Here is an activity that I like to do at the beginning of the school year, but it can be done at anytime. It is derived from the idea behind the book, "I Wish My Teacher Knew" by Kyle Schwartz. (On a side note, this is a good recommendation for a staff book study selection.)
For this I simply pop into each classroom during a pre-scheduled time and touch base with kids about wanting to know what is going on in their world. I tell them that I am giving them each a post-it note to tell them something that they think I should know. I explain that it could be a problem or an issue that they have in their life, or if they don't feel like they need to share anything negative they can tell me anything that they would like to share. Every day is a great day to learn something new about our students! I have found that most responses are light hearted and fun, but every year I learn of a handful of troubling things that are good to have on my radar.
Absolutely any post-it note will do, but I was excited to learn that I could print personalized post-it notes from vistaprint.com for less than $10. I made a simple design on canva, uploaded it to Vistaprint, and they were delivered in a week's time!
This Tip Tuesday was submitted by Tasha Gatzemeyer, SDAESP State Editor. She can be reached at Tasha.Gatzemeyer@k12.sd.us.
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