About a year ago, I created a monster: the Tattle Monster.
I saw the idea on Pinterest. If someone is hurt, the kids are supposed to come tell me. If no one is hurt, a student can write his or her tattle on a slip of paper and feed it to the Tattle Monster for me to read later.
#NEVERFORGET
It worked GREAT last year.
This year, not so much.
Today, after recess, I had four kids crowded around the Tattle Monster. I shooed them away and saw that I had 15 tattles in the box… from this morning only. FIFTEEN.
So I said, “This is the end of the Tattle Monster” and all of these things about how maybe we should all just be nice to each other so that no one has tattles to write.
I may have gotten a little caught up in my not-so-kind speech about kindness that I may have made a big show of throwing the Tattle Monster in the trash can.
We’re lining up to switch classes in 30 seconds, I told myself, I’ll just get it out of the trash can when they leave.
Well, 30 seconds turned into 4 hours. I didn’t remember to take the Tattle Monster out of the trash can until I got home and the trash was long-gone to the school dumpster.
UGH.
Have you had any success with a tattle box?
What are your favorite activities to do to encourage kindness?
Any other suggestions to eliminate the tattle issue?
I think all teachers have their days of 'over dramatic' speeches but hey, it happens to the best of us! When I was teaching my 4-5yr old VPK class, we had a "tattle phone" as most of the children could not yet write. It was the same concept except, they would talk into a a voice recorder.
To encourage kindness, every day at circle, we recite the kindness pledge: "I pledge to myself on this day to try to be kind in every way, to every person big and small, I will help them if they fall. When I love myself and others too, that is the best that I can do!"
We also have a "random acts of kindness" board that we created as a class. I had each child think of something kind to do and we made a bulletin board dedicated to it. We perform a random act of kindness each Friday. Some of the tasks are-write a kind note to another class, pick flowers on the playground for a teacher or friend, hug a friend, if you see someone drop something, pick it up, etc.
It is tough to teach kindness but there are lots of tools that can help!
Unknown says
I think all teachers have their days of 'over dramatic' speeches but hey, it happens to the best of us! When I was teaching my 4-5yr old VPK class, we had a "tattle phone" as most of the children could not yet write. It was the same concept except, they would talk into a a voice recorder.
To encourage kindness, every day at circle, we recite the kindness pledge:
"I pledge to myself on this day to try to be kind in every way, to every person big and small, I will help them if they fall. When I love myself and others too, that is the best that I can do!"
We also have a "random acts of kindness" board that we created as a class. I had each child think of something kind to do and we made a bulletin board dedicated to it. We perform a random act of kindness each Friday. Some of the tasks are-write a kind note to another class, pick flowers on the playground for a teacher or friend, hug a friend, if you see someone drop something, pick it up, etc.
It is tough to teach kindness but there are lots of tools that can help!
Good Luck!
Sarah