Thanksgiving Family Crafts, Thankful for K..., & Vocabulary

I had pinned this pin:

{If you click on image above it will take you to the original source of the pin.}
Last night we made our own:

My sister in law found this idea on Pinterest, I am guessing from this pin:

{If you click on image above it will take you to the original source of the pin.}
This is what she made for Thanksgiving! Great job Erin!!!

 Continuing with the week of Giving Thanks from Blog Hoppin' today is K...

I am so thankful for Kind Words...they can make such a difference in all of our lives!  

One of my favorite quotes is: "I've come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom.  It's my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous.  I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration.  I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.  In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or deescalated and a child humanized or dehumanized" Haim Ginott

Our words have so a powerful impact on others, may they be Kind!

Speaking of words, I wanted to share about what our class does for vocabulary.  We are currently using Storytown/Excursions Language Arts.  Each week we choose 4 words from the lesson one M, T, Th, & F.  We look the word up in the book glossary & in a dictionary as well.  We come up with a class definition...this shows last year's class book which is always available as a resource.

As the words are chosen I place them in the vocabulary chart and the students put the word, part of speech, & definition on a half index card.  They keep the cards on a ring on a hook at their desks.  During our daily silent reading time they will mark any current vocabulary words with a sticky note.  When I end reading time students who have found a word raise their hands.  When I call on a student, he or she reads the sentence the word is found in and then repeats the word.  The class says the word and the definition.  Then the student makes a tally mark by the word.  Once we have 10 tally marks the word is closed {the exception is if we reach 10 and another student found the same word that day...then it closes}  After the student has made the tally mark he or she goes to the sound buttons and chooses one to push...the students LOVE this part!!!  I love this activity because we get to discuss word forms, multiple meanings, and the words get cemented in the students' heads! {the sound buttons are from Hallmark...many I bought on ebay} 

Don't forget to stop by and join in on my 3, 2, 1, SALE! Linky!