This is a wonderful idea from Andrea Revel, a grade one teacher from Calgary Alberta. Thank you Andrea for sharing it!
On the first day of school, Andrea reads the book “Everybody Has a Rock.” Each child blindly selects a pebble from the basket (she collected these from the Pacific Ocean).
Andrea tells the children that their rock is waiting for them and that it will choose them. I love this! She says, “This is an interesting slant and it puts them in awe rather than being jealous of another child's rock.” This makes each rock so special! Genius!
Each child is responsible for putting his or her rock in the basket each morning and afternoon. Andrea takes attendance from the rocks remaining on the table. She says, “It is symbolic of their presence and gives them a little more responsibility.”
Andrea is a multi-talented teacher. She is also an amazing singer. Her voice is so beautiful – I hope she makes a CD for children soon – I'd play it routinely!
I highly recommend dropping by her website http://www.andrearevel.com/main/.
I love this CD!
I love this idea! I would be interested in more information about the companion book though, “Everybody Has a Rock”…Please pass along the authors name. I couldn’t find it with a simple search. Thank you again for such amazing ideas!
The author is Byrd Baylor. She has several awesome books!
Thank you for sharing the author!
I also LOVE this idea! But I can’t find the book in a simple search either. What is the author?? My first day of school is August 14 and I’d love to use this idea.
I was having trouble locating the book as well and I think I’ve found it – it is actually “Everybody Needs a Rock” by Byrd Baylor. Hope this is correct and that it helps! Really looking forward to doing this with my class in September 🙂 LOVE this blog!
I totally agree with the above posts…what a wonderful idea! Thank you for sharing. Now I get to go out and find some awesome rocks! Thank you Kristen for the title and author of the book…I am going to Amazon right now to look for it!
I love using rocks in the classroom and have been wanting to do this! hopefully next year I can pull it off. I do use “Every Needs a Rock”. The children really love the book…also “If You Find a Rock” by Peggy Christian. So good! We also put out a basket of rocks along with small jars of water (sometimes tinted w a drop or 2 of watercolor) and paintbrushes. The children marvel at how the water transforms the rocks and how it evaporates and magically disappears.