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Why should we teach kindness in school? Teachers have an awesome responsibility to mold the minds and hearts of our children. Cultivating kindness in the classroom improves school culture and supports learning, both academic and emotional. It is part of our mission at the Yadkin Valley Community School to teach the whole child. That means that each day we not only...

Escape Room For the Classroom

Our classroom “Escape Room” began with a fake newspaper article. The article set the scene and led them to first clue. The clue was written backwards, and it was assumed that the kids would hold it up to a mirror. Instead, they flipped it over and held it up to the window to read it. They read, “If Kim is teaching, we are probably here. Use water...

Last year, for our final field trip, we decided to go camping at New River State Park. Everyone enjoyed it so much that we adopted it as an annual tradition. As the date of this year’s camping trip neared, the kids grew more and more excited. They made plans for sleeping arrangements, a capture-the-flag rematch and prank wars between the girls and the boys. However,...

Collaborative Art

I am a big fan of a collaborative art project. Before the doors of YVCS opened, we began working on a large canvas which read, “Together we can…” at the top. All the kids at school, as well as others in the community, had a chance to contribute their idea for the end of that sentence. Some painted words such as “dance”, “eat BBQ”, “make the world a better place” and...

I would consider our first attempt at making soup a success!   A couple of weeks ago, I read the book, Stone Soup by Jon J. Muth to the students. This is a Chinese folktale about three monks who teach a village a lesson about sharing and happiness. The monks trick the villagers into each contributing an ingredient to the “stone soup” they are making. In the...

One of our fantastic teachers, Lori Rice, lived in China for a while. So who better to give the children a lesson about the Chinese New Year? Because this year is the Year of the Rooster, the related art lesson was painting a rooster using a fork to make the texture of the...