Friday Favorites

My Friday has been exceptionally nice here this week!  We had a little bit of snow on the ground when we went to bed last night...and lo and behold: SNOW DAY today!!  The only thing better than a surprise snow day as a teacher was seeing my Kindergartner's face this morning.  He was up with the phone call (at 5:46 AM), way before he needed to be, but he was not tired at all.  His was the kind of happiness that only Santa, the Easter Bunny and...some good ol' snow can bring, and it was my favorite moment of the week. :)

This opportunity to have a lazy day with my boy leads me to my first favorite I'll be sharing today.  I happened to catch this craft project on The Chew today, and instantly thought how this would be awesome in a classroom.  It's a DIY Dry Erase Calendar that seems pretty easy to make, and looks pretty sweet!

Picture from The Chew @ ABC.com

Here's the link to materials and directions: Clinton's Craft Corner Coasters and Calendar. (The coasters are petty cute, too!  Scroll down the page.  The calendar is the 2nd project.)  I'll wait a day or two to see if a video clip of the project is added to their site and I'll post the link for that, too.

The second thing I want to share with you for my Friday Favorites this week is a video that has been making it's way around the world of social media.  It was actually brought to my attention recently by a person who posted it on my Facebook wall.  She also made a simple, touching and quite eloquent request.  She asked me to please "tell all of the teachers this. It is true. "Sticks and stones can break your bones, but words can never hurt you," is the biggest lie that parents and teachers tell. Those of us that survived being bullied, did it by believing the bullies were wrong. But we will spend the rest of our lives with the doubt. This is the best thing I have ever seen explaining what it feels like."

I was touched by her honesty and her desire to share something that was so personal in order to make sure that this moving video about the power of words continues to be seen. The To This Day Project is well worth the time to watch for both teens and adults. Containing an important message that is shared in a way that will undoubtedly get the attention of middle school students, this is a perfect catalyst for free-writes or discussions.  If you haven't come across it yet, please think about taking a few minutes to watch...and consider passing along.

  





Lastly, I just want to remind you that a fantastic giveaway is still going on at The Teacher's Chair!

There's still time to see if March 17th will be your lucky day!  If you haven't checked out all the great prizes (including a product from my store), take time to visit and enter to win!

Have a great weekend!