Monday Management: Learner Fish

The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen is such a fun book to read with students! My class always enjoys the rhyme and repetition, so we have a blast reading it together. If you aren't familiar with the book, it tells the story of a fish who just can't help his horrible attitude. His friends try repeatedly to convince him to change, but with no luck. Finally, a new fish comes along and shows him a better way.

Throughout the story, one phrase is repeated. "I'm a pout-pout fish with a pout-pout face and I spread the dreary wearies all over the place!" At the end of the book, he has a change of heart and a change of song. I usually stop right before this point and have the students discuss a few key components: who is responsible for your attitude, what choices help you to have a positive attitude, and why positive attitudes are important so that everyone can be learners. Then, we create our own song based on the discussion.

I always start the song off with "I'm a learner fish with a learner face..." and then let students make suggestions for what our learner fish will spread. We vote on the suggestions that have been made so the students can really take ownership of the song. I write the song on the anchor chart, decorate it a bit and hang it in a prominent place in the classroom.

For the next few weeks, we sing the song during transition times and it typically resurfaces when attitudes become an issue. It's a fun, simple way to build positive attitudes in your classroom.

Keep it class-y, ya'll.