Archive for April, 2014

Maria Needs to Listen Better

Tuesday, April 29th, 2014

mariaSometimes Maria doesn’t listen carefully when her parents, grandma, teachers and friends speak with her.

When Maria doesn’t listen, she makes mistakes. Sometimes she misses out on fun; sometimes she makes others miss out on fun.

Last week, Maria was invited to join Kathy, Annie, and their grandma, Grandma Maureen, for the new movie opening at the “Can Do” Theater on Saturday. When Kathy invited her, she said, “Maria, we will meet you in front of the theater at 2 PM. The movie starts at 2:15 PM. Be sure to ask your mom if you can come and call me and let me know.”

Maria was so excited about being invited to the movies, that she only half listened to Kathy’s directions. When Maria got home, she asked her mom if she could go to the movies on Saturday. Her mom said yes and she called Kathy and gave her the good news.

When Saturday came, Maria reminded her mom that she needed a ride. She needed to meet Kathy and Annie and Grandma Maureen at 2PM. When they got in the car, Maria’s mom asked where Maria needed to meet everyone. Maria thought a minute. She wasn’t quite sure, but she told her mom they were meeting at Grandma Maureen’s house.

When they got to Grandma Maureen’s, Maria’s mom waited in the car while Maria went up to the house and rang the bell. Grandpa John answered and looked surprised to see Maria. “Why Maria, you are supposed to meet Grandma Maureen and the girls in front of the movie theater. It’s 2 PM now, and the movie starts at 2:15 PM. You are going to make everyone miss the opening of the movie. You better hurry. I will call Grandma Maureen on her cell phone and tell her you are on your way”

Maria ran back to the car and told her mom that she got the directions wrong. They drove to the theater and saw Grandma Maureen and the girls waiting for them.

As Maria kissed her mom goodbye, her mom told her they would have a talk about taking directions when she got home from the movies.

Maria ran up to everyone and apologized for being late. Kathy turned to her and said,”Maria, if you made us miss the opening of the movie, because you didn’t listen to my directions, I am going to be so mad at you!”

When they got into the movies, the coming attractions of other movies were still being shown. Lucky for Maria that she didn’t make everyone late for the opening scene of the movie they came to see.

When Maria got home, her mom sat her down and they went over what had happened that day because Maria hadn’t listened to directions. Her mom said,”To understand what people are telling you to do, you have to be a good listener. You must listen carefully to directions if you hope to remember them and use them successfully.”

Then Maria’s mom gave her these hints on being a careful listener:

  1. Don’t talk when you are supposed to be listening. Your ears work best when your mouth is closed

  2. Look at the person giving you directions. When your eyes and ears work together, it is easier to understand things.

  3. If you don’t understand what is being said to you, ask questions. It’s better to ask when being given directions than make a mistake later.

Maria listened carefully to her mom. She promised to practice careful listening and use the tips her mom gave her about listening to directions.

Pocket

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in listen | No Comments »

Just for Fun

Wednesday, April 23rd, 2014

Let’s see how well you do with Word Jumbles…just for fun.

fun

fun

Pocket

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Just for fun | No Comments »

Spring=Sports

Friday, April 11th, 2014

The “Can Do” kids agreed that they all had enough of winter. There were just so many snow forts and snowmen they enjoyed making and snowball throwing that was fun. It was time for spring and sports.

springDuring the cold weather, Hector practiced his skateboarding in the basement of his house; he was getting ready for the skateboard race during spring break camp at the recreation center. The problem was…his basement just wasn’t that big. Before he could get up any speed, he would be up against a wall.

The cold weather found Kathy practicing her jump rope in her basement. She had her problems too. The floor was slanted and made jumping a real challenge.

For Yundi, the cold weather forced him to practice for the bike race in his driveway. He had a hard time balancing himself with all the clothes his mom made him wear while riding. Also, thespring driveway wasn’t long enough to get any speed or practice sharp turns.

Annie was lucky; the cold weather didn’t stop her from keeping her basketball skills up. She just practiced indoors at the recreation center and she has a hoop in her garage. She was ready for the outdoor hoops tournament at spring camp.

Jay, like Annie, would be ready for his tournament at spring camp. He had been playing table tennis and winning all winter long!

The same was true for Orrie, who had been keeping up his horseback riding skills all winter at the indoor riding ring at the local riding stable. On the last day of spring camp, in the afternoon, a bus would take Orrie and the other “Can Do” kids to the riding stable where Orrie would participate in a riding event. All the other campers would be there to cheer him on.

Willie, Bobby, Arthur J, Nellie, and Wendy had been practicing their ball throwing and catching in the recreation center gym. However, they didn’t really have space to practice their running or hitting skills. They really needed to get on an outdoor playing field!

The warmer weather couldn’t come soon enough for the “Can Dos” . They couldn’t get outside soon enough to get ready for the spring tournaments.

How about you, boys and girls? Are you ready for spring and sports? Do you need to get outside and practice to be able to compete?

Pocket

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Sports | No Comments »

Telling the Truth

Saturday, April 5th, 2014

Miss Pat couldn’t help but overhear one of the Can Dos saying something that wasn’t true. That was the second time this week that she had heard one of her students not tell the truth.

truthShe thought to herself…time to tell a story about what can happen if you come to be known as a kid who doesn’t tell the truth.

“Please take your seats class, said Miss Pat.  I want to tell you a story and then I am going to ask you to write a paragraph about what you learned from the story.”

The Can Dos took their seats and Miss Pat began her story.

“There once was a boy, the same age as all of you, who had a problem. His name was Jimmy and he didn’t always tell the truth.

Sometimes Jimmy told stories about his adventures with monsters and such.

If he knocked something over or dropped something, he never took the blame. He always said someone else did it, or bumped into him and made him do it.

Jimmy’s friends stopped believing what he said because they couldn’t tell when he was telling the truth or when he was making things up, exaggerating, or just plain lying. Then they stopped playing with him.

One day, Jimmy made a mistake in class and his teacher asked him to tell the true story of what happened. Jimmy told the teacher what happened, not what he wished or wanted to have happened, but what really happened.

Then his teacher smiled at him and said, “Sometimes it’s good to use our imagination, but most times people want to hear what really happened. It is important to tell the truth.”

From then on, Jimmy told the truth, no matter how hard it was to take the blame for something he did, or didn’t do. Every time he told the truth, he felt better about himself.

Soon his friends began to trust him again, and included him in games and activities.”

Miss Pat looked around the room and saw that a few of the Can Dos had faces that were red, and a few others looked a little worried. “Class,” she said, “please write a paragraph about what you learned from the story I just shared with you.”

The room got quiet as the “Can Dos’ began writing. When all the papers were in, Miss Pat allowed the Can Dos to color, while she read their paragraphs. Miss Pat was pleased to see that the class got the message of the story…it is always better to tell the truth.

What about you, boys and girls? Do you think it is always better to tell the truth?

Pocket

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in telling the truth | No Comments »