Woodbury Advisory: January

• Show the attached video.
• Talk to your advisory about New Year's resolutions and how they can use what we have been learning about responsibility and how to keep them.

Definition:  A promise that you make to yourself to start doing something good or stop doing something bad on the first day of the year.

Disney Top 10 Resolutions Video

• Have each student complete the attached sheet about their New Year's Resolutions.

• Watch the attached videos.
• Have students discuss some or all of the following questions.
• A lot of people say that teenagers are self absorbed and don't care about anything but themselves.  Do you agree or disagree
• How do you feel when people show that they really care about you? How do you feel when you do something really caring for someone else?
• In what ways is this a caring world? In what ways is it uncaring? What could each of us do to make this a more caring world?
• When someone is uncaring how does that affect friends, school and community? Give examples.
• To what extent would you inconvenience yourself for another person?
• Would you give money to a stranger on the sidewalk who asked for spare change? Why or why not? Would it make a difference if the person were a) a mother with child, b) very old, c) from a different culture? What does giving money to a stranger have to do with caring anyway?

• Watch the attached video on gratitude.  Discuss with students and have them create a gratitude paper chain.
• Have your advisory write what they’re thankful for on strips of paper and use the strips to make a gratitude chain to hang up in the classroom.

Meet with each student and review their grades for the 2nd quarter report card, review the goals for success sheet completed after 1st quarter.

• Edit their goals as needed to be successful for 3rd quarter.

• Talk to your advisory about New Year's resolutions and how they can use what we have been learning about responsibility and how to keep them.
• Definition:  A promise that you make to yourself to start doing something good or stop doing something bad on the first day of the year.
• Have each student complete the attached sheet about their New Year's Resolutions.

• Watch the attached two videos.
• Write this quote on the board, "When you are kind to others, it not only changes you, it changes the world." ~Harold Kushner
• Discuss with the class the meaning and personal application of this quote in our lives.
• Next, ask the students to write down an action they can do to show caring and improve the world.
• Share students’ actions with the rest of the class. 

• Watch the attached two videos
• Discuss/compare how MLK Jr. had a dream and how even as a 7th grade student you can have a dream and help people by paying it forward.

• Have the students all create a picture of the things they are grateful for and display for all to see!  An example is below:

Meet with each student and review their grades for the 2nd quarter report card, review the goals for success sheet completed after 1st quarter.

• Edit their goals as needed to be successful for 3rd quarter.

• Give each student their own gratitude quote (see attached link for list) and have them reflect upon and write about what their quote means to them.  You can have students share as a whole advisory or in small groups.  

• Have each student create a paper doll version of themselves. 
• After everyone is done decorating their dolls sit in a circle and pass the dolls around. 
• First admire the hard work and detail that everyone put into their doll. 
• Then students watch as you put a small rip in the paper doll.  
• Tell them that this was like calling someone a mean or nasty name.  It hurts the person and makes a tear.  
• Pass the dolls again and this time, crumple the doll a bit.  
• Then tell the students how this is like leaving someone out who is different than you or isn't "cool".  When that happens to someone it makes them crumple up inside, just like your doll. 
• Continue passing the dolls and ripping or marking them up and sharing how that act impacted the doll. 
• At the end of the activity, students had their own dolls handed back to them.  Ask them if they would be able to fix their dolls if given tape, glue, and erasers.  We discussed how this wouldn't be possible and we had a conversation about how our words are powerful and we can't take them back, that they will always leave marks and scars.  We talked about how we want to be the kind of people who are kind and make people happy, rather than being someone who is unkind and hurts people.

Our words can impact others, and that when given the chance to be mean or kind - CHOOSE KIND.

Talk to your advisory about New Year's resolutions and how they can use what we have been learning about responsibility and how to keep them.

Definition:  A promise that you make to yourself to start doing something good or stop doing something bad on the first day of the year.

Have each student complete the attached sheet about their New Year's Resolutions.

1. Discuss and define Compassion.
2. Show one (or both) of the attached videos.
3. Discuss the following quote from the teenage victim:  “I have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion, then it will start a chain reaction of the same" -Rachel Scott
4. Pass out the “Ripple Kindness Card” (attached). Do an act of kindness for someone, then pass the card on and ask the person to do the same.
5. Optional: do the math. How many acts of kindness could occur in a week/month/year if you start with 2 kind acts and pass it on? Let’s say that those two people repeat the kindness the following day, then their recipients act the next day, etc.

• Go to the attached link and show videos and/or talk about MLK Jr. and the importance of this day.

Meet with each student and review their grades for the 2nd quarter report card, review the goals for success sheet completed after 1st quarter.

• Edit their goals as needed to be successful for 3rd quarter.

• Have students identify the people and things they care about that go from really close to them (family, friends, etc) to things that are less concrete (poverty, discrimination, etc) on the attached pdf document.
• Then discuss the ways we can show caring to those different ‘circles’ in our lives.