IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

This afternoon we revisited the classroom agreement “Take Care of our Friends.”  Earlier in the year we did an activity where we folded up “LeBron” a friend drawn on a piece of paper every time we said something unkind to him.  Then we tried to fix him by saying kind words and unfolding him.  Today we did a similar activity to encourage the students to think about their words before they speak.

We first thought about something hurtful that someone had done to us.  We went around the circle and shared something that had hurt us.  After sharing we squirted a pump of hand sanitizer in a cup.  When everyone had shared we had a cup full of “mean words and actions.” I then challenged the students to put their mean words back where they came from.  The students tried a few things, but they realized they couldn’t take the words back.  Here’s a bit of our conversation following the activity.

Himiko: “You can’t take something back after you say it.”

Chairo: “You can remember when someone hurts your feelings for a long time.”

Miss Cegielski: “What can we do before we hurt someone’s feelings with our words?”

J’Nayla: “We should think before we speak.”

After our discussion I shared an idea to help the students “THINK” before they speak:

T: Is it true? H: Is it helpful? I: Is it inspiring? N: Is it necessary? K: Is it kind?

I challenged the students to think before they speak and use our THINK chart to help them decide if what they have to say is worth saying or if they should keep it to themselves.  We’ll continue to explore the idea of friendship and building positive relationships in our classroom during our morning meetings!

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