Teach your students about the POWER OF WORDS with this thought-provoking lesson using tooth paste and tooth brushes.

These speech bubbles are in black and white for ink-friendly printing - I copied them on bright colorful paper to make them pop!

This FREE download includes two resources - one PDF with the pre-written speech bubbles and one Power Point presentation with the editable speech bubbles (full directions included).

Illustration details:
Each year around this time (still early in the school year but far into enough that I've started to get to know my students and can speak frankly to them) I plan for this oh-so-important lesson on the power of words.

I start out my telling my students that I am going to tell them a big lie.
They start giggling but sit quietly, waiting for what I'm about to say.
I pause.
Then I quote:
"Sticks and stones may break my bones,
but words will never hurt me."

I begin the illustration like this:
Each time you speak, you words come out like toothpaste.

I walk around the classroom and talk, squirting toothpaste messily out onto a cookie sheet as I go. 
I say sarcastic comments, "funny" jokes at someone else's expense, insults, thoughtless comments, etc. as I squeeze it all over the place.

Then I pull out the toothbrushes.

Each tooth brush has a sign attached to it:
“I’m sorry.”
“It was a joke”
“I didn’t mean it.”

And I try to use the toothbrushes to get the toothpaste neatly back in the tube.

But it never works.

In the end, we're still left with a mess:

Thus proving my point:
Words have power.
Words have weight.
Words make a lasting impact.

Resource created by Jessica Lawler
Joy in the Journey

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