First Grade: Self-Talk

We  continued our unit with Skills for Learning this week by introducing our third skill: self-talk, or talking to yourself in a quiet voice to help you ignore distractions. We started the lesson with another Brain Builder. In this Brain Builder, Snail and Puppy came to help students practice their skills for learning from last week (listening and focusing attention). Students were told to only listen to snail, and not puppy, who might try to trick them. After the Brain Builder, we talked about who we had to listen to, and what we were focusing on. Next, we did a quick review with the Listening Rules from last week, where we added in some motions.

• Eyes watching -- point to eyes
• Ears listening -- cup ears
• Voices quiet -- finger over mouth
• Body still -- hug yourself

We listened to the Be A Learner song, where students did motions each time they heard a Skill for Learning in the song. Next, we talked about a picture of four students in a first grade classroom. In the picture, one student was working, two were talking, and the fourth student was being distracted. We talked about who was distracted and how we could tell that he was distracted (he was looking away, he wasn't working). Next, we talked about what he could do to help him ignore distractions (use his attent-o-scope, tell himself to work). The student decides to use his attent-o-scope and then repeats the directions to himself inside his head, also known as self-talk. The student is able to focus on his work and complete his assignment once he uses self-talk. We spent the remainder of the lesson brainstorming what we would tell ourselves using self-talk in different situations.