This is a Time for Giving

Christmas is just around the corner and the kids are getting excited about the holidays, presents, and trips that might be ahead. This is a great time to remind them about giving instead of just receiving.
In our district we just reconfigured the grades so that the elementary schools go from K-5 now. That puts my Grade 3 class in the middle. The new term for them this year is "the little big kids". They are very excited about this role.
Because the leaders in the school have all left, it is a great time for them to take on some of that responsibility.
As we prepared for the Canadian Thanksgiving in early October, we began to look at all we had and realized that we could make a difference for others who didn't have as much. We began looking at ways we could help.
Here we recycle drink containers for refunds. Our class has taken over collecting the containers from around the school and the money we raise from recycling them is going towards an adopted boy and girl in Rwanda. The students were very excited to receive the information about them and the pictures a few weeks ago.

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Pennies for Presents

This is the third year that Room 101 has done Pennies for Presents. We collect pennies for about 3 weeks and each day we count, roll, and keep a tally of how much has been collected. It is a special time for my students because they get to do announcements and posters as well as the monitoring of the collections. This year we will be filling our meter bank each day. They are very excited about this.
The great thing about this activity is that everyone in the school can be included, because even our needy children can find a penny to share. It is amazing to watch the excitement in the school as the totals grow.

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Acts of Kindness
Our class has been focusing on being bucket fillers and doing acts of kindness. I came across this video one day and it was a great springboard for how a simple act of kindness can make a big difference. We refer to it often now.

These books are great for sharing the idea of giving instead of getting. My students were able to make many connections after listening to the stories.
We took advantage of the American Thanksgiving holiday to reinforce the concept of giving and Christmas. We continue to talk about how we can give by doing random acts of kindness as well.

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