“Knowing that we can be loved exactly as we are gives us the best opportunity for growing into the healthiest of people.”

Fred Rogers

Classic stories such as Elmer by David McKee, The Mixed Up Chameleon by Eric Carle, and Leo the Late Bloomer by Robert Kraus are a few that come to mind when I think about ways to encourage positive self talk in the classroom.

We recently took the time to read and discuss the story of Elmer in my second grade classroom. In the story, for those of you who might not have read it, Elmer is an elephant who stands out because his skin is a colorful patchwork design and he also has a really great sense of humor. He always keeps his elephant friends laughing and in a really great mood.

Elmer begins to feel self conscious and worried. He thinks his friends are laughing at him because his bright colorful patchwork design is so different from how all the other elephants look. They all have ordinary grey skin.

In this classic fable Elmer learns that it’s important to be true to yourself and individuality should be celebrated and appreciated.

My class had some awesome discussions about the things they are proud of about themselves and each other after reading this story. They each created a ‘Me’ poster to celebrate their unique qualities.

It reminded several students of our snowflake bulletin board we created last week. We were learning about snowflakes and how each each one is special and unique. We read the adorable book Snowflakes by Cerrie Burnell and each child created their own snowflake in the classic folded paper way. We then displayed them on our hallway bulletin board with the Dr. Seuss quote, “Why fit in when you were born to stand out?”

It’s such a classic lesson, teaching children to be themselves and to be proud of the things that make them unique and special. I love that there are so many different ways to reinforce it for every age group.

Just the other night we were watching Rudolph the Reindeer Reindeer and it opened up lots of conversations about the way Rudolph was treated for having a red nose, and how the Hermey, The Elf, who wanted to be a dentist felt when he was told he had to be a toy maker and that his career choice was silly.

My family and I felt that nowadays there is more awareness of acceptance of differences in others and that kids nowadays would see it and be appalled at the way both Rudolph and Hermey were treated.

Unfortunately there will always be moments when others are not treated fairly but I believe the best way to address this issue is to teach children to be confident in who they are, to make sure they always know they matter and are special just as they are.

Teachers and parents who plan experiences that build high self-esteem in their children are helping kids grow up to be appreciative of themselves and all those around them.

They are also teaching them to make their own decisions, dig deep within themselves to be creative, and to see the world realistically, accepting people for who they are while striving to be the best version of themselves they can be.

Here are some simple, effective, and fun ways to help your children realize how special they are as they are:

Create a courage jar. Follow the simple directions found here!

Awesome old fashioned paper folded fortune tellers that build self-esteem can be found here!

Replace negative self talk by having the students make this great interactive self-esteem notebook found here.

I also really love this idea called Self-Esteem Sunglasses which you can find here.

I can’t wait to make these Self-Esteem Pizzas with my class! I found the idea here. I am going to do it when we read Pete’s a Pizza and also participate in one of the activities from the cooking chapter in my book Educate the Heart: Screen-Free Activities for Grades PreK-6 to Inspire Authentic Learning.

It’s been so fun to actually use my own book to plan lessons for my class this year! For those of you not familiar with Educate the Heart, it has 180 screen-free activities that allow children to collaborate, use critical thinking skills, be creative and the activities encourage growth mindset and kindness.

There are more than 200 children’s books suggested to accompany various activities in Educate the Heart because I believe children learn so much from making self to text, text to text, and text to world connections. The power of a great children’s book should never be overlooked.

Here are some great titles to remember when encouraging children to celebrate their own unique wonderful selves:

Bello the Cello by Dennis Mathew is a really great book that sends the message, “It’s not what you can’t do but rather what you CAN do” and I blogged about it, sharing lots of activities to extend the story here.

Other stories with powerful messages supporting high self-esteem:

What are your favorite stories or activities to promote high self-esteem in the children in your life?

I’d love to hear from you so if you would like to connect further to share ideas or even collaborate feel free to leave a comment, email or reach out via social media. I will be sure to get back to you in a timely fashion.

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit the blog today. I hope you found this post worthwhile and I hope you are enjoying this holiday season!

Yours truly,

Jennifer