easy photo op for your students using a glue stick and streamers! 🍎🎉

Pair with these FREE Speech Bubble Props for PreK-5th Grade! Link in bio! https://bit.ly/3jNdpMl
May we always carry the ideals of what make Americ May we always carry the ideals of what make America loving, kind, generous, and inclusive with us wherever we go and pass it onto our future generations. 🇺🇸

For a more perfect union, we will continue to put in the work, stay informed, and vote for the future that ALL of our children deserve. ❤️🤍💙
I believe in a loving and generous America- the Am I believe in a loving and generous America- the America that opened her arms and provided refuge to my family and allowed us to start anew and build our own American dreams.

I believe in the freedom that is the cornerstone of our democracy and the belief that we are all born FREE to make our own choices, walk our own path, and choose our own destiny wherever it may lead us.

I believe we are better when we are together, UNITED, and accepting of all Americans. 

I believe in these ideals that built our great country and the belief that ALL are welcome.

May all of our students always feel this way in our classroom and and in our schools. 

These activities can be found in the link in bio as part of the Back to School Activities currently on SALE. https://bit.ly/2TfR0w5
This activity right here is one of my favorite act This activity right here is one of my favorite activities for the beginning of the year! 🌟

I make a BIG speech bubble out of black butcher paper and cut out yellow circles for Emojis. ☺️😀😍🥳🤩😟😫

As one of the things on our class Scavenger Hunt during Meet-the-Teacher Night, the kids are asked to take one of the yellow circles and draw the face of an emoji that best describes how they feel about being a first grader. 

This activity is so simple and fun but gives me such information on how the kids are all feeling even before the first day of school!

Using this simple tool, I am able to address any anxiety or stress that they may have during our FIRST Morning Meeting! It’s so powerful to know even before school begins what I need to do to help ease them into first grade! 💕 

We also use the data collected for a graphing activity and then discuss what we can do to help make everyone feel happy and better. 

I love this activity and will definitely be doing this again this year! Swipe to see the before picture.

For the more Back-to-School activities, you can click to the link in bio to grab them on SALE for a limited time! https://bit.ly/2TfR0w5
One of the best things I did a couple summers ago One of the best things I did a couple summers ago was that I made these privacy folders before school started! 🎉

The kids absolutely love the positive sayings and I love that it allows them space to focus on their own work. 

Swipe to see the full tutorial then click to the link in profile to grab the posters on SALE for 24 hours! https://bit.ly/2TfR0w5 😊📚
Load More... Follow on Instagram
HAPPY DAYS IN FIRST GRADE