5th Grade Enrichment Student’s Share Their Praiseworthy Gifts, Book Edits, and “Surprise” Birthday Cards during my 4th Author School Visit

By sheila | February 5, 2014

WOW! I was speechless, which is extremely unusual for a Blue Brainer, when I walked into the library at Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Elementary School for my 4th Author School Visit with Laura Newcomer’s 5th Grade Enrichment Students. Each student had created a colorful birthday card for my 69th birthday and for the 17th birthday publishing celebration of Princess Shayna’s Invisible Visible Gift. What a grand Orange Brain Surprise!

Last Friday, Mrs. Newcomer gave the class construction paper and pictures of the village emissary puppets to create their own greeting cards. Some of the children wrote to me as Sheila, Mrs. Glazov, or Princess Shayna. Their messages were sincere and incorporated ideas from Princess Shayna and their Brain Colors. I am respecting each child’s privacy and will not include their names. I think you will smile, as I did, when I read their greetings:
1. “I hope you have an impeccable birthday. Best wishes, the mostly Orange, but also top notch in other Brain Colors too.”
2. “I hope your birthday is filled with all the village, make sure your stay away from Meevillain.” Rimsiyavyo!”
3. “Hopefully the groundhog is seeing his shadow and no Clouds of Chaos!
4. “This is my Brain Color” with an → pointing to Padparadscha the Emissary from the Village of the Orange Tiger Lilies.
5. “I hope your gifts were as precious as your Precious Gifts.”
6. “I really enjoyed your journey. I thought is was adventurous. I am a Yellow Green Brainer.”
7. “Your are an author who let me think and be the way I am. Thank you.”

Mrs. Newcomer gave the students Yellow Brain Instruction for their group activity. She told the class to cut out and paste their Praiseworthy Gifts Figure on a heavier piece of paper and include their name. After the students completed the task, they had to pass their figures “round-robin” to the right. That way each of student around their table would have an opportunity to write a Praiseworthy Gift about each other.

The finale of the group activity was having the students stand up and share one of the Praiseworthy Gift they colorfully wrote on their figure. It was amazing to hear what the students thought was praiseworthy about themselves. I had explained to the students that most people never think about their own Praiseworthy Gifts, but they can easily think of other people’s gifts. I wanted them to know they were not being self-centered, but self-caring and able to recognize and appreciate their own gifts. The students enjoyed the activity and learning positive attribute about themselves and from their classmates.

Children know what their parents, teachers, friends and family members think about them. I think it is critical for children to discover their own Praiseworthy Gifts to help them feel more capable and build their self-esteem/confidence.
The following are some the students’ Praiseworthy Gift descriptive words: Generous, Silly, Exceptional, Disappearing, Unique, Innovator, Genius, Mature, Knowledge of future events, Modest, Cool, Bookworm, Musician, Peaceful, Naturalist, Fashionista, Cute, Multi-talented, Great friend, Optimistic, Complicated, Super star, and Big listener.

Some of the words that Mrs. Newcomer and I were curious about were: Strange, Weirdo, Clumsy, Anxious, Jumpy, Joker and Picky eater, and Odd.

Before class was dismissed, Max, who is a Precise Green Brainer, brought his What Color Is Your Brain? book to me and show two mistakes he had found. Max noticed that in Chapter 5 – How Other Colors See You on page 34, the word organized is printed twice in the “How Green sees Yellow” column. Max also noticed that in Chapter 9 – Your Relationship with Family Members and Friends on page 72, in the Blue Brain Perspective, MY STRESS FACTOR is missing the “:” after FACTOR.

Kayley who is a Methodical Green Brainer, also showed me a mistake in her Princess Shayna’s Invisible Visible Gift book in the Village of the Yellow Sunflowers on page 53, the second “s” is missing in the word Princess.

Mrs. Newcomer and I are thrilled that the students feel safe in their classroom Kingdom of Kindness and feel comfortable telling and show me the mistakes in my books. They know they will be praised, not punished, for finding the mistakes adults made and using their Green Brain Editing Skills!

I am looking forward to my next Author School Visit on February 11th. My lesson plan will be explaining the Brain Color processes an author, editor, artist, and publishing company uses to create a book. We are also going to discuss diabetes and how Sigmund the Royal Wizard teaches Princess Shayna to manages her T1D (Type 1 Diabetes) by taking her Silver Apricot Potion.

Take a “Rimsiyavyo!” moment to be self-caring and think about your Praiseworthy Gifts!

Boost your Brain Power with links in the right-hand side column of this page! Remember that 10% of the royalties from the sale of my books is allocated to JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation).