To make you smile

Lately my first graders have been lacking in kindness and respect so I've been focusing all week on these issues. They've had a different "friend of the day" each day whom they were supposed to look out for and help when needed. We read kindness books, we talked about what to do in situations in which you might get frustrated with your classmates around you, and we've worked on helping others. One activity simply showed students their similarities. I would call out, "Stand up if you have siblings," and they were supposed to look around and notice who else had siblings. One question was, "stand up if you speak more than one language." I knew there were several students in my classroom who speak Spanish. One little boy stood up who I knew did not speak another language. I said, "K. do you really speak another language?" He just sat there. "K. if you just got confused you can sit down." And this was his response..."But Ms. French I make a really good sound like a bear!" I couldn't help but giggle. It made my day and I let him stay standing. How many people do you know that speak bear?!