This week, I’m sharing a free printable of my book Words That Win, a little book with big lessons about the importance of our manners and words. I’ve mentioned Winners Walk Tall and The 1st Graders several times in previous posts. Founded in 1992, by a grandfather in Cincinnati, Winners Walk Tall is a character building program that helps elementary students develop the confidence they need to learn to make good choices as they mature in life. The 2018-19 school year was my seventh year as a character coach for 1st grade classrooms at our public elementary school.
While I was busy learning the names of 63 children and making weekly visits to three classrooms, I learned that I would have to take some time off to have back surgery. In mid-January, after sharing a lesson called “Take the Time to do it Right,” I told the kids that I wouldn’t be able to come for a while and I would let their teachers know when I would be back. We still had lots of Winners Walk Tall lessons to talk about!
My recovery has been longer and more difficult than I anticipated, and I’ve not been able to get back to complete the course with them. That makes me sad. But I have longed to make one more visit to the classrooms, for their sake and mine. I want them to see that I’m OK. They love me. And I want to impart a few more words of wisdom. I love them.
So, with just a few days left in their school year, I’ve scheduled a visit. With hopes of hitting a few more of the high points of Winners Walk Tall and of encouraging them to read this summer, I have found a way to give a copy of my 2016 book Words That Win to each student. Today, I worked the colorful photos and thought-provoking rhymes into a PDF document, made copies, and cut each of the five pages into four parts, resulting in stacks of 20 little pages that will be stapled together for distribution of 63 books next week. Whew!
That left little time for writing the blog post I had in mind, so I decided, instead, to offer my Classroom version Words That Win PDF to you so you can make your own little version of Words That Win. While my target audience was The 1st Graders, the reading level is a bit higher than that, appropriate for all elementary students. The lessons about our words and manners are appropriate for ALL ages, including the parents and grandparents who might read along.
INSTRUCTIONS: You will find the printable 5 page document in my PRINTABLES tab or at this link: Classroom version Words That Win PDF. Each 8.5″X11″ page contains four booklet pages. It’s easiest to cut the pages in half at 5.5″ and then to cut the halves apart at 2.75″, keeping track of the order of the pages (not essential). Just stack them up with the cover on top and staple them together along the short left side.
ENJOY!
“From the fruit of his lips
a man is filled with good things
as surely as the work of his hands
rewards him.” Proverbs 12:14
You are such a thoughtful, generous person.