Lucas Letter
Along with the staff, I thank you all for coming to conferences last week and engaging in conversations about your child's academic and social-emotional development. We appreciate the opportunity to partner with you to support your student's personal growth. If you did not have a chance to meet with your child's teacher during the conference week, please reach out to him or her and schedule an appointment. This time set aside for us to partner and share information is essential to your child's success in school.
If I shared with you that I am in the "green zone," would you know what I was referencing? Have your child shared with you his or her learning about the Zones of Regulation? Zones, as we reference them, are four ways of identifying emotions in ourselves and others. Like traffic signals, we present the zones in colors of blue, green, yellow, and red. When in the "blue zone," one's body is running slow, such as when one is tired, sick, sad, or bored. The "green zone" is when a person is “good to go." If someone is in the green zone, he or she may feel happy, calm, and focused. The "yellow zone" describes when a person starts to lose control. It may be when he or she is frustrated, overwhelmed, silly, excited, or anxious. The "red zone" describes extreme emotions like uncontrolled anger and aggression. Making good decisions is challenging when in the red zone.
In teaching students about the various zones, we explore and identify tools to regulate these emotions within ourselves and how to respond when someone else is demonstrating them. This universal learning happens during class meetings during what we call our "To-Do Tuesday" meeting. During this class meeting, all the specialists and support staff join a class, so the entire school is learning and discussing the same universal language and concepts.
In partnership,
Cartelia Lucas
Principal
