Finding Kind - Girls Bullying Girls

IndieFlix gave me the chance to review the movie Finding Kind for free 3 month subscription for myself and 10, 2 month subscriptions to giveaway!  I was not paid any money.  The video is on the site now and is not coming soon so ignore that on the banner!  You do not need to input any credit card information if you are one of the ten winners!

Here's the synopsis of Finding Kind: 

In February 2009, two young women, Lauren Parsekian and Molly Thompson joined forces having both been affected by female bullying throughout their youth and decided to create change by giving females a platform to speak out about this universal experience. What began as an idea for a documentary about 
girl-against-girl bullying, ultimately became Kind Campaign, an internationally recognized movement, documentary, and school assembly program based on the powerful belief in KINDness that brings awareness and healing to the negative and lasting effects of girl-against-girl “crime.”

In this endearing documentary, a pair of best friends (who happen to be queen-bee pretty girls, but no matter) travel the country speaking with middle and high school girls about their pain and the pain they’ve caused others. It’s a sweet, earnest addition to the current anti-bullying movement. A few confessional scenes—little girls in braces pouring their broken hearts into the camera—will stick with you. LINDY WEST (the Stranger).

I believe Finding Kind is perfect for 5th grade girls and up, especially middle and high schoolers.  The movie will help girl bullies see how bullying feels and perhaps will help them think twice before bullying other girls.  Bullying is a sad thing happening around the world.  If we can stop it now before these children are adults, we'll have a much better world to live in.  At the end of the movie, I love the quote "We might not all be beautiful, smart, or have talent, but we can all be kind."

They have a neat packet of resources for Finding Kind that you can use by downloading the Google Doc, which includes discussion questions for the movie, as well as, kind pledge cards, kind apology cards, and blank kind cards.  To check these resources out click here: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-S6G81Via-vUW9TR3pSbHZCLWM/edit  It's my hope that this film will help end a lot of the female bullying going on.

IndieFlix also an array of films from family movies, sports, action and adventure, romance, animations, etc.  Some are just a few minutes in length and others like Finding Kind are full length movies.  Hopefully you can find something for your class if you are still in session and if not treat yourself to some movies this summer!  We all need time to relax!  Be sure to visit IndieFlix by clicking on the banner!

The giveaway will start at midnight on the 22nd and end on the 25th.  10 of you will win the subscriptions for 2 months!

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Thanks for hoppin' by Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings.  Keep on smiling!

300 Followers and an October Freebie!

We have made it over 300 followers so I decided for the next few days I'll be posting some amazing freebies on the blog.  Some might be Flash Freebies so be sure to subscribe to my blog if you haven't yet to pick up some great teaching materials!  Thank you from the bottom of my heart for following me and checking out my blog so frequently.  I can't believe I am getting close to 170,000 views.  Wow!

The freebie I want to share today is my October Positive Behavior notes.  It is so important to not just send notes home with students are making poor choices, but to do is as well when students are making outstanding choices.  This is one way to do it.  I have included 2 general behavior notes and 2 that are simply meant for fun.  Pick the one or ones that you like best and send them home with your kids when they make good choices.  The parents are bound to love the notes as well!

Thanks for hoppin' by Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings and don't forget to check back tomorrow for another freebie.  Keep on smiling!

June Behavior Freebie!

You the fans voted in my poll that you want freebies!!!  So why not give you your 2nd freebie in just 2 days!!!  I know it is halfway through June and I am far behind on creating a behavior freebie for June.  I finally got it done.  The dang computer problems and me making a couple of awesome place value units took away time.  I will try to do better and get July's up much sooner even though most of you aren't in school in July.  I do know that some have summer school, home school, or work in year round schools so I will make them for July too!

Anyway click on the pictures to go to my store to download the behavior freebie for free.  If you missed previous posts on how I use them, I put the child's name on them ahead of time and usually date them.  Any child who had a good day gets one of these great behavior notes at the end of the day.  The ones who misbehave it goes in the garbage and they have the shot at one next month.  It keeps the kids on their toes as they never know when you will pass them out and with my experience they really want to receive them!  The parents love them as they love getting good notes home.  Great for substitute teachers too, I had so many children thank me and saw their big smiles on their faces when I passed them out from time to time or just wrote handwritten notes.

Keep smilin' and thanks for hoppin' by Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings!

Positive Fridays - End of the Year Recap

Wow, what an amazing year of getting to touch so many different children's lives.  It made it worth subbing for a year, but it has also given me the itch to want to come back into the classroom and teach again more than ever.  The subbing experience has shown me that I can teach older children and do it well and still have the energy to keep up with Kindergarten!  My positive attitude has made many children, teachers, administrators, etc. keep smiles on their faces and in turn that makes others smile!

Without further ado, here are my top 10 moments from the past school year!

#10 - Making terrific relationships with students, teachers, and parents at so many different schools.
#9 - A Kindergarten student two different times hopping up and down on her balcony to yell good morning to me.
#8 - Getting in the dunk tank in Titusville at Fox Lake Park.  A week later I subbed in a Kindergarten class in a nearby city. The mother dropped a boy off who was crying because his teacher wasn't there.  I went up to him and reminded him that he and his brother had dunked me not once, but notice each.  He immediately stopped crying and became my buddy the rest of the day!  It was nice to touch his life by getting in that dunk tank, which I was so nervous to do!
#7 - A wonderful 3rd grader bringing me a balloon for Valentine's Day and then again for my birthday.
#6 - Having the best birthday in the world at a wonderful school.  The office clerk went above and beyond by making me a chocolate cake, giving me 3 balloons (the last one didn't deflate until 2 days before school got out - over 2 months after my birthday!), and a card signed by everyone in the office.  She then had Kindergarten sing Happy Birthday to me.  An amazing parent of another Kindergarten child in another class who is also the cashier at the school had the kids sing to me again!  Then in the cafeteria when I went to say hi to the amazing 3rd and 4th graders, a teacher took the microphone and had the entire cafeteria sing Happy Birthday to me!  It was wonderful seeing so many children in different grades smiling ear to ear as they sang to me.  A few got out of their seats and even came running to me.
#5 - Several Kindergarten children, 1st graders, 2nd graders, and 3rd graders telling me how much they want me to teach them next year.  These children were at different schools!
#4 - A wonderful Kindergarten student wrote I love you, Mr. H. on a dry erase board.  I told her that I loved her too.  She went back to that dry erase board and started writing, then asked me how do you spell more.  I told her and she said I had to read it again.  She wrote I love you more.
#3 - Spending 3 amazing days in a Kindergarten class in a row (would later sub for them many more times) and getting a call from the secretary to come back to sub for them because all they did was constantly talk about me the entire next week.  Throughout the rest of the school year, the children ended up running up to hug me many times while in line and lunch and always asking me when will we see you again?  They made me miss having my own Kindergarten class so much.  I miss these children a bunch!
#2 - Subbing for an amazing group of 3rd/4th graders for an entire month.  These children taught me that teaching older children can be just as rewarding and fun.  They continued to fill my bucket with kindness by always going out of their way to make me smile even after I left them.  Many of these children have asked me to teach them next year, which is so sweet!  I sure do miss these wonderful children!

DRUMROLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#1 - A wonderful sweet 3rd grader who came up to me and told she had something personal to tell me 3 days before I left the 3rd/4th graders.  She started crying and told me she didn't want me to go.  At another time during the year she helped another boy feel better after he stated nobody would play with him and he was in tears.  She later stood up for me along with 2 other special children when I wasn't being treated kindly.  This wonderful girl continued to show her kindness by going above and beyond to make me smile anytime she saw me.  She is an amazing bucket filler and will be missed.

So that's my positives for this school year.  I'll be back on Positive Fridays only if I get the opportunity to work with amazing children this summer.  Otherwise, I'll be back with more Positive Fridays next school year!  Thank you again to all the students, parents, teachers, and administrators at each school I subbed at for showering me with love and kindness.  You made me feel super extra special!

Feel free to leave comments on the positives that happened during your school year!!!  It would brighten my day!  Keep on smilin'!

Craig Meets Dave Book Review

I recently had the chance to read and review a book that has become near and dear to my heart.  The book is titled "Craig Meets Dave - And Learns About Autism, Bullying, and Friendship."  It is written by Susanne Breckwoldt, Ph.D  The opinions given are entirely my own!

The main characters in this enjoyable story are cute bears!  Craig, Ben, and Dave are good friends.  Dave is different from the other bears because he has autism.  Dave doesn't like loud noises and doesn't like being touched by others.  With Dave being different from other children, some of the bears start bullying Dave.  When those bears notice Craig and Ben being nice to Dave, they start hurling insults toward Craig and Ben.  They threaten to do something harmful to Craig's sister Emily.  You'll have to read the book to find out what happens next!

This book is great for any Elementary grade.  The chapters are short enough to even hold a Kindergarten student's attention.  It is also very relatable to children who have been a victim of being bullied, been a bully themselves, or helped a child who was being bullied.  Using this book as a read aloud would spark great discussions on how how to handle a bully and what it feels like to be bullied.  It may help stop it from happening in your classroom!

If you are interested in checking out the book yourself click on the picture above!  I am also pleased to announce that Dr. Breckwoldt will be doing a guest blog in the future to talk more about the book.  If you have any questions for her regarding bullying, autism, or friendship please leave your questions below in the comments.  She just may answer some of them for you!

As always keep smilin' and thanks for hoppin' by Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings!