New School Year's Resolution

The new school year is getting closer and closer!  I am excited for the new year to start but sad that my summer seems to be over so quickly.  I have spent a lot of time thinking about what things I want to focus on improving in the next school year (its a long list).  So, I am linking up with 3rd Grade Theatrics to share my resolution with the blogging world. 

I have lots of things I would like to improve in the coming school year but I decided to focus on two main resolutions so that I can focus on them and hopefully make a lot of progress towards them. 

My first resolution is to have increase the amount of positive notes I send home to parents.  I tried to send home as many positive emails as possible last year but when things got busy it fell to the bottom of my to-do list.  I am excited that my school is requiring me to send at least one positive parent email per month this year because it will help me make this a priority.  I hope to send home one positive email a month along with some less time consuming positive notes such as the ones below I found on Pinterest.

I especially love the behavior bracelets! I think they are so cute and the kids would be so proud to wear them.

My second resolution is to work to create a stronger community among my students and promote kindness in my classroom.  Next year I will be teaching a classroom of all girls so it will be especially important for me to ensure that all the students in my class feel safe and are able to learn.

I plan to accomplish this resolution a couple of ways.



First, I plan on reading Have You Filled a Bucket Today? A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids by Carol McCloud in the first week of school. This book tells students that everyone carries and imaginary bucket.  This bucket is our self esteem or how we feel about ourselves.  When people are kind to us, they help to fill our buckets.  When people are mean to us they "dip" from our bucket.

 I love this book because it really makes students think about how they feel when someone is mean to them.  It helps students to realize that their peers feel the same way as they do when unkind things are done to them.  Additionally, this book give students ideas of how they can "fill the buckets" of those around them by doing things such as smiling, including those who are left out and complimenting others.  I plan on referring back to this book frequently through out the year.

Second, I plan on assign a "Kindness Recorder" as one of my class jobs each week.  The job of the Kindness Recorder will to watch for acts of kindness among the students of our class.  When the Kindness Recorder spots an act of kindness they will talk to the student who completed the act and say: "I am adding a marble to the class bucket because you_____."  The Kindness Recorder will then put a marble in our class bucket.  We will have a special class activity when our class bucket is full.