~and their character counts~

Every year teachers all over the country spend a fortune, mostly of their own money, to outfit their classrooms with the things they believe are necessary to ensure a successful year for their students.  From borders to bulletin board cutouts and school supplies to the latest "how to" books to raise state assessment scores, I've seen them buy it all.  Hey, I've been in those "teacher shoes" many times myself.  But just a few years back I learned a really interesting lesson and that lesson is this.

Sometimes some of the greatest learning takes place by simply using an old empty jar.
Plain and simple.
An old empty Mason jar.

In my classroom this year as in 39 years gone by, my greatest goal is not to teach kids everything they need to know in order to pass the yearly state assessment.  Please don't get me wrong.  I know how important it is to teach to the state standards and I do my best to make sure they are ready to succeed in the next grade.  Always.  Yet the truth of the matter is this.  My greatest desire in teaching my students is to help them grow into the best young ladies and gentlemen that I can.  I want to do my part in raising them up to be decent human beings who care about each other and the world that they live in.  They will hear me say many times throughout the year the same thing, over and over again.

"Children, listen to me.  Anyone can be the best reader, the most award winning writer, or the greatest mathematician in the world but what good will it do them if they do not have a good and kind heart?"  

To me, it's much more important to teach them these lessons of life than it is to teach them any other academic subject, and I do it sometimes with the help of a Mason jar.
Like this one, for example.

I have absolutely no idea whatsoever where I came up with this idea.  All I know is that it came to me one late summer day back in the little Rocky Mountain community of Olathe, Colorado. Before school began that year, I had traveled to the Puget Sound area of Washington state for a visit with my children, and while I was there I noticed these beautiful rocks that looked like none I had ever seen before.  I gathered them all up and nestled them deep into my suitcase before I headed back home again.  I got to thinking about how my little first graders would love them that year and I figured I had enough for each of them to have one.  About that same time, I came across the jar shown on the desk above in my new classroom this year at Grandfield.  I got to thinking and these random ideas started popping in my head.  Because I believe in the idea of a classroom community approach to teaching, I developed the idea of having a community rock jar.  So on the first day of school that year, I asked the kids to one by one come up and choose a rock.  They had to say their name and tell the other kids something they were good at that had absolutely nothing to do with school.  As soon as they had finished, they carefully placed the rock into the glass jar so that it would not be broken.  I told the kids that the jar was like our "feelings" and that sometimes harsh words or careless actions can hurt us deep inside of our hearts.  When we finished, the jar would contain rocks that represented each of us, but since there was still room for additional stones we would include others from school who wanted to join our little classroom community as well.  It might be another teacher, a parent, the custodian, our principal, a school board member, and once even a total stranger.  They all became part of our school day family.  When times got rough once in a while, as they sometimes do when you are together 7+ hours a day, I'd go over and pick up the jar to remind them that we all agreed on the very first day of school that we would stick together.  The little community rock jar helped us to solve classroom problems on our own, more times than not. Very, very seldom did we ever have to ask for help from our principal or our parents.  

And you know what?
I like that.

I like to teach life lessons.
Sometimes I do it with the help of Mason jars.
Just like these two.

I have my sweet sister Sherry to thank for these two ideas.  Last year while I was at Big Pasture, Sherry suggested that I take home her huge jug of marbles that she used in her own classroom before retiring at Altus, Oklahoma in 2010.  I told her that I was looking for a way to teach some lessons on kindness and with a smile on her face, she told me of how she used to do it.  I remember what she said.

"Every time that someone does something kind for another, no matter how little it might seem, have them take a marble from my jar and put it into another one.  Be sure to have them say what it was that was kind before they do it.  When you get it filled, then figure out a way to reward them.  It works every time."
And she was right.
It did work.

It worked so well that all year long we continued to do it.  I ended up only giving a class reward a couple of times.  They had so much fun doing it that they stopped expecting anything in return.  It made me so happy to know that they were practicing kindness just because it was the right thing to do.

 In my mind, I can still remember the comments that kids would make to me before they placed their marble inside the jar.  They caught on quickly as to what acts of kindness looked like.

"I just lent my good eraser to Graciela, Mrs. Renfro."
"Jace helped me clean up all around everyone's desks just now."
"Everyone said 'thank you' to me while I held the door coming in from recess."
"Mrs. Renfro, you just did an act of kindness.  You forgave us for being too noisy in the hallway."
And it went on, and on, and on.

The other one,  our "Something to Be Happy About Jar", will be new this year.  I was inspired by a similar jar that Sherry used during the last few months of her life.  Each day she would think of something positive and good that had happened for her.  When she thought of it, she'd take a small piece of paper, jot it down, and then place it into the jar.  While her last year of life was pretty rough due to the health problems that late stage COPD presented her, I marvel in the fact that she realized the power of positive thinking and a very grateful heart.  I hope that each day my students will be able to add their own thoughts of happiness and gratefulness, both extremely important in these uncertain times we seem to find ourselves in today.

The first day of school is rapidly approaching and I'm anxious to begin.  We'll be learning a whole lot of reading, math, language, science, social studies, and writing.  On the last day of school, they will be ready and prepared to move on to the next grade.  I'm going to do my best to make sure that they know what they need to in order to find success.  Yet in the busyness of every school day, I plan to keep one thing in mind.

What kind of children am I training them up to be?
Their character counts.

                                               Once I was a little kid.  Just like them!