Take a Smile

SoSome how I have gotten wrapped up in cleaning up my boards on Pinterest this evening.  It's suddenly 10:00, I am tired, but have just one more to edit.  Seriously, they'll be there tomorrow and I shall continue my clean up tomorrow.  While cleaning up the boards I was reminded of something I did in my classroom last year that was a pretty big hit.

You know when you are at the supermarket, laundromat, or post office and you see those tear off flyers where you can grab someone's phone number to call them about some truck they are selling, work they're willing to do, or babysitter they're look for?  Well I did something similar to that in my classroom last year.  I used a spin on these two pins:

When my kiddos were down I'd try to cheer them up, make them smile, by listening, being goofy or completely distracting them from their problems.  Sometimes, I was too busy working with a group or 1:1 to do this.  Especially after lunch and recess.  So I created one of these tear off flyers that encouraged them to smile when they needed to.
  

I placed them by the take-a-break spots because the kiddos had learned that this spot was a place of peace for them.  A place they could go to collect themselves and return to the demands of our classroom life.  I also placed one on the door because sometimes kiddos, like me, would need to go for a quick walk to regroup.  

Needless to say, they were popular.  I saw kiddos with a frowny face go over, take a smile, and smile.  They'd stash the smile in their pocket and if they needed it, would take it out again.  They weren't the only ones to use it though!  I had a lot of adults who came in and out of my classroom.  They also used it.  I remember, one day, a colleague and friend came in very upset and frustrated.  As she walked out she saw the take a smile on the door.  She asked if it was okay to take a couple because  she really needed to smile.