Writing to the Kid President

I have been working on developing a stronger classroom community this year. My current students are challenging because their personalities are all strong and unique. I found a common interest that they have and I thought I would use it to build some positive relationships toward this end stretch of the year. Since this common interest is from a somewhat mainstream and pop-culture person their own age, I knew it would hook my students.

My students enjoy watching the Kid President videos. So I created a writing lesson which allowed them to write a list of ideas with him as their audience. We watched his video 20 Things We Should Say More Often (click on the title to view the link). Then students wrote their own lists of things they think people should say more often.

If you watch the end of the video, you will see that Kid President adds in a bonus idea that people should dance more. My students and I decided that at the end of the day we could dance if 5 people are on outstanding at the top of the behavior chart and no more than 5 people are at the bottom of the behavior chart.
 
Here are some of the ideas that appear on our list, Things We Wish People Would Say More Often:

 

 

 

And just like Kid President, a couple of students made a Bonus item on their lists:

 

 

Yes, written above are the lyrics to Boom Boom Pow by The Blackeyed Peas!! Below you will see the lyrics to the song What the Fox Says!!

 

Pirate Construction Zone

My literacy blocks will be transitioning from the unit Book Clubs: Books in a Series to the unit Navigating Nonfiction. To prepare students and to pique their interest, I turned the nonfiction section of my classroom library into a construction zone. 

 

I think my decorating design meets the criteria for the Teaser Hook and the Real World Hook from the book Teach Like a Pirate. Students know that something new is coming, they just aren't exactly sure.  Their brains are activating their prior knowledge of nonfiction while at the same time they are thinking about construction signs they see in the community.  They are wondering how the two will possibly fit together for our next reading unit.