Special Ed

"Sorry for responding slowly, but I know you understand :). Things have been going very well, and KOW has been going amazingly in my class. 

Yesterday I used a card for the first time in three weeks, and my kids were so excited saying, "We havent done one of those in so long! Yayyy!" And immediately more than half of my  students (especially students who tend to be shy) hands went up during the discussion.

No doubt this approach has become a fun and effective way to foster a fun and moral classroom. I love that I have to step back, and let kids discuss the cards. I tend to try and develop students' habits of discussion to a point where most discussion happens independent of myself by the end of the year, and KOW has assisted in helping me do this faster (we are not there yet, but 

we are light years ahead of where I was last year).

Small group time is precious and tends to be dedicated to guided reading/writing, therefore it is hard to find an ideal time to pull a small group to do a card. Therefore, I tend to have the discussions whole group, but I still find the discussion to be lively, productive, and effective (in that students understand the concept and apply it). 

While I plan to use the product for small group discussion, the majority of the time I use it will be during community meeting whole group." 

Dustin Lockwood - 1st Grade Literacy

Rocket Ship Public School - Los Sueños

"Kids' Own Wisdom is great.  The children in all of our preschool and kindergarten classes actively engaged during each of the sessions, which is a welcome change from the passive learning they sit through when being read to.

   “With the help of Kids' Own Wisdom, we see our students becoming more aware of each other's feelings, better listeners, and better able to more confidently express themselves with the whole class listening, all of which are important skills that must be exercised so that they achieve real school readiness.    

   “Thanks for a great teaching tool that is so simple to implement, yet so effective."

Susan Sanders, Director Marin Enrichment Preschool Greenbrae, California

"Kids’ Own Wisdom is an 

amazing program to use 

with our littlest students.  It is social emotional learning that is truly interactive and therefore highly effective. I pull it out when 

I'm suddenly faced with 

an extra amount of  transition times, 

like between an academic activity 

and lunch time, but Nini 

has been encouraging me to use it on a 

more regular schedule.  

"Its multiple questions 

(that are unpredictable yet completely

 relevant to the kids)  make it easier to interact with students than I would have thought, and students’ behavior is actually improving after 

Kids’ Own Wisdom sessions. 

I really should use it more often."

Jana Alperen

Special Education Teacher

Crested Butte Community School

Crested Butte, CO

“Each scenario created lively  responses from every one of the kids.  

Even the kids who usually don't engage

fully engaged in sharing their thoughts and opinions, and they surprised me 

with how interested they were in

each others’ thoughts and opinions.  

My assistant and I have noticed 

numerous instances of carryover 

influence.   

You really can't ask for more than that.”

Kim - Supervisor of after school program

San Anselmo, California

"Kids’ Own Wisdom is a great tool  for encouraging critical thinking  about values for  Kindergarten and first graders.  

They love the pictures and are eager to participate in the discussions generated by them.   Particularly helpful are the teacher friendliness of the materials and the discussion questions provided with them.

“I would recommend using Kids’ Own Wisdom as part of a character education curriculum for young children.”

Alan Gold, Ph.D. - School Psychologist Reed Union School District Tiburon, California

"Kids’ Own Wisdom is an excellent tool for empowering young children to think and problem solve in the social areas of their lives.  The real life situations are introduced with simple, colorful illustrations, and teacher guided questions that are pretty uncommon in their ability to  encourage every child's attention and even contribution to discussions.   

"As the children discuss and problem solve situations involving acceptance, empathy, respect, kindness, cooperation, and politeness for themselves, others and their environment, it becomes clear that they're teaching themselves in the process.  

"The fact that the program requires minimal training - just reading the clearly delineated, and really sensible guidelines, makes it an easy adoption for our school, because it empowers children to lead respectful lives."  

Pem Winquist • Director/Teacher The School House • Learning Center for Young Children • Founded in 1973 Eugene, Oregon