Sunday, October 4, 2009

The 7 Habits of Happy Kids

The 7 Habits of Happy Kids
By Sean Covey

Have you heard your child coming home and telling his or her sibling to be more proactive, begin with the end in mind, or put first things first? Well, there is a good reason for this! We, at 4-corners, are teaching our students powerful principles that will enrich their lives and make them happy by being more successful. These principles are responsibility, vision, respect, teamwork, and balance. Each week, we read a chapter from Sean Covey’s picture book, The 7 Habits of Happy Kids, and we teach a “habit”. We practice this “habit” throughout the week at school and at home. So far we have taught the students the first three habits. The first habit is Be Proactive which means You’re in Charge. The first chapter title is Bored! Bored! Bored! Our students learned that they need to take charge of their own life and stop playing the victim. They learned that they are in charge of their own fun and that they can make it happen just like the character Sammy Squirrel did when he took responsibility for his boredom and found something productive to do. He made a get-well present for his friend, Allie, who was home sick in bed. Sammy learned that he is in charge of his own choices. The second habit we learned is Begin with the End in Mind which means to Have a Plan. This chapter title is Goob and the Bug-Collecting Kit. We learned that if we have a written plan of goals like Goob did, we can work for something that we want to buy like his bug-collecting kit. He not only earned the money ($10.00) by selling lemonade, but he was able to buy his $4.00 bug-collecting kit, a $2.00 mirror for Tagalong Allie’s birthday present, a slice of honey pizza for $1.00, go to the movies for $1.00, take his friend Jumper to the movies for $1.00 (who had previously spent all of his money on junk), and still have $1.00 left to put in his savings bank. Our students have written a school goal that they want to accomplish in 3rd grade. They wrote down their goal, their time frame for meeting their goal, taking their first step, and the steps they need to work towards their goal. We learned that “A goal not written is only a wish.” Our third habit is Put First Things First which means Work First, Then Play. In reading the third chapter, titled Pokey and the Spelling Test, we learned Pokey needed to study a little bit each night to do well on his spelling test, instead of putting off his studying night after night by playing with different friends. He learned to delay gratification and do the hard thing first. Procrastination made him feel awful, but being prepared made him feel great. Our students have been given a survey of what activities they do. They have also been given a time management sheet where they will document their time spent on their daily activities for one whole day. They are learning the meaning of what a wise person once said, “Do what you have to do, so you can do what you want to do.”
*Stay tuned in to more lessons on what your child is learning in
The 7 Habits of Happy Kids! Please leave us a comment on your thoughts of these lessons.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a fantastic program! These principles are things we're trying to teach our sons. I like how these lessons clearly illustrate the concept and the value of each principle. Thank you for this very effective tool!
Kelly M.

Angela Phillips said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Angela Phillips said...

I love that our students are learning these important life principles- how lucky they are and how lucky we are as their teachers! Mr. Pinchot and I are eager to reinforce what they are learning in our own classroom so that these principles infiltrate more areas of their lives. Thank you ladies for making this an integral part of what you are teaching.

Anonymous said...

This is really wonderful. We bought Ashley this book for Christmas, but having you reinforce it will make a huge difference. The expression "habits make the best of servants but the worst of masters" is so true, and developing good habits from an early age can benefit these kids their entire lives. Thank you so much for teaching them these important life lessons! - Leanne Prendergast

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Kelly, Angela, and and Leanne! These habits are truly are great habits for successful people. I have already seen positive changes in our students from practicing these habits on a daily basis. Students are striving to meet their personal goal and beginning with the end in mind, putting first things first, and being proactive by taking care of themselves. Thank you for reading our blog and valuing what we do as teachers.

Love,
Mrs. Lopez-Sinclair

Anonymous said...

These are great life lessons for the kids to be learning! Glad they are getting an opportunity to learn them so early in their lives!
Mrs. Koonts

Suzanne said...

The visitors from Ft. Worth absolutely loved your bulletin board on this topic!

cccmathis said...

Absolutley LOVE this!
what a positive impact on our children at an early age!
thank you thank you!!