The Coffee Bean for Kids

 

I finally read Jon Gordon's The Coffee Bean over Spring Break and LOVED the simple yet profound message. I knew I HAD to share it with my students! I ordered it off of Amazon and shared it with them this week. I believe we have the power to choose to make each day great and love the analogy of the carrot, egg, and the coffee bean that Jon uses to describe the power to transform our situation.  One of my student's wrote a poem/song to help us remember The Coffee Bean Rules. Listen here! It's so cute!

After we read the book, students did a quick write. I loved their realizations and their honesty. 

I am going to be passing out Shout Outs to students who are being The Coffee Bean, and students can pass them out too! I already heard conversations in our classroom like, "Are you being the Coffee Bean?" and "What would the Coffee Bean do?"

I am going to print the shout outs 4 to a page. 

Grab a copy of this shout out and my slide deck here.

Have you read it? I highly recommend adding this book to your classroom library to help build and create POSITIVE change!

March Madness Book Battle

March Madness is right around the corner, and who doesn't like to fill out a bracket and root for the underdog. Let's take the fun of the Final Four and bring it to our classrooms!

 Well, it's also no secret that I'm always looking for fun ways to engage my readers and expose them to new books and authors. So last year when I saw different teachers/librarians creating bulletin boards with a book bracket, I knew I had to find a way to do it too. This could be easily adapted for any grade level and used with Connect/Virtual Learners!

I didn't have the wall space to create a bulletin board, so I create a Google Slide with our Book Battle Brackets. Click here to make a copy and put in your own books. 

You could set up your bracket in many ways, but I'll share what has worked for me:

ONE- I set up the bracket before and, starting with the Sweet 16.

8 books we have read before and loved and 8 books are new to us.

TWO- I read the "new" book from one bracket each day for 8 days. After I read it book, students vote on their favorite and the one that will move forward. This always leads to great discussions and some great quick writes. Mentimeter is a great to use for voting and allows your virtual learners to participate as well.

THREE- Once our Elite Eight our chosen, I'll reread the book we had previously read. Then, we will vote again and the winner will move forward.

FOUR- Repeat until your winner is chosen and tweet the authors of the books that are winning. Students love being able to connect with authors. 

FIVE- Pump it up, wear your favorite college team, enjoy new books, and have FUN!

The best part? We are all winners with this March Madness Book Battle!