Rosa’s birthday is February 4th.  She would have been 106 years old.

Read more:

• Rosa Parks: How I Fought for Civil Rights is from Scholastic.
• Remembering Rosa Parks is from TIME for Kids.
• Rosa Parks Facts Website

What is something you would stand up for?

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” ~ Dalai Lama

This month at Cottage Lane we are focusing on compassion. At today’s assembly, we discussed the meaning of compassion and how we can show compassion in school, at home and in the world.  Our Compassion Cards encourage us to perform random acts of compassion.  From the Smile Train Fundraiser to Valentine’s for Veterans, our compassion can make a difference in the lives of others.

Our book of the month, Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson, gives a lesson about how even small acts of kindness can change the world. The main character realizes the lost opportunity for friendship and thinks about how much better it could have been if a little compassion was shown toward others.

Remember…Don’t be a wrinkle in someone else’s heart.  Instead…make time this month to complete your compassion cards.  Together we can fill our hallway heart!

Do you know that if you read for 14.2 minutes per day, you will be exposed to 1,146,000 words per year?

Challenges:

• PARP for the next chapter of Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.
• Play Free Rice the super popular vocabulary game that donates rice for every correct answer.
• Check out Mrs. McBride’s monthly challenge, The Valentine Challenge!

We can a learn a lot about perseverance from Martin Luther King, Jr. On Monday, January 21st we observe his birthday and honor all of his accomplishments. Listen to Kid President’s video on how King taught us that things won’t always be awesome, but your response can be.

Remember, things don’t always have to be they are. We can change them! Kids can change them.

Let’s use a creative form of poetry, Blackout Poetry, to share our own message of hope and perseverance with MLK: An American Leader.  For homework, post your poem to this blog.

Challenges:

• Post your poem to this blog.
• Here is a Martin Luther King, Jr. Internet scavenger hunt. Information is from the official U.S. Government website on Martin Luther King, Jr.

Have you ever tried to blow bubbles in the cold?  Have you wondered what would happen if you did?  Hope you are dressed warm.  Let’s make some predictions and give it a try.

Challenges:

• Play Frozen Bubbles!
• Learn more – The Science Behind Bubbles
• Write a diamante poem about bubbles/frozen bubbles and comment here.

Let’s enjoy some creative writing.  A diamante poems is an unrhymed seven-line poem. The beginning and ending lines are the shortest, while the lines in the middle are longer, giving diamante poems a diamond shape. “Diamante” is the Italian word for diamond, so this poetic form is named for this diamond shape.

A diamante poem is made up of 7 lines using a set structure:

Line 1: Beginning subject
Line 2: Two describing words about line 1
Line 3: Three doing words about line 1
Line 4: A short phrase about line 1, a short phrase about line 7
Line 5: Three doing words about line 7
Line 6: Two describing words about line 7
Line 7: End subject

An example of a diamante poem

Read Write Think is a great resource to help you develop your diamante poem.

Challenge – Go to Mrs. McBride’s website to find out more about the Snowflake Challenge.

Welcome to an exciting New Year, and may you achieve all your goals in 2019.

This month’s assembly, Colors of Character for January, reminds us that perseverance is essential to success.

What can you learn from:

• Understanding Talent
• Your Brain on Books
• Ezra Frech Sports Illustrated’s SportsKid of the Year Award. 
• The Royal Bee

“YOU CAN DO ANYTHING YOU WANT. YOU CAN DREAM IT. YOU CAN HOPE IT. OR YOU CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN!”

Post your goal for 2019 and the steps you will take to achieve this goal.

Solve the logic puzzle by filling in all of the squares in the game grid. Use the clues and your deductive reasoning to solve these online logic games:

• Pet Mix-Up
• Foot Race
• Toy Cars
• Pony Snacks

Are you an expert?

• Try Logic Puzzles Packet from Mrs. McBride.
• Try these logic grids on PuzzlersParadise.

It is our job as teachers to give you time to grapple with problems and make your brains work – Cultivating a Growth Mindset. Sometime in life, people have no choice.  Their whole lives can be a struggle.  These inspirational stories are more about physical struggles but deliver the same message about not giving up!

• • Overcoming Obstacles
  • Shaquem Griffin’s Motivation to Be the Greatest

When things in school or out are difficult, what will you do? Who will you turn to? How will you shift your energy on the Mood Meter?