Our second Mindset lesson was about how our brain works. We read the book Our Fantastic, Elastic Brain. It is a kid friendly book that focuses on the science behind our brain and what happens when we make mistakes - our neurons grow and connect! The book also talks about the power of practice and not giving up. We shared things that we were good at and talked about how we got there. The common theme was practicing, learning from others and not giving up. Finally we watched a quick clip that reinforced these themes and showed neurons growing. https://youtu.be/ElVUqv0v1EE
We finished up the week talking about making mistakes and how we can fix them. We read the book, Beautiful Oops. This lovely book shares how you can take simple mistakes and make them into something beautiful. We then shared negative words that we sometimes say to ourselves when we make a mistake and brainstormed ways to turn those thoughts around. Sentences like:
I can try.
I will give it my best shot.
I don’t know it yet, but will keep working.
I am going to push myself.
Keep working. We talked about how it is easy to say these word when we are calm but it can be harder when we really need them. Students wrote some of their favorite phrases in their journals so they can refer back to them as needed throughout the year.
Finally each student received a piece of paper that had a mistake on it (ripped paper, paint splatter, coffee stain, hole or bent edge) and made it into a beautiful oops!