Make a Difference Mondays.... on Tuesday!

I am linking up with Maria Dismondy -  children's author of books that teach wonderful life lessons about bullying, being kind, and treating others with respect for this month's Make a Difference Mondays. This month's character trait is RESPECT.
How do you teach respect to your students? For teaching Kindergarten, I feel that the idea is a little abstract for them - it takes lots of modeling and practice for 5 and 6 year olds to really grasp what respect is.

Respect should be something that begins at home and carries along to all other facets of life. Modeling respect is one of the best ways to earn respect from your students. I know that as an adult, if I am treated respectfully I am going to treat that person the same way in return. (of course... it is much harder to treat rude people (HUGE pet peeve!!) with respect, but they deserve the same :) The problem is... our kids come from so many different walks of life. Mom, Dad, grandma, cousins, etc. might not be present in your students' lives. Consistency is so important, especially at this young age, to reinforce these life skills. WE as teachers might be the only consistency our kids have from day to day.

This is one of the huge reasons it is important to teach respect, being kind, and good citizenship. You might be the only person that your students can count on. I know it is hard when we've been up since 5 taking care of our own kids, getting them off to school, making sure everything is ready for the day, and Oh! Billy threw up all over the table to take the time and model the kind of behavior that we expect from our students.

Stay Calm and Carry On! my Teacher friends. If you model and reinforce it, they will mimic you. Just be you - sometimes our kids are degraded and disrespected at home - they might not have anyone that would take the time to listen to them. Be that person - who knows what a difference you could make in their lives??

I have not seen Maria's books before, but I am super excited to check them out - I just might have to order this one!!
 This is one my kids LOVE to read and that our school counselor uses to teach about bullying. It is perfectly applicable to my kinder kids!

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4 comments

  1. Nicole, this is a SUPER DOOPER great post about the importance of teaching character in the HOME!!! Thank you! Email me your address! I am sending you a signed copy of Spaghetti In A Hot Dog Bun...because from reading your post, I know you are doing some wonderful things in your classroom and you should be rewarded for that!!! maria@mariadismondy.com

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  2. I have been thinking about how I am going to improve my character education next year. I cannot tell you how spot on you are with your views on modeling & showing what respect is. My students come from rough home situations that I know are not the best examples of what it means to respect people or things. I am going to check out these books...thanks for passing the info on!
    Jen
    Jen's Kinder Kids

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  3. Thanks for sharing these titles. It is always great to find great books to teach life lessons.

    Erica

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  4. You will love Spaghetti in a HotDog Bun. That's one of my favorite books. Come check out my All Time favorite read alouds. You may even be able to win a bag full of my favorite books.

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Thanks for taking the time to chat with me!

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