Guess What’s Missing

Ask your class to guess what’s missing on this face…eyes in place, nose centered well. They’ll guess right…a smile is missing on this face!

Hi and welcome back to Attentionology for K – 5 Teachers!

Kids love guessing games.

Play a quick guessing game in your class by popping up a picture of a face with no smile.

Before you ask students to guess the obvious – what’s missing on the face – challenge them to guess what day your class missed this month. (I’m guessing that you missed it, as did I. There’s always next year!)

Answer: World Smile Day, last Friday, October 7.

Looking again at the face, very young children might mistake the nose on the face for a smile.

No mistake, a smile is missing from this face.

Seems that right about now, smiles are missing from a lot of faces around the world. We could use more smiles.

Let’s talk about smiles and frowns. Thin about this…A smile is a frown turned upside down. Do you agree with me? We need more smiles around the world!

Here’s an attentionology trick that’s tailor-made for troublesome times. It delivers a smile made from a frown.

The trick uses a tool that is nothing more than a poem and a piece of bright pink paper.

On one side of the paper in dark black marker is a half circle that forms a smile when the paper is held upright to show it.

On the other paper side in dark black marker is a half circle turned “upside down” to form a frown.

When students seem a bit downhearted, share this trick to focus attention on the bright side of life.

Before reading my poem, An Upside Down Smile, (see below) aloud, invite students to listen to how the poem expresses the happiness we can all feel inside.

Hold the poem page out to one side with a hand. Hold the bright pink page with the drawn smile and frown in the other hand so that you can easily flip the page.

Begin by reading the title…AN UPSIDE DOWN SMILE…and read on… (more…)