Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Ugly Words

A lot of work sure goes into teaching little people what excellence sounds and looks like in the classroom.  This simple activity is just one piece of that.  I've been doing this for years and apologize for not remembering the original source.  


My kids helped me brainstorm ugly words.  The only rule was the word couldn't be a swear word.  We made our list and could have kept going (there are a lot of ugly words out there), but for sake of time, I called it good and said, "This is what I think of ugly words."  I scrunched up the list and stomped on it until it was sufficiently flattened.  Then I hung it at the front of the room on the whiteboard for all to see.  (Yep, it will be there until June.)


"The next time you feel like an ugly word is on the tip of your tongue, swallow it."  When an ugly word does appear though, I point to our smashed list and say, "That's an ugly word."  The visual is pretty powerful actually.  Sure this activity won't fix the problem, but it's an important piece, that in conjunction with all the others, moves us in the right direction to looking and sounding like excellence.


17 comments:

  1. I love this concept. I did something fairly similar with a red heart today. Kids passed the paper heart around while I read Chrysanthemum and crumpled it every time her heart was crumpled. Then we promised not to crumble each others hearts by writing our name on bandaids and putting them on the heart.

    Kimberley

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    1. Kimberley, I do something like the crumpled heart too but with Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon. :)

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  2. Great idea, Tammy! I like how you hung the crumpled paper and left it up for the whole year.
    Connie Anderson:)
    Welcome To First Grade Room 5

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    1. Connie, yep it won't be coming down for a while. I'm sure we'll need lots of reminders.

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  3. Great idea Tammy! Very engaging and a great visual reminder for the entire school year.

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  4. I really like this idea! What a powerful reminder not to use ugly words.
    Lori
    Conversations in Literacy

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    1. Lori, they sure need powerful reminders. We'll get there though. :)

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  5. I love this idea, but I'm afraid my boys would have too much fun saying poopy face and would roll around on the floor laughing. I may have to try it anyway!
    Jenny

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    1. Jenny, oh you and your boys must have lots of fun together. :)

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  6. Great idea, Tammy. I can see how powerful that would be.

    Barbara @
    Grade ONEderful
    Ruby Slippers Blog Designs

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    1. Barb, thanks. It does send a powerful message.

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  7. Elbert's Bad Word is another fun book that could tie in to this lesson.

    Laurie
    Chickadee Jubilee

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    1. Laurie, thank you for the suggestion. I hadn't heard of that one.

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