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.

Going Once, Going Twice, Sold To The Highest Bidder!

Friday was finally here! The highly anticipated “Auction” took place with all 90 students. Yes, you read it right…90 students! They were all housed in the large Phillips/Pinchot co-teach room. All 90 students came armed with their Behavior Bucks ready to bid on an item of their choice. Excitement rose as the auctioneer called out, “Who’ll give 2 dollars, 2 dollars, 2 dollars, now 3 dollars, now 4 dollars…sold to the highest bidder for $4.00!” What a thrill to see the winner, money in tote, speed walking with a brimming smile up to the auctioneer to pay for and collect the winning item! Talk about engaged students! The room was bubbling with excitement. After auctioning off many items, the auction ended with 90 students who couldn’t wait to earn more money. But how do they do this?

Do you want to know how to positively motivate, encourage, and reward your students for doing the right thing? Here’s what we do at the Lopez, Launey, Phillips, Pinchot 4- Corners. We “catch” our students behaving exceptionally well, committing random acts of kindness, going above and beyond our expectations, giving back to our learning community, etc. When they are “caught”, they are rewarded with a Behavior Buck (a green simulated-looking dollar). Here at 4- Corners, all four teachers believe in Positive Discipline. We would rather mold and build outstanding character by rewarding learners who “do the right thing”, than spend our time focusing on negative behavior. We have found that children want to do what is right. They just need to see it modeled and see that it “pays” to be an honorable and upstanding citizen. So, what do they do with these earned Behavior Bucks? They spend them at our auction when they want to bid on something. What a positive way to motivate students to do the right thing! Where do we get these items to auction? We get donated items from our loving, generous, and supportive parents. Our students clean out their play rooms and with permission from their parents donate “almost new” items. Teachers also contribute things they find on sale. We are always in need of donations because we have an auction every Friday! We would like to personally thank all of the parents who donated to our auction.

-Mrs. Lopez, Ms. Launey, Mrs. Phillips, Mr. Pinchot
The 4 - Corner Team