Social & Emotional Learning
We have been holding classroom meetings three times weekly. We begin meetings by gathering in a circle and allowing each student opportunity to give a compliment to someone in the room. We are talking about raising the quality of compliments. This could mean complimenting someone other than your best friend, giving more specific compliments, and responding to a compliment by making eye contact and saying "Thank you, _____." Our students are giving fabulous compliments to one another. It is building a positive culture in our classroom and starting our days with a great tone. We have talked about "flipping your lid" and "the brain in the palm of your hand." We have begun designing a cool down area and have practiced calming techniques. Ask your student about all of this! Next steps will be to continue social/emotional lessons during this time and begin introducing the classroom agenda book. Eventually, once we are skilled and ready, students will record problems they are experiencing in school to be solved as a team during meetings. Positive Discipline (PD) is a huge component of our successful classroom. I look forward to sharing more about the lessons we experience as well as resources that I use which can be used for parenting at home, as well! If you have the chance or desire to attend the PD parenting class series-I highly recommend it! Our staff all agree that PD has changed our teaching, changed our personal lives, and positively impacted our school in a grand way.
Rosh Hashanah Experience!
Suzy and Talia Levine came in to share a taste of the Rosh Hashanah, or Jewish New Year experience with us! Check out the video below. We started by watching the sounding of the Shofar. Impressive lung capacity, Suzy! Beautiful singing, Talia! After the music we enjoyed apples dipped in honey to evoke a "sweet new year." We love to learn about how families celebrate. Let us know if you have something to share with us this year!