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One Smile and One Voice by Cindy McKinley

10/28/2015

This week's #TakingCareThurs book selection is in honor of Global Random Acts of Kindness week. (#GRAK15). For Global Read Aloud, Amy Krouse Rosenthal (@missamykr) and Pernille Ripp (@pernilleripp) named this week as Global Random Acts of Kindness week. The books I selected for this week are titled One Smile by Cindy McKinley and One Voice, which has a similar theme.

These books show kids the contagious power of kindness. If we smile at just one person, how might that affect that person's day? Chances are they will pass it on. Every single morning, I walk down the hall and I say "good morning" to every single person I see. I am hopeful that if I start the ripple, it will continue throughout the day.

If you pick up this book and read it for #TakingCareThurs, you and your students will realize that one small act of kindness can trigger a chain reaction. I hope you will go out and start a chain reaction today for #TakingCareThurs and for Global Random Acts of Kindness week!

A reminder to smile at someone today. It might just make their day!

About One Smile

Some classroom ideas for spreading kindness

About the author

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Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson

10/21/2015

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This week's featured book, Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson (@JackieWoodson), deals with a real life problem - things don't always have happy endings. However, we can take life's realities and learn from then.

This is the story of Maya, the new girl to the school. Maya's clothes were old and ragged. The girls in the class ignored Maya. The weeks passed, and the kids continued to whisper and talk about Maya and how she was different. Whenever Maya asked the kids to play, they said 'no.'

One day, Maya didn't show up for school. Ms. Albert the teacher brought in a bowl filled with water. The kids talked of kindness. They gathered around her desk and watched as Ms. Albert dropped a small stone into the water. The tiny waves rippled out. "This is what kindness does." Ms. Albert said. "Each little thing we do goes out, like a ripple into the world." Then Ms. Albert let the kids drop the stone in as they told her kind things they had done. "I stood there holding the rock in my hand, silent." "Even small things count," Ms. Albert said. "I couldn't think of anything."

The next day Maya didn't come to school or the next or the next. "Each kindness make the whole world a little bit better," said Ms. Albert. Maya's seat remained empty. "Maya is not coming back," Ms. Albert says. "That day, I walked home and thought of all the kind things I wished I would have said to Maya...but never did."

Maya never returned and the chance of kindness became more and more forever gone just as the ripples in the water traveled out and dissipated. What will you do differently today to spread kindness like a ripple into the world?

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The Juice Box Bully by Bob Sornson and Maria Dismondy

10/15/2015

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You know the Taking Care initiative has taken hold in your school when a student comes to you to request a read aloud book on #TakingCareThurs from your Taking Care collection! This week's featured book, The Juice Box Bully: Empowering Kids to Stand Up for Others is a request from one of my fourth graders!

The Juice Box Bully is co-written by Bob Sornson (@bobsornson) and Maria Dismondy (@mariadismondy). Both Bob and Maria are #miched educators and are true advocates for helping kids learn how to "take care" of themselves and others!

In the Juice Box Bully, Pete, the newcomer starts off on a really bad foot. He picks on others and is disrespectful and unkind.

At first the kids just stood by and watched, until Ruby decides to speak up. "It's your first day here, so there is no way you could know this. In Mr. Peltzer's class, we made a promise..... We promised to take care of ourselves, each other, and our classroom, and to solve problems peacefully. We promised that in this class, no one would stand by and accept bad behavior. When someone acts hurtfully, we all speak up. We want you to be a member of the class and to make the same promise."

The next day Ruby continued to try and help Pete. She even asked him to play soccer, but is response was "nice shirt" and then he squirted his juice box all over her. Ruby's initial response is a desire to be mean back, but her classmates reminded her of their promise. All the students in Mr. Peltzer's class agreed. "We speak up, or we ask for help from an adult. But we won't be bystanders to bad behavior."

What I love about this book, is how the kids stuck together for something they believed in. The "taking care" message is powerful and when kids and teachers stick together for doing the right thing it is contagious! I hope you read this book to see the impact the kids in Mr. Pelzter's class had on Pete, the 'juice box bully.'

Some resources to help you plan your read aloud:

Maria Dismondy's Reader's Guide

A copy of "The Promise" and other resources for The Juice Box Bully

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Friendshape by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld

10/7/2015

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Friends shape who we are."

Friendshape by Amy Krouse Rosenthal (@MissAmyKR) and Tom Lichtenheld (@tlichtenheld) is a great story about "besties!" I selected this book to feature for #TakingCareThurs this week because Amy Krouse Rosenthal is the featured author (#graamy) for Global Read Aloud 2015 which launched this week. If you have never heard of or participated in the the Global Read Aloud, I highly suggest you check it out!

Friendshape is a book that addresses the question..."What's so great about having friends?" The story and illustrations delightfully answer that question with just four simple shapes - a rectangle, a triangle, a square, and a circle. The friends creatively come together at the end to form a simple word that really hones in on what true friendship is all about!

A great story for teaching kids about friendship and "taking care of others."

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One Smile and One Voice by Cindy McKinley

Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson

The Juice Box Bully by Bob Sornson and Maria Dismondy

Friendshape by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld

#TakingCareThurs

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