Secret Agents of Good - Spy School

 Little Blue Bunny and his compatriot, Franklin, are back at SAOG (Secret Agents of Good) school this week.  With all the white stuff outside, they decided to hone their spy skills.

(What they get up to when they are NOT in SAOG training!)

Today they plan to become...SUPER SMELLERS!!! AND TERRIFIC TOUCHERS

Yes, the Blue Bunnies of Beneficence will use their noses to sniff out (hehehehe) different scents. Why is this important, you ask?

Well, a SUPER SMELLER can warn others of gas leaks, or of possible bad tastes, or of garlic overload.

But also, a SUPER SMELLER can stay safe by avoiding food that smells "off" - usually a sign of spoilage.

Here are some Spy School ideas.

-What's That Smell Game?

1. Gather some small cups or containers.

2. Gather an equal numbers of items with strong smells - like onions, vinegar, flowery perfume, peppermint, vanilla, or coffee. NOTE: stay to food safe items. Some very smelly items should be avoided - like cleaning supplies.

(Smelly things.)

3. Place a little bit of one smelly substance into each cup, one smell to a cup

4. Cover the cups with a thin tissue.  Some things that smell also have identifiable looks.

5. Challenge your spy student to identify the smell in each cup.

(Franklin is taking the plunge. I hope it smells good.)

 

Make it harder.

Place the cups around a room and ask your SAOG trainees to find them, using their sense of smell. 

-AAHHHH! What did I touch?

Sometimes we have to reach into containers to find things like lost toys, or lost crochet hooks, or lost pocket change or lost keys. Actually, I am thinking of sofa cushions right now, which are not containers. I think you know what I mean.

When reaching into dark places, it is helpful to know when to NOT grab something - or to be able to figure out what we DO grab. Just saying. This is where TERRIFIC TOUCH power comes into play.

For this game you need an empty box with a hole big enough to reach through. I suggest a tissue box, because those boxes come with holes.

(Could you guess what this was, if it was in the box?)

1. Place something with a particular shape or texture into the box. NOTE: for safety sake do NOT use sharp, poisonous or dangerous items for this test.

2. Cover the hole with a cloth so the trainee can NOT see inside.

3. The trainee must reach inside.

4. a. The trainee can tell you what they think is in the box.

    b. The trainee can describe how the item feels.  

5. If the trainee is successful in step 4,  it is the trainee's turn to test the tutor, (or trainer or teacher or....).

 

Good guessing, Franklin!

-Grab it!

This game is like a scavenger hunt for the senses. Make a list of words that describe things, like fuzzy, or furry or fluffy or feathery or - moving on to another letter now - smooth, sleek, slippery, slimey, shivery..

or any other describing word. You can add words that use other senses, like "bright" for the sense of sight, or "sweet" for taste or smell, or "loud" for hearing.

Challenge your SAOG trainees to GRAB something that matches your word. If you are keeping score, give extra points to trainees who grab creative choices. Or not. Play it by ear. Or eye, or tongue or nose or fingertips. It's all good.

Extra Points for putting everything away.

The Final Installment of SAOG Spy School will show up here sooner or later.

 

SAOG - Secret Agents of Good

I found a secret message tucked inside the legs of my camel marionette.  It reads, "Love misstion
be kind and frenidly"  and it's signed with a kiss.

Sounds like an order from the Secret Agents of Good.  So here is your LOVE MISSION for the day.

Be kind and friendly.

Over and out!

Secret Agents of Good

Remember when we did that benefit concert for Puerto Rico?  I was a tad distracted back then but in a wonderful way.  I want to feel that way again - like I can make a difference - like I can do good.  Just like Little Blue Bunny's Secret Agents of Good initiative, I want to do good, secretly?   Well, maybe not so secretly.

But there are so many problems, so many areas of worry and concern, that I can't decide exactly what to do.  Please help.

Take the survey in the link below.  Let me know what YOU think is the next step to take.  Please.  Thank you.

Click here for the survey.   By the way, I just changed this survey so that you can answer it more than once.   That way, you can vote for more than one project.

Thanks, again.

Secret Agents of Good - Kindness

Someone dropped off the New York Times Book Review between my front doors today.  The page was opened to this review.

You Can’t Teach Kids Empathy, but These Picture Books Inspire It

I'd like to say a public THANK YOU to that Secret Agent of Good.

Little Blue Bunny and I are trying to think of SAOG activities for the Fall.  Our friend, Scootaloo, picks litter up in her neighborhood.  She wears gloves and has one of those long handled grabbers.  Scoot is almost six year old.

The kids in First Day School bake cookies for Young Friends who are attending college away from home and for other Friends in the hospital or Assisted Living Centers.

LBB made a list of stuff to do in a classroom or at home.  And I collected book lists and activity websites to spread the word. 

  

Secret Agent of Good Activity List

1.  Classroom Activity: Make a bingo card with kind acts on it... The first person to cross off a row or column gets to wear the Kindness crown or necklace or medal.

2. Hold the door for someone.

3. Ask someone to play with you.

3. Share a crayon, marker or pencil.

4. If someone is upset, say something nice,  "Do you need someone to sit with you?"  "Do you need help?"

5. Tell someone something nice about themselves.  "You have good ideas."  "You are funny."  "You are a great climber."  "I like the way you twirl."

6. Give someone a high five when they get the answer right.  This is especially important for kids who work harder at getting right answers.

7. Don't let anyone sit by themselves at lunch or in the playground.

8. School Activity - Ask someone you don't know very well what they like to do after school.  They might do something that's so cool.

9. Smile at someone.  Smile at grown-ups. (Don't talk to them much, though, unless you know them OR your grown-up is with you.)

10. Offer to carry something for someone - especially if they have several things to carry.

11. Let someone else go first in line or at the playground.

12. Make someone a picture, a card, a friendship bracelet...

13. Fist bump someone and smile while you do it.

14. Pick things up from the floor.

15. Help straighten up after crafts.

Some Books to Read to Get Inspired.

Brightly's list of kindness picture books.

 Candlewick's Classroom for August.  Great books (all from Candlewick) about Social Emotional Learning (self-awareness, social awareness, responsible decision making, relationship skills and self-management) or SEL. 

Activity Websites for Craft Ideas and More

Kindness Rocks are everywhere.  Look for them during your morning walks. Here is Mod Podge's take on this cool craft idea.

Cootie catchers used to be a playground torture device -  or a game to see what we'd be when we grew up.  Now you can use these folded paper toys to suggest kind things to do.  From Coffee Cups and Crayons, here are ideas on making a Kindness Cootie Catcher (or Fortune Teller, if you prefer).

Playworks offers 12 activities to encourage kindness in children.

List My Five - an educator's blog - offers five classroom activities that promote an atmosphere of kindness.

Random Acts of Kindness is a world wide effort to make everyone's life smoother by urging people to just do kind things.  They have a Kids' Activity Page.  Check it out.

Little Blue Bunny and his friends remind you to be kind and to become Secret Agents of Good.

Secret Agents of Good - Booklists

Little Blue Bunny does not watch the news.  If he did, he'd be very sad this week. People all over the world are hurting and killing other people for no good reason.  (The details make my heart ache too much to go into.)

How can I explain all this to a Little Blue Bunny who only wants to be a Secret Agent of Good?  I can't.  I can only say what Mr. Rogers quoted his mother as saying.  "Look for the Helpers, Little Blue Bunny."

Can that Panda be a helper?

I can also share lists of books on the fight for equal rights, on kindness, and on diversity.  Here are those lists.

In December of 2016, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch posted an article titled 1. "New Books for Young Readers Tackle Kindness and Friendship.  THIS LIST IS AWESOME.  The list is a wild mix of stories, history, slice-of-life, coming-of-age,  novels, graphic novels that tackle every aspect of kindness.  From something as ordinary as the day to day life of a cowboy, to different species combining resources to survive the wild, to learning how to fit in,  every title increases the readers understanding of the complexity of human problems and the simplicity of being kind.  LOVE 💖
(Warning: You might have to fill out a short survey to read the entire article.  My survey was on what kind of cheese sauce I buy.)

Social Justice Books put together 2. this 2017 summer reading list for readers of all ages.  The titles are 2016 and 2017 copyrights.  Check out the other booklists on this website. There are dozens of lists.

Brightly offers a list of 3. "Books To Help Kids Understand the Fight for Racial Equality".  The list is a good place to start.  From picture books, through memoirs the list traces voting rights, the "separate and equal" myth, and biographies of influential rights workers.  This list is too short.  Add to it, please.

NNSTOY (Nation Network of State Teachers of the Year) produced a lovely illustrated and annotated 4. booklist on Social Justice.  The list is 42 pages long and covers racism, sexism, different abilities, gender bias, abuse, slavery, war, apartheid, the Holocaust, religious freedom.  Print it out and carry it with you the next you take your children to the library.

Today's Parent (a Canadian parenting magazine) offers 5. 12 Kids' Books That Combat Anti-Semitism.  This slide show offers short descriptions of 12 books that explain Jewish holidays, culture and most importantly, history.  Books about the Holocaust and more recent acts of anti-semitism (although not all that recent) allow children of all faiths to see models of kindness and character.

The Cooperative Children's Book Center at the University of Wisconsin developed this bibliography of children's books on social justice in 2003 and updated it twice, most recently in 2016. 6. 50 Books about Peace and Social Justice.

Back in November, less than a week after my birthday, the day after the 2016 elections (sigh),  I put together this little list of booklists about diversity.  Diversity and Stuff.  

Little Blue Bunny and I will continue to spread joy and kindness where we can.  You are loved.  Pass it on.

Secret Agents of Good Training

Little Blue Bunny wants to be a spy.  But, he doesn't want to lie, or steal, or hurt people.  Sometimes spies have to do those things.  Oh, the moral dilemmas a little bunny can find himself in!

Secret Hideout?

No worries!  He will be a Secret Agent of Good!  He will secretly learn ways to secretly help his neighbors and friends, on the sly (which means secretly).

But first he has to TRAIN:  All spies (or SAOG, Secret Agents of Good) must be very good at observation, memory and being inconspicuous.

Training Session #1:  Observing things with your eyes.

Game #1: Spies play this game all the time.  Put 6 or more items on a tray.  Study the tray for 15 seconds.  That's not very long.  The trainer takes the tray away and removes one or more items.  Now, the SAOG trainee must remember what was taken from the tray.
Variation:  The trainer ADDS something to the tray.  The trainee must notice what was added.

Don't look in there!

Game #2: The trainer places objects around a room or yard.  The objects should NOT be hidden in or behind anything.  The trainee has a list of the items and walks around the area until she finds them.  Then she reports to the trainer where each item is. 
Variation:  The trainee doesn't have a list.  The items are things that do NOT belong in the room they are placed in.  For example, pots in the living.  Sofa cushions in the yard. 
- OK, this is harder, especially in Little Blue Bunny's house where things routinely are out of place.
Variation #2:  The trainee studies the room.  Then the Trainer adds something in plain sight, or moves things around.  The trainee returns and finds the changes. 

Training Session #2:  Observing things with your ears.

Game #1.  The trainer stands behind the trainee and uses different items to make noises.  The trainee must guess what they are.

Game #2:  The trainee is blind folded.  The trainer calls from different places in the space.  The trainee has to point in the direction the sound comes from.

Game #3:  The trainer claps a rhythm and the trainee has to copy the rhythm.

Game #4:  The trainer stands out of sight and says the same phrase in different voices; sad, happy, angry, surprised, shy, scared.  The trainee must identify the emotion.  This is tricky! The trainer better be very good at expressing emotions with her voice.

LBB plans with other SAOG.

There are other ways of observing things.  Scent is one.  Touch is another way of observing things.

When you have passed these two trainings, Little Blue Bunny will be back with training on scent and touch.

What Good will you do once you complete your Secret Agents of Good Training?  Little Blue Bunny wants some ideas.