Our classroom moto for this year has been, "We Don't Cry, We Try!" Every year, I have a handful of Kinders who completely stress out because they don't know how to do something. I try to explain to them that they aren't supposed to know how to spell everything correctly, or write every number correctly. They are in Kindergarten for me to teach them these things so I don't expect everything to be perfect, but the only way to learn, is to give it a try. I've started saying, "We don't cry, we try" when one of them is getting worked up about not being able to do something, and it has made a world of difference! They now come up to me to show me what they tried and didn't get upset about! They can do so much more than they thought they would be able to do!
Do you have any sayings you use in your classroom to motivate your students?
I'd love to hear them!