School Bells - Current Affairs – Grade 1 – Week 20
Our effect on others.
I am really looking forward to meeting with the first grade scholars. I appreciated the break but I also miss my weekly meeting with these wonderful young people. Here they come now.
Me: Good morning everyone. Welcome back.
Class: Good morning Mr. Jim. Cookies!
Me: Yes. We have cookies. Sam and her brother, Paul, helped to make them.
Class: Thank you Sam!
Me: Sofia and Steve, would you pass out the cookies please?
(They do so. They are quickly ingested.)
Me: I am eager to hear if you noticed anything different about time with family this holiday. I know that most of you were celebrating one of the holidays which involved visiting with relatives. Of course you are a year older than you were last year. Many of you have reported that you have been having more family time and family discussions.
Sam: We already talked with you Uncle Jim about the fact that our grandparents whom we do not see often still act as if we are very little.
Me: Yes, it is sometimes difficult for family members and others who do not see us often to realize that we are growing in lots of ways. As we know we all see with our minds and not our eyes.
Sam: What do you mean Uncle Jim?
Me: Lots of studies have shown I often see what I expect to see or what I want to see or hear. The eyes reflect the light but the brain has to decide what to look at and what to call what we see. We will explore that one of these days, but for now think about this example. I am going to hold up my hand. I have never hit any of you. Usually you see my hand handing out cookies, picking stuff or pointing at something. What if I had hit you with my hand? Then the same hand would be something very scary and as soon as I raised it you might back away. Someone else I had never hit would see just a hand. It is the same hand but a different hand. So when relatives who do not see you often visit they expect to see this young child and not someone who is growing up and who is much different than the young child.
What else did anyone notice about being with the family this holiday.
Tara: Mom and dad talked a lot about how we are turning off the television and talking more.
Me: How did people respond?
Tara: My cousins still played games on their phones or iPads a lot. They did not want to talk. Adults kept asking me what I was interested in. Mom and dad showed them all the assignments I have brought home. They began to ask questions about what I thought and to talk to each other.
Tommy: Our family still watched television when there was a game on but dad asked that we schedule dinner when there was no game on so that everyone came to the tables and ate together.
Me: How did that work Tommy?
Tommy: Pretty good. There was some loud discussion about the new President but no one was mean or got mad.
Me: That is great Tommy. How about others?
Ahmes: My grandparents asked me what I wanted to be when I grow up. They always ask that, but this year I said I wanted to teach in Egypt about treating boys and girls the same.
Me: How did they respond?
Ahmes: Well, this is my mother’s parents and they know that my mother works as a professor. Still, they think that boys and girls are very different. One of my boy cousins wants to be a ballet dancer. Grandpa did not like that but he loves my cousin.
Me: Wow, sounds as if everyone agreed to work hard to listen to each other.
Steve: My mother suggested that we play a game to see who could just listen and not say anything. She would suggest a topic and someone would talk for a minute. It was really hard. Then we talked a lot all weekend about why it is so hard to listen. I kept wanting to say something back when others talked but I liked it when everyone would just listen to me.
Me: Wow! That is great Steve. Perhaps you could help us practice next time we meet.
Steve: Okay Mr. Jim.
Susie; Mom and dad shared with some other families about our family meetings and why we are playing board games more often. Some of our cousins got mad at us because they did not want to do that. They just wanted to play games on their phones or iPads.
Me: Why do you think that is Susie?
Susie; We know it is not comfortable to do something new. Mom asked some of the cousins to talk about what they liked about the games they play. We all learned a lot.
Me: That is great. Others?
Sue: We had a sad holiday because my aunt was sick and then died. When she was sick I asked to go to hospital to see her. My grandparents, aunts and uncle all said no, but my mom and dad said I was old enough to go. They took me. It was sad but I got to tell her how much I am going to be like her. She smiled.
Me: So you parents trusted you to handle the situation?
Sue: Yes, I think it is because we have been talking a lot and they do not try to protect me so much.
Me: That is wonderful Sue. How about you Sofia?
Sofia: My grandparents came from Italy. I loved seeing them but Grandma kept saying, “Sofie, come to Nonna. Come to nonnina.”
She would grab my head and put it between her big breasts. I could not breathe and thought I was going to die.
Me: (Trying not to laugh.) Tell your classmates what nonna and nonnina mean.
Sofia: Nonna is Italian for grandmother and nonnina means little grandmother. Some say nonnie which is also word for grandparents.
I write these on the board.
Nonna – grandmother
Nonnina – little grandmother
Nonnie – grandparents
Me: We are nearly out of time. How about next week we practice our listening skills. Remember what Steve said about just listening and not responding to what someone said. If we want we can repeat back to the person talking what we ‘heard” them saying. Steve will help us next week.
Ahmes and Sue will you pass out another cookie?
Steve will you pass out the assignment?
Have a good week everyone.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Class: Goodbye Mr. Jim
written January 5, 2017
Our effect on others.
I am really looking forward to meeting with the first grade scholars. I appreciated the break but I also miss my weekly meeting with these wonderful young people. Here they come now.
Me: Good morning everyone. Welcome back.
Class: Good morning Mr. Jim. Cookies!
Me: Yes. We have cookies. Sam and her brother, Paul, helped to make them.
Class: Thank you Sam!
Me: Sofia and Steve, would you pass out the cookies please?
(They do so. They are quickly ingested.)
Me: I am eager to hear if you noticed anything different about time with family this holiday. I know that most of you were celebrating one of the holidays which involved visiting with relatives. Of course you are a year older than you were last year. Many of you have reported that you have been having more family time and family discussions.
Sam: We already talked with you Uncle Jim about the fact that our grandparents whom we do not see often still act as if we are very little.
Me: Yes, it is sometimes difficult for family members and others who do not see us often to realize that we are growing in lots of ways. As we know we all see with our minds and not our eyes.
Sam: What do you mean Uncle Jim?
Me: Lots of studies have shown I often see what I expect to see or what I want to see or hear. The eyes reflect the light but the brain has to decide what to look at and what to call what we see. We will explore that one of these days, but for now think about this example. I am going to hold up my hand. I have never hit any of you. Usually you see my hand handing out cookies, picking stuff or pointing at something. What if I had hit you with my hand? Then the same hand would be something very scary and as soon as I raised it you might back away. Someone else I had never hit would see just a hand. It is the same hand but a different hand. So when relatives who do not see you often visit they expect to see this young child and not someone who is growing up and who is much different than the young child.
What else did anyone notice about being with the family this holiday.
Tara: Mom and dad talked a lot about how we are turning off the television and talking more.
Me: How did people respond?
Tara: My cousins still played games on their phones or iPads a lot. They did not want to talk. Adults kept asking me what I was interested in. Mom and dad showed them all the assignments I have brought home. They began to ask questions about what I thought and to talk to each other.
Tommy: Our family still watched television when there was a game on but dad asked that we schedule dinner when there was no game on so that everyone came to the tables and ate together.
Me: How did that work Tommy?
Tommy: Pretty good. There was some loud discussion about the new President but no one was mean or got mad.
Me: That is great Tommy. How about others?
Ahmes: My grandparents asked me what I wanted to be when I grow up. They always ask that, but this year I said I wanted to teach in Egypt about treating boys and girls the same.
Me: How did they respond?
Ahmes: Well, this is my mother’s parents and they know that my mother works as a professor. Still, they think that boys and girls are very different. One of my boy cousins wants to be a ballet dancer. Grandpa did not like that but he loves my cousin.
Me: Wow, sounds as if everyone agreed to work hard to listen to each other.
Steve: My mother suggested that we play a game to see who could just listen and not say anything. She would suggest a topic and someone would talk for a minute. It was really hard. Then we talked a lot all weekend about why it is so hard to listen. I kept wanting to say something back when others talked but I liked it when everyone would just listen to me.
Me: Wow! That is great Steve. Perhaps you could help us practice next time we meet.
Steve: Okay Mr. Jim.
Susie; Mom and dad shared with some other families about our family meetings and why we are playing board games more often. Some of our cousins got mad at us because they did not want to do that. They just wanted to play games on their phones or iPads.
Me: Why do you think that is Susie?
Susie; We know it is not comfortable to do something new. Mom asked some of the cousins to talk about what they liked about the games they play. We all learned a lot.
Me: That is great. Others?
Sue: We had a sad holiday because my aunt was sick and then died. When she was sick I asked to go to hospital to see her. My grandparents, aunts and uncle all said no, but my mom and dad said I was old enough to go. They took me. It was sad but I got to tell her how much I am going to be like her. She smiled.
Me: So you parents trusted you to handle the situation?
Sue: Yes, I think it is because we have been talking a lot and they do not try to protect me so much.
Me: That is wonderful Sue. How about you Sofia?
Sofia: My grandparents came from Italy. I loved seeing them but Grandma kept saying, “Sofie, come to Nonna. Come to nonnina.”
She would grab my head and put it between her big breasts. I could not breathe and thought I was going to die.
Me: (Trying not to laugh.) Tell your classmates what nonna and nonnina mean.
Sofia: Nonna is Italian for grandmother and nonnina means little grandmother. Some say nonnie which is also word for grandparents.
I write these on the board.
Nonna – grandmother
Nonnina – little grandmother
Nonnie – grandparents
Me: We are nearly out of time. How about next week we practice our listening skills. Remember what Steve said about just listening and not responding to what someone said. If we want we can repeat back to the person talking what we ‘heard” them saying. Steve will help us next week.
Ahmes and Sue will you pass out another cookie?
Steve will you pass out the assignment?
Have a good week everyone.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Class: Goodbye Mr. Jim
written January 5, 2017
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