Monday, June 18, 2012

Thank You! You're Welcome!!! Monday Made It!

Yea, I actually made something today! :) So I'm linking up (and promptly pinning all the new things others made today!)


Before my student teaching, I interned in a 5th grade classroom for 8 weeks. The first day there, my cooperating teacher asked me to pass out multiplication tests. As I handed one to the first student, they said thank you. Surprised, I answered you're welcome. I turned to the next student. Again I received a thank you when handing them the paper. As I moved on to each student, I received a thank you from EVERY SINGLE one. I was astounded! When I commented how polite of a class she had, she told me she worked hard to instill manners and good habits in her students. She even mentioned how it carried over to when they had substitutes! I knew that day that this was something I absolutely wanted to practice in a classroom of my own.

It is now my sixth year of teaching, and I take the time every year to teach my students to say thank you when someone opens a door for them, hands them a paper, picks something up for them, gives them something, etc. It takes a lot of practice at the beginning, but is absolutely worth it! I'll never forget how each and EVERY one of my students (with NO prompting from me) told a custodian who held a door open for them "thank you". Brought the most enormous smile to my face.

To keep it interesting however, I teach them how to say thank you and you're welcome in a NEW language every week or two. It's a great way to introduce and show them the countries where the language is used and how it is written. It's also perfect for students who use a different language at home because then THEY can teach us how to say them! What a fun way to build culture!

A problem I found this year though was that I wasn't keeping a record of words we learned. After seeing this on pinterest:


I decided this would be AWESOME to keep track of thank yous and you're welcomes:


I just spent all afternoon creating a spreadsheet that has the country, language, thank you, you're welcome, and translation to English.

I am HOPING they are correct. I tried to look on more than one website for translations. If you see something that is incorrect, please let me know so that I can fix it. You can find the SPREADSHEET HERE.

Here are a few ways we use our thank you's in the classroom:

DOOR HOLDERS (LINE PATROL)
One of my classroom jobs is having a line patrol. They help keep the line quiet and orderly, while also opening any door we encounter. Once they have opened it, each student is expected to give eye contact to the person and tell them thank you. The line patrol will respond with a thank you while looking them in the eye as well. I am super big on eye contact when students are talking to others.

PAPER PASSER
Another of our classroom jobs is a paper passer. Students are to tell them thank you (eye contact again) and the paper passer responds with you're welcome (eye contact too!)

PARTNER ACTIVITIES
During class we do so many partner activities. I expect them using thank yous when playing games, doing work together, or anything that might warrant a thank you! At the beginning of the year we role play A LOT so students get really good at getting in the habit of using it! :)

LUNCH
Each of our students are expected to voice what they would like to the lunch workers. Upon receiving their lunch, I expect them to say thank you for what the get. It's also fun because then the staff gets to hear thank yous in different languages too!!

Those are just a few places I specifically TEACH them to use their manners. Can you think of any other places you might encourage a thank you?

Oh and I'm off to Laughlin, Nevada tomorrow for boating, swimming, tanning, and gambling with the fam! Here's hoping I don't get too sunburnt.. although coming from a redhead... that's basically impossible! :)

22 comments:

Cassandra said...

I love this idea! I definitely want to work with my kids on manners next year. It always bugged me so much when they wouldn't say thank you when they got their food in the lunch line.

Adventures in Room 5

Tara said...

What a wonderful idea!!!! I work hard to get my kiddo to say please and thank you too! Actually, they also learn to say yes sir or ma'am. It really is refreshing and it's so sad that kids don't come to school with manners anymore but sadly most of them don't. I love this idea of different languages....my only fear would be I wouldn't say it right....Oh wait!! Last year i used a Google translator in my classroom so I could use that;) Thanks for sharing;)

4th Grade Frolics

Heather's Heart said...

This is wonderful! We make a HUGE deal about manners too! We call them heart words. We make a huge list of heart words and then post them in the class. They go along with the helpful hearts we use to fill our classroom bucket. We call them heart words because the show someone you care about and respect them.

I teach them the heart words in Spanish but now I can do more. Thank you!

I would love for you to come and read more about it! =)

Heather
Heather's Heart

Megan said...

I love this idea!!! Will definitely be working on that in my clasroom this year.

Megan
I Teach. What's Your Super Power?

Sara {Miss V's Busy Bees} said...

This is definitely an awesome idea. I student taught at a school where all the children learned German. It starts in Kindergarten and goes all the way up to 6th grade! Such a cool idea :] I'm your newest follower, too!

Sara
Miss V's Busy Bees

Amanda Madden said...

Very cute!! Thanks for sharing!

Amanda
Teaching Maddeness

Mrs T said...

Thanks for following my blog Amanda!
Miss L's Whole Brain Teaching

Sara {Miss V's Busy Bees} said...

Amanda - I want to grab your pin and put it on my blog.. but there's not a link to post! Any idea what the link is?

Sara

Amanda said...

I updated it so there is now a little box underneath so that you can cut and paste. Thank you so much for wanting to :)

Miss Foote said...

I am new follower! Great chart.

Laurie
Chickadee Jubilee

Krista Happ said...

Your blog is too adorable! Found you over at the linky- looking forward to sharing ideas!

-Krista
The Second Grade Superkids

Brandi said...

Just wanted to let you know that I'm giving you the lovely blog award.

Brandi
Success in Second Grade

amy said...

I awarded you the One Lovely Blog Award! Stop by my blog to accept it!
Amy
Where Seconds Count 2nd grade blog

twilliams said...

Love the idea of teaching students how to say thank you a please! Not only are they learning manners, but another language! Awesome idea! I am glad I found your blog. I teach 2nd grade in Georgia.
I am a new follower.

Teresa
2nd Grade Pig Pen

Amanda said...

You're super sweet! Thanks :) Great job on the guided math hosting this week! :)

Amanda said...

Wow thank you!!!!!

Amanda said...

Thank you so very much! Excited to keep reading your blog too! :)

Kaylees Education Studio said...

I love how you encourage politeness by having it a part of your classroom jobs.

Just Wild About Teaching said...

your page is so cute...im your newest follower... drop by =)

Just Wild About Teaching

Jackie said...

I love, love, love, love, love this!! THANK YOU! Thanks for stopping by my blog too...I'm so glad you did so I could find this!

Another idea...it might be hard to add to your chart...but maybe they could learn thank you and you're welcome in sign language too! I'm thinking that would be great for in the hallway!

Jackie

Third Grade's A Charm

Jill said...

Okay, I looooooove this! This was one of the things I wanted to instill in my class this year and I think I did okay, but I could definitely do better! I love your eye contact part, too. Hmmm, I definitely need to think this through for next year!

Marvelous Multiagers!

Using Your Smarticles said...

Thanks for this helpful post. Manners ARE so important...especially with my sixth graders! Please stop by http://www.yoursmarticles.blogspot.com for tech tips.