Give students lots of opportunities to SELF-CORRECT their own challenges - TOGETHER.
You can't make up this kind of reaction.
"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
Kids' Own Wisdom for typically developing children and youth.
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Kids' Own Wisdom®
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