“Selma is a very tiny sheep,” said Felino. “She loved to eat grass and play with her children, and talk to Mrs. Miller,” said Meg. “It made me laugh because Selma did the same things,” said Zach. “She did the same things every day,” said Felino. “Yeah,” said Pritka, “She had a routine . . . eat some grass, exercise, play with her children in the afternoon, eat more grass, talk to Mrs. Miller, and sleep.” “It’s sort of like the chronology of her whole day,” said Lucy. Hannah nodded. “Yeah, like a time line,” she said. “Well, if I were Selma, I wouldn’t eat grass all day. I wouldn’t do the same things over and over again because I would go crazy,” said Keisha. “Selma was having fun with whatever she was doing,” said Lucy, “But if I were to do all those things, I would be very bored.” “What would you do if you had a whole day?” Zach asked. It didn’t take Meg long to answer. “If I had all the time in the world,” she said, “I would go in the pool or play outside in the snow.” “I would wake up in the morning,” said Pritka, “ Get dressed, go to school, and go to critique . . . every day.” “What would you do if you had a million dollars?” asked Meg. “Hmmm,” said Felino. “Well, I would eat a little grass,” said Juan with a smirk. Everyone laughed. Then Zach jumped in. “If I had a million dollars, I’d buy a toy store and everything in it,” he said. “But, I can understand why Selma was doing the things over and over again,” said Hannah, “She doesn’t really have a lot of things to do. She just has a big piece of land . . . and that’s basically it.” “Yeah,” said Keisha, “She started out with a happy life and she wanted a happy life, so she decided to do it every day.” “I think she thinks she is having all the happiness that she wants,” said Hannah. “And the important thing is that it is making her happy,” said Keisha. TEACHER TALK MATH – TIME is A-PASSING! Tick! Tick! Tock! Hear the minutes of the clock. Tock! Tock! Tick! Sometimes slow! Sometimes quick! In SELMA, time seems to move slowly. It’s calm. It’s relaxed. Children will become more aware of passing time as they construct a chart of their own day’s schedule with this activity, called TIME is A-PASSING. First, try it with Selma’s day. 6:00 am . . . . . . eat a little grass. 8:00 am . . . . . . play with her children. 12:00 am . . . . . eat a little more grass. 1:00 pm . . . . . . exercise. 5:00 pm . . . . . . eat some more grass. 7:00 pm . . . . . . chat with a friend. 9:00 pm . . . . . . go to sleep. Next, give each child a blank page with the hourly times listed. Children fill in the slots next to the times with activities that make up their days. 7:00 am . . . . . . wake up, dress, eat breakfast 8:00 am . . . . . . go to school 9:00 am . . . . . . read 10:00 am. . . . . .play language arts games 11:00 am . . . . . listen to science lesson 12:00 pm . . . . . eat lunch, go to recess Etc. . . . Now get carried away and BUILD-A-DREAM-DAY! Give each child another blank page with the hourly times listed. Ask them to build their “Dream Day.” Get crazy! Get Wild! 7:00 am . . . . . . eat ice cream for breakfast 8:00 am . . . . . . go to circus 9:00 am . . . . . . fly kites 10:00 am . . . . . ride bikes Etc. . . . LANGUAGE ARTS – EMOTIONS -- WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY? THE WEBSTER’S CHILDREN’S THESAURUS defines happiness as joy, delight, enjoyment, pleasure, and bliss. SELMA is all of this. WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY? Have children sit in a circle on the floor. They take turns stating one thing that makes them happy. Then they ask another child what makes them happy. TEACHER: It makes me happy when all my students are here. ZIA, what makes you happy? ZIA: It makes me happy when I can play in the park. PETE, what makes you happy? PETE: It makes me happy when . . . SUGGESTED BOOKS: OLIVIA by Ian Falconer TELL ME SOMETHING HAPPY BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP by Joyce Dunbar, illustrated by Debi Gliori SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL by Sharon Dennis Wyeth, illustrated by Chris K. Soentpiet |
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