Elementary Matters: encouraging words

Showing posts with label encouraging words. Show all posts

Inspire Your Girls (and Boys, Too!)

March is Women's History Month!

There just aren't enough role models in our lives for girls. But they need encouragement and inspiration just as much as the boys do!

Inspire your girls (and boys, too!) There just aren't enough role models in our lives for girls. But they need encouragement and inspiration just as much as the boys do! Here are some ideas to help them think about!

March is a great time to explore ways to inspire your girls, since it's Women's History Month! Here are some books to share with your girls (and boys, of course!)

The right words at the right time can really inspire many to improve their lives and become successful. Here are some of my favorite quotes from women, appropriate for children.

Great words for girls (and boys) to think about, aren't they?

Yes, we're expected to spend time teaching reading, writing, and math, but getting kids to think about their future and their own impact on the future is pretty important, isn't it?

Kids need to learn about the power of their own voice, don't they?

I love to have the kiddos talk (or write) about what they think some of these quotes mean.

These discussions are a great way to start the day. Perfect for morning meetings!

Seriously, don't you want your students to think about this?

I have a set of 50 of these quotes, available here:

Inspirational Quotes by Women to Read and Discuss

Tell me your ideas about how you inspire your students to be the best they can be!

Three Things to Do When a Student Gets Frustrated

School can be very frustrating.

Some children find school frustrating once in a while,

and others find school frustrating quite often.

Three Things to Do When a Student Gets Frustrated: students can get frustrated over many things from math problems to social issues. Here are three things teachers can do to help frustrated students.

Frustration happens often with math concepts, but it can happen in many areas of the curriculum as well in social issues. No matter what causes the frustration, here are a few things a teacher can do if a child becomes frustrated.

1. Show some empathy!

Seriously, we've all been there!

I'll bet you could easily name at least 5 things that you found frustrating in your past. Here are a few of mine: sports, (That should count as 5 by itself!) making friends, (I was painfully shy as a child.) teaching, (As much as I love it, we all know it has its frustrating moments!) parenting, (Who really knows all the answers?) and relationships! I often told students about how I was expected to play sports, but was horrible, no matter how I tried.

It's pretty tough for children to feel frustrated in school. It matters to them that we care. It might also help to remind them of times when they had successes after working hard on something!

2. Practice stress relief strategies!

When something is causing stress, the kiddos need to release that stress!

Here are some of my favorites for children:

-deep breathing

-exercise (Don't you love Go Noodle?)

-music

-a snack

-coloring

-laughter

3. Put it to the side.

If something is frustrating you, or a child, it's not always best to keep drilling that concept at that moment. The brain often works better by putting it aside.

If possible, leave it until the next day. A good night's sleep will give the brain the chance to process the information and make sense of it all. More often than not, a quick review will bring those favorite words of a teacher, "Oh, now I get it!"

The brain really does go to work when the body sleeps, and often works things out by the next day!