The Power of YET

Starting 100% virtually this year has made for some interesting lessons.  The tried and true lesson that I am so used to doing just don't work the same in this digital environment.  We have had to face new challenges and new hurdles that we didn't have to in the past.  And my third graders as feeling it.  

So we started this week with a lesson on the power of YET.  The idea that we don't know everything now, that we aren't great at it now, but if we keep trying we will get it soon.  We just aren't there YET.

I began by reading the story The Magical Yet to the students.  It is a gorgeous book that lays out the idea of the YET.  The kids immediately got the point.  They understood that we might not be great at everything we are being asked to do right now, but we will get there.   

I then asked them to think of things that they personally weren't so great at.  They were to tell me things they can't do right now but hope to get better with practice.  They told me things like, "get good at the football move", "improve upon my spelling", "become a better cook."  As they were telling me these things, I was recording them on an anchor chart.  

The next day, we watched this cute little video from Sesame Street, again about the Power of Yet.  The third graders were totally rocking out to the song ;)  I also showed them this video of the story Giraffe's Can't Dance.  We then talked again about the power of YET and how that applies to all that we are doing here in our virtual classroom. 

We went back to the anchor chart and I asked them specifically to tell me about TECHNOLOGICAL issues they weren't great at now but that we were hoping to be better at someday.  I added those ideas, in a different color, to our anchor chart.  

Then, we got to the "fun" part.  I asked the students to pull out a piece of paper.  I told them white with no lines was preferred, but if all they had was notebook paper from our journals, that is fine too. I guided them through the process of creating large, open "bubble" letters to spell the word YET.  This wasn't too difficult for my third graders.  

On the side of each letter, they wrote "You", "Educational", and "Technology" (YET).  Then, using our anchor chart and their own ideas, the kids wrote their own personal "yet" goals.   Things in each category that they weren't so great at YET but were hoping to get better at.  We worked together on this a bit, then they were off on their own to finish filling it in.  

When that was done, I asked the kids to color the background, so that the words YET with the writing stood out.  They came out great!  

The final step of this all was to write our YET goals into a paragraph.  My students organized their paragraphs using the Paragraph of the Week format that I have already taught them, and created a nice little writing piece to go along with their YET art.  If I had a physical bulletin board, this would be the best to display!