Proud: I'm Happy for You and I'm Happy for Me

As many of you know, I'm a big believer in giving little learners big opportunities to discuss and explore feelings. As we entered the end of the school year, I decided to explore the feeling of pride with my students.

First we met during our fifteen minute Kimochis time (it doesn't take much time to have a mini lesson on feelings!). I showed them the Proud Kotowaza (feeling pillow) and I asked them what it meant to feel proud. 

It can be hard to describe pride. Students will often try and relate it to feelings they understand. 

"If you are proud, you are happy."

Many of them were able to hit the nail right on the head:

"I feel proud when I am able to do something that was hard."

"My mom tells me that she is proud of me."

Yes! I said. When we feel proud, we are happy. We are happy for ourselves. We can also be proud of other people. When we are proud of other people we feel happy for them. We feel proud when we overcome something that was difficult or challenging. We feel proud when we do big things--that would ordinarily be difficult. 

Next, we shared our proud stories. When we discuss feeling stories, we are giving students the ability to be self-aware of their own experiences and feelings. 

"I rode my bike for the first time. I felt proud."

"I went swimming even though I was scared. I felt proud that I was brave."

As a reflection of our learning this year, I put together their self-portraits on one piece of paper. My students create a self-portrait each term. During our Kimochis time, we took the time to look at our portraits and reflect on the growth we've seen over the year's time.

There is so much growth that can be seen and reflected in drawing. We have learned to create detail. We have gained fine motor skills. We have learned to take our time and slow our thinking. We have learned that our work matters, our efforts matter, and we are capable of doing big things.

For the next couple of weeks, we continued to explore pride as a feeling. The Kindergarten 1 students came to visit us for a Step Up Day and we were given the opportunities to be mentors to others. We can share our knowledge about Kindergarten 2 with others. 

In Kindergarten 2 we: 

Learn to read,

Learn to write

Play 

Share with others

Make books

Go to computers

Learn how to play chess

Make friends

Learn about animals

Read books with Ms. Sam and friends

We read a story about Kindergarten and we drew pictures of what we like to do at school with our new friends. Many Kindergarten 1 students are excited about being able to ride a bike in the bike area next year!

After visiting our Kindergarten 1 friends, we reflected again on how we used to be when we came to Kindergarten 2 versus how we are now. It was a great self-reflection discussion. We even spent some time looking at our portfolios and reflected on the growth we have made. After the discussion, I asked the students to draw a picture of their own accomplishments they are proud of. A great story to get this discussion going is Bigger. This book was given to me by a fellow teacher last year.

Soon after our visit with the Kindergarten 1, we had our chance to see where our growth would be taking us. We were able to go and visit the Year One class for our own Step Up Day. The Year One students were so welcoming. They taught us how to dance, and one of the students showed us around the classroom. We could see that some things in Year One would be different and some things in Year One would be the same.

As a part of our pride exploration, I asked parents to send in a 'proud letter' for their child. I have such a marvelous group of parents. The time, energy, and love that went into these letters was enough to make a grown woman cry (and they totally did make me cry). 

Finally, I wrote a short letter to each child telling them how and why I was proud of everything they've accomplished. This was a great self-reflection for me as a teacher.

We put all of these components together and sent them home on the last day of school with portfolios and reports. All in all, it was a great way to say I love you and goodbye.

Until next time teaching buddies,

Sam