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Who would dare to stick a note on a teacher's back? Turns out that many Half Day students would do that, and believe it or not, none of them got into trouble. Maybe it's because the notes were POSITIVE pranks and said things like "This teacher is the BEST," "You Rock," or "You make our hearts SING." Another popular POSITIVE prank was to break into song at an unexpected moment. These POSITIVE pranks were inspired by Amy Krouse Rosenthal's short film about Hostess Ding Dong ditching. We even made a note for Amy's back that said, "Awesome Author."
Prior to Amy's visit, Half Day students worked hard in the library and prepared for her visit by reading:
~This Plus That and created classroom versions with ideas of their own.
~Cookies: Bite-Sized Lessons and used the vocabulary to create our own examples based on topics students chose for themselves
~The O.K. Book and brainstormed things we're O.K. at doing then used a computer program to create our own animated versions.
~Plant a Kiss and listed things we'd like to metaphorically grow in a Half Day garden
~Duck! Rabbit! and looked at all kinds of optical illusions, discussed point of view, tolerance, and how to disagree without arguing.
~Wumbers and compared it to William Steig's CDC and CDB books. S2dents had some gr8 examples 2 add.
In addition, we made lists of things Half Day students can make which was inspired by Amy's video "17 Things I've Made." See the slide show above. Other short films by Amy Krouse Rosenthal that we enjoyed were "The Money Tree" "Drawing Conclusions," and "Positive Pranks."
While Amy was here the students enjoyed playing word games, listening to stories, and learning more about where this award-winning author gets her ideas. A few students from each class worked with Amy to do some writing activities. Some were even treated to a sneak peek at some of Amy's works in progress and were given the opportunity to act as editors by offering opinions and suggestions for improvement.
I think everyone would agree that Amy Krouse Rosenthal is one of a kind, but the world would be a much nicer place if there were more people like her.