Thumb-body Special

This Elvis quote has made me think about thumbprints. 

   

How do you celebrate differences? 

Nothing shows that we are all unique better than a finger or thumbprint. Start a morning meeting or sensitivity circle sometime soon by asking students 
what it means to say: 

You’re Thumb-body Special. 

Do they agree? Why or why not? 

Encourage students to tell and show you what qualities or virtues they have that make them who they are and what talents or skills they possess that set them apart, make them special, different and unique. 
What are their likes? 
What are their dislikes? 

Not good, not bad, just different.

Talk about how every single person has a uniquely different fingerprint and how prints are used for identification purposes. For fun, you could even order 
Child Find ID Kits and fingerprint them. 

Let your discussion lead to a fingerprint art activity like this cute character pillar. Six prints, one for each pillar ... click {here} for additional thumbprint activity ideas.

To get to know my thumb-body specials better this year, I've opened up the Counselor Cafe and am planning to eat lunch with every student in the school before the year is out. Using an idea I got from Jenn over at North Pointe Elementary, I started yesterday, with four third-grade friends and we had great fun! With dance music softly playing to create a carefree ambiance, we dined together in my counseling suite and talked about their favorite things in third grade so far. Then we discussed their likes and dislikes before doing some prompts from Free Spirit's What Would You Do? cards. 

What fun food for thought for my little pillars.