One Little Word...in the classroom

For the past few years, I have started the days after winter break with lessons about resolutions and my One Little Word. I have taken (stolen) ideas from others and now have a pretty lesson plan to introduce the OLW to my students.


First, I like to show them a Year in Review video such as the following just to remind them of the highs & lows of the previous year.

After that I ask them what a resolution means and what the top 5 new years resolutions are?

In no particular order:
1. Quit smoking
2. Lose weight
3. Be more organized
4. Be more spiritual
5. Spend more time with family

I then tell them how almost 90% of people fail and then ask why people fail?
1. Laziness
2. Time
3. Quit

I then start my first activity:  Non-resolutions. I took the idea from Crazy Lady Teacher here. Basically, list the things you will NOT do this year. For example:

I will not travel to Alaska this year.
I will not have another child this year.

Then we share our favorites. Good times!

This leads us to OLW. I explain what it is and then show them this video I found from Holly Mueller at Reading, Teaching, Learning:

After the video, I pull up this emaze for slide #2. It has great questions to think about when deciding on a OLW.

Once words are chosen, students design their construction paper with the word. On the back, they write a paragraph that states:
1. What does the word mean to you. Explain.
2. How will you achieve this goal? What do you need to do?

Here are some pictures of finished student OLW's.