Building Community- Through Crayons and Colors!

Happy 4th of July everyone!

When I think of the 4th of July, I think of the obvious things like our nation's freedom, hotdogs, watermelon, and of course fireworks. Fireworks are beautiful-made up of many different shapes, sizes, and of course...COLOR! And it is color that leads me back to my classroom theme of community through the use of the crayon box.

In my last post, I did a book review on The Crayon Box that Talked by Shane DeRolf. In this post, I'm going to tell you a little bit about how I used this book and its theme in my classroom the whole year. The first thing I did when my students first came in my classroom was give them 1 crayon and one piece of paper. I asked them to draw me a picture using only that one crayon. I gave them about 15-20 minutes to color as other kids were settling in. Afterwards, I asked them how it was to create a picture only using one crayon. They commented that it was difficult and not as fun. I then pulled out the wonderful and magnificent book and read it them. We talked about how a picture needs lots of colors to be completed. I then showed them how our classroom is like that. We're not all created the same way (I teach at a Christian school, so I talk about how God's created us differently, but even if you don't teach at a Christian school..you can obviously still talk about celebrating differences) and each of us has gifts and personalities that form the beauty of our class.

At the end of the first day of school, together as a class we made a giant mural of our classroom and classmates to hang on the wall using many beautiful colors. The students really enjoy creating the mural, and it is a good reminder for them when they see it, that our differences are something to be celebrated, and not criticized.

But I'm not finished yet...oh no...we can't forget the CRAYOLA PARTY! At the end of the first week of school, we have a Crayola party. Each student signs up for a color and a food or party item and brings it in for us to have a crayola party where we eat and celebrate our differences. We enjoy our snacks and colorful decorations, and then students get to share with one another what they have like about their friends.

But unfortunately...as we all know..children squabble and children tattle...so where does that fit in with my crayon class? Find out in my next blog! :-)

Until the next apple pickin'
Mrs. L