Lesson Learned

A visit to a local library was a lesson learned. While talking with the children before the story was to take place, there a young boy, probably about 9 or 10 who made it physically clear that he did not want to be there by distractedly sitting on the floor. He began to share with me that he does not like painting, painting is  messy, and that he would rather be writing or drawing something. Well, in this teachable moment, I did share that he could write a letter to any of the Characters of Character at anytime and they would write back to him. They love getting mail. I shared with the parents to do this with their children. Then, I reassured him that painting was not messy, we were going to have fun! He proceeded to the table to paint to only want to stand on the chair or sit on it backwards. I finally got him to stand and begin to paint. However, he did want to make sure that I knew loud and clear that he was not happy about being at the event. It saddened me that he didn't want to be in the class. Still, he did finish his painting, and did a very nice job on it! He also left me a message on the paper plate which was used as our palet for paint. Check out the picture below. "I did not want to paint" I was so very pleased and proud that he not only finished painting, and hope that he was proud of himself for completing the project and following through, even though he had the last word!
Making a difference one child at a time. I think it worked out just fine!

 I chose to focus on Manners Monkey. First, I read the story, "I Am Manners Monkey" had a discussion with the children and then we brought the character to life on canvas and afterwards they got to meet the one and only, Manners Monkey! During the class I ask parents to complete  a very short survey on the event, this helps me learn if what I'm doing is working and if the parents will follow through with the packet of ideas that I share at each class. This way the child is exposed to learning about the character trait and also followed up with it at home. Win!
Check out the nice email I had when I got home from this event:
Dear Ms. Downey,
" Super thanks for the great program you gave to all kids at Vernon Area Public Library today! My daughter learnt a lot and cannot stop discussing with me topics of good manners on our way home. She also asked me how to say all polite words in our native language. And she just hung the manners chart on her room. I really appreciate all positive inputs you promoted."

Making a difference one child at a time. I think it worked out just fine!