DAY 1 The Need for Tools 1. Show students pictures of various occupations (Ex: chef, banker, doctor, painter, etc.). Ask students if their moms or dads do any of these jobs. Pick a few of the occupations and point out that each of these people have certain tools that they have to bring to work each day. (For example, what tools would a fireman need? A banker? A teacher? If you have a teacher toolbox you carry each day, share that toolbox with students. ) Point out that if these people DON T have these needed tools, they wouldn t be able to do their job well. 2. Explain to students that they have a job this year to be a student. As a student, they need to bring 5 tools to school with them each day. Have students hold out one hand and count to five to remember there are 5 tools. 3. We re going to call our 5 tools the Actor s Toolbox because we re going to be actors this year. Actors are people who pretend to be someone or something else. Since we re going to be actors, we re going to have an actor s workout. Actors don t work out these muscles (point to arms). Actors don t work out these muscles (point to legs). Actors work out these muscles (point to your brain). Let s start our workout with our very first tool! Body 1. Ahead of time, put the 5 tool cards (attached) in a bag. Pull out the first tool- - body. See if anyone knows the word or can figure it out based on the picture. Explain that the first tool is our bodies. Each day we bring our bodies to school, and we need to be able to control our bodies. 2. Let s see how well you can control your body by playing a short game of Simon Says. Give several commands. (Ex: Simon Says to tell your body to stand up. Simon Says to tell your body to jump up and down. Simon Says to tell your body to wave to your teacher. Simon Says to wiggle your body. Simon Says to sit down.) 3. You just did several things with your body stand, wiggle, jump. Who tells your body to do those things? Lead children to understand that they do. Can Lee make Jennifer s body jump? No- only Jennifer can tell her body to jump. 4. Since YOU tell your body what to do, YOU are the person who controls your body. That s good to know because during the day, you ll need to tell your body to do different things. For example, I may tell you to stand on the carpet. (Model what a strong choice and weak choice would look like. Be sure to use the words, strong and weak. Let them show you strong and weak based on that direction.) Other times I may ask to you sit on the rug. (Model strong and weak choices. Have them join you.) 5. Give a few other things your body may be doing (Ex: throwing a ball, walking in line, moving like a snake, etc.). Lead students to understand that controlling your body doesn t mean being still all the time. It means being able to tell your body what to do right away to match the teacher s directions.
DAY 1 (continued) Voice 1. Pull out the second card from the bag. The second tool in our toolbox is our voice. 2. Let s use our voice to say the first stanza of a song you may know. If you think you know the song, join in with me. Start: The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round. The wheels on the bus go round and round. All through the town. 3. Now, we ll going to find different ways to control our voice with these same words by playing a game called the Volume Control Game. (Use a cd player to show what the volume button does.) Pull out the Volume Control Button from your pocket. (You are really pretending to pull out something from your pocket. Close your hands together so that it looks like you are carefully holding the volume control. ) When I hold the volume control at my waist, it means we are using a medium, inside voice. When I bring the volume control up in the air, I am using a loud, shouting voice. When I bring the volume control button down to my knees, I am using a quiet, whisper voice. Model all three. 4. Explain that we are going to say our song again but this time the class has to watch your volume control button to know HOW to control their voice. Go through the song moving the imaginary control button up and down. Then, allow another child to be the volume control button. Hand the imaginary button carefully to them and tell them to hold it tight. If time, allow another child to be the button. Then, take the button back and put it in a special place for a later time. 5. Explain how you could also change your voice by sounding like different characters. (Ex: papa voice, squeaky mouse voice, etc.) You may want to try the song with one of those voices. 6. Point out that we just learned how we control our body which means we tell our body what to do. So, who controls our voice? Lead students to understand they we control our voices as well. 7. Since YOU tell your voice what to do, YOU are the person who controls your voice. That s good to know because during the day, you ll need to tell your voice to do different things. For example, I may ask you to share with your neighbor what you did last night. What would a person who is strong is voice control be doing? Weak person? (Give other examples that are pertinent to your class. Make sure students understand that voice control does not mean always being quiet.)
DAY 1 (continued) Putting the Two Together 1. I m going to show you a way to remember to the first two tools by putting those words in your body. I want you to watch me right now. Then, I ll ask you to join in just a second. I m going to bend down to touch your toes and pretend that my fingers are in an elevator in the basement of a building. I m going to slowly bring the elevator up (move hands slowly up the sides of your body) to remind me that I have to control my body each day. 2. Then, the elevator takes a stop right here (put hands at your neck near your vocal chords). I m going to take a deep breath and make a small sound reminding me to be in control of my voice. (Model this.) 3. Then allow students to join you. 4. Point out that even though the students aren t talking, they re really saying a lot to you. It s sort of like they are speaking in sign language. When they move their hands up the sides of their bodies, they are really saying, Today, Ms/Mr.,I am strong enough to control my body. When they stop the elevator and make the small sound, they are really saying, Today, Ms./Mr., I am strong enough to control my voice. 5. You are signing a contract telling me in a serious way that you are going to make strong choices about what you tell your body and voice to do. Let s see who is strong enough to show me both parts of our contract. Have students sign the two parts of the contract. **NOTES: Begin using the vocabulary from this lesson throughout the day: body control, voice control, strong, and weak. REMINDER: Find times where students bodies should be moving, standing, sitting, etc. Find times students voices should be talking, changing character voices, silent, etc. We want students to understand that strong body and voice control means telling your body what to do right away based on the directions. We don t want to use these terms ONLY when students are supposed to be quiet and sitting still.
DAY 2 (continued) Review 1. Have students join you at the front rug in a circle. Let s see who remembers the first two tools in our actor s toolbox. Have them sign the first two parts of the contract with you. 2. What does it mean to have body control? What does it mean to have voice control? Imagination 1. Now we re ready for the third tool. Pull out the card labeled, Imagination. Have students say the word with you. Does anyone know what imagination means? Lead students to understand that it s a part of our brain that helps us pretend. 2. I m going to show you one way I can use my imagination. Pull out a piece of paper. Roll it up into a cylindrical shape. Then, begin to pretend like you are brushing your teeth with the piece of paper. See if students can figure out what your piece of paper turned into. (a toothbrush) Did the paper really become a toothbrush? NO I used my imagination to pretend it did. Give another example where you fold the paper flat and begin combing your hair. See if students can figure out how the paper has changed again. (comb) Did the paper really become a comb? NO I used my imagination. 3. Now I m going to see how well you can use your imagination. When, I count to 3, I want to see if you can make a statue of something. A statue is frozen. It doesn t move at all. Model a statue of a baseball player. 4. By the time I count to 3, use your imagination to make a statue of a basketball player. 1..2..3. FREEZE! Check to make sure everyone is frozen. Now, when I say, Go your statue will come to life. You ll be moving around like a basketball player UNTIL you hear this sound (tap a small drum, tambourine, etc.). Give students a few examples where they create statues, come to life, and then freeze at the sound. (Ex: becoming a frog, elephant, painter, etc.) 5. The way we ll remember to use our imagination in the contract is by moving the elevator up from our voice to our brain. (Move your hands up to the sides of your head.) The elevator will stop here to remind us to use our imagination. I m going to close my eyes and use my imagination to go anywhere in the universe I want to go. Pause a few seconds with your eyes closed. Then, open your eyes. I m back in our class now. Does anyone want to know where my imagination took me? I was at the swimming pool on the diving board. Now close YOUR eyes and let your imagination take you anywhere you want to be. It might be at grandma s house, on a boat, or on Mars! Pause until everyone has closed eyes. Give them a couple of seconds. Now, open your eyes. You re back in the classroom. If you d like to share where your imagination took you, put your hands on your knees. Allow a few to share.
DAY 2 (continued) Concentration 1. Pull out the next tool card concentration. Our next tool is concentration. We have to really build our concentration muscles. They re not here. (point to arms) They re not here. (point to legs) They re here. (point to brain) 2. Put an object like a stuffed animal (Curious George) in the center of the circle. Tell students you re going to lock your eyes on Curious George. Lock your eyes on Curious George. Keep your eyes locked while you re continuing to explain. I m going to lock my eyes on Curious George. I m going to call him my focal point because he is getting all of my focus and attention. If my concentration muscles are STRONG, I ll keep my eyes locked on Curious George without looking around, laughing, smiling, or talking. If my concentration muscles are SUPER STRONG, I can do this for at least 10 seconds. Now I m going to take my eyes off my focal point. Look back at the students. 3. I want you to watch me to see if I m holding onto my concentration. Look at my eyes to see if they stay locked on the focal point Curious George- - as I count to 10. 1, 2, 3,., 10. Now I m going to take my eyes off my focal point. How were my concentration muscles? (Good) How could you tell? What did you observe me doing? 4. Now I m going to show you what would happen if my muscles were weak. Start counting 1, 2, 3, etc. Begin to look around, move your body, etc. What did you observe that time? Let them respond. When my brain wanted me to peek around, I gave in. I should have told my brain, No Look at Curious George. Look at Curious George. I have to tell my brain what to do. 5. Now, let s see if your concentration muscles are strong. Let s see if you can keep your eyes locked on Curious George for 5 seconds. Lock your eyes. Go. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. If you see children looking away, point at Curious George and say, Eyes on Curious George. You may need to remind students to blink naturally. 6. Our focal point often changes throughout the day. Let me find something else in the room that would be interesting. Find an object. Make that the new focal point. Have students look at that new focal point for 5 counts. 7. Then, you may want to ask students to find something they find interesting in the room. If they have something, tell them to point to it. Pick one student s object of interest. That can be the new focal point. The goal here is for students to begin to understand that building concentration means our eyes stay locked on a focal point. 8. The way we ll remember concentration in our contract is to bring the elevator straight out of the building (moves hands up in the air) and lock our eyes on a focal point. Show what the 4 tools together would look like. Have students join you in this.
DAY 2 (continued) Cooperation 1. Pull out the last card cooperation. The last tool is cooperation. That s another long c word. We just learned about concentration. Have students say that with you. That s when we tell our brain where to lock our eyes. Now we re going to find out about cooperation. 2. Look at the picture on the card. What does it look like the children are doing? Lead students to understand that cooperation has to do with working together. This year we ll be cooperating with each other. That means we ll help each other, share with each other, and be kind to others. For example, if (Name) dropped something on the ground, I might cooperate with him by picking it up. What if had her hands full and needed to open the door? How could I cooperate with that person? Give a couple other examples of how to cooperate at different places in the room (centers, lunchroom, etc.) 3. The way we re going to remember cooperation is by putting our hands on the shoulders of the people beside us. Model this as a class. 4. Now, let s see if we can put all 5 tools together for our contract. Model with all 5. Remember when you do this, you re telling me in a serious way that you are ready to bring and use all 5 tools today. Have students join you in the full contract. **NOTES: Begin using the vocabulary from this lesson as well When you see examples during the day of people using these tools, you may want to point them out at the beginning so students see how the tools fit in our everyday lives. Continue reminding students to talk to their brains. So, if a student keeps playing with his/her shoe, you may walk over to that person and say, I see you playing with your shoe. It s like your brain keeps saying, Play with the shoe. Play with the shoe. Let s see if you can be stronger and tell your brain, No. Use the term focal point throughout the day so that students can see that focal points change and that means your eyes should stay locked on it. Be sure to vary the focal point. If one student is sharing, that student becomes the focal point. If students are reading, their focal point should be the book. DAY 3 1. Have students sign the contract. Explain to students that there are lots of ways students could sign the contract. You re always looking for 3 things: calm, focused, & balanced. (Use Sean s packet to see the explanation for these.) Have them sign again knowing that you are looking for those 3 things. 2. Begin to play Sean s Concentration Game starting at level 1 with the jewels. Instead of having students pick a focal point, place a stuffed animal like Clifford in the center on a stool. That will be everyone s focal point. Play for no more than 10 minutes. DAY 4 1. Students sign the contract showing they are calm, focused, and balanced. 2. Play the Concentration Game starting a level 1 each day (still using a stuffed animal in the center as the focal point) for about 10 minutes. The goal is to build their concentration muscles by doing a little each day.
WEEK 2 1. Continue signing the contract each day. Play the Concentration Game for 5-10 min. 2. Begin playing the Cooperation Challenge each day for about 10 minutes. (Start off with easier challenges. Then build to other concepts you are teaching.) Ex: By the time I count to 6, you re in a group with someone wearing purple. By the time I count to 5, you re in a group with less than 5 people. By the time I count to 5, you re in a group with at least one person wearing green. (Use the game to teach what at least means.) By the time I count to five, you re in a group with 3 people. By the time I count to six, you re in a group that has one more than what you have now. WEEK 4 Be sure to have short reflections with students based on what you observe. Also, apply the game to other part of the day. (Ex: At center time, how will we know you re cooperating? What would it look like? What would it sound like? At recess, how will we be able to tell people who are cooperating? What would it look like? What would it sound like? How can you tell people who are not cooperating? What would that look like? Sound like?) 1. Continue signing the contract each day. You may want to alternate the other two strategies depending on how your class is doing. For example, you may want to play the Concentration Circle on Tuesdays and Thursdays and the Cooperation Challenge on Mondays and Wednesdays. 2. You can even alter how you build concentration. You may want to make a few changes to the game, I Spy. Have a student pick something. Students guess. Once they ve figured it out, make that the focal point. See if everyone can keep their eyes locked on that focal point for 10 counts. (You could try to make faces to distract them or have another student do this.) Also, I ve seen some teachers have students use the phrase, Make me your focal point. So, when one student is sharing, that student says, Make me your focal point. Then, he/she looks around the room until all students have done that before sharing. 3. Remember to reflect/apply these strategies to other areas of the day. WEEK 5 4. Begin using the one- minute challenges about 2 a day. Look at the One- Minute Challenge script. (Start with things that have parts: an airplane, a tiger, an ice- cream cone, etc.) 1. Begin using the one- minute challenges with content. Ex: You have 30 seconds to plan how you re going to make something that starts with the letter g. (Check in after the planning meeting.) Now you have 30 seconds to create your tableau. 2. Other examples: show me something found in the fall, something in the day sky, something you learned about (character) in the story, etc. Refer to Sean s packet for this strategy.