Hello parents and guardians! It’s so hard to believe we are at the end of October and racing towards Thanksgiving break! We have been very busy in the classrooms and students are so excited about the many things we have been learning in Second Step and various other social-emotional learning classroom lessons. This month we have covered the following topics:
Kindergarten and 1st grade: Kindergarten and first grade have moved into our emotion management unit. We are learning how to identify big emotions in ourselves and in others, and what we can do to help both ourselves and our friends. We have practiced coping skills such as deep breathing, muscle relaxation, and taking a break as needed. We also discussed the different qualities that make us a good friend.
2nd grade: Second grade recently finished our unit on making mistakes with learning how to speak positive affirmations over ourselves. Students were encouraged to change their negative thoughts to a positive and remember the things they are good at and what they are still learning to do. In November, we are moving into working on identifying big emotions and how to handle them.
3rd grade: Third grade has continued to learn about how our brains help us to learn new things and we put that into practice as we talked about test anxiety. Students learned some calm down techniques that can be done quietly at their desks, both before a big test (like the state test) or even just on a normal school day. We also covered the topic of rumors and played a game of Telephone to learn just how quickly rumors spread and change as they are passed from one person to the next.
4th and 5th grade: Fourth and fifth grades have finished our unit on goal setting and have moved on to learning to identify big emotions and how we can help ourselves to calm down and work through those big feelings. We have also recently covered topics such as friendship, what happens when we say hurtful words to others, and respecting those around us, both adults and other students.
Counselor note:
I have spoken to many parents and guardians recently with various concerns for their students. Please do not hesitate to reach out at any time if you have concerns or need additional support for your student. I am here to help in any way that I can!
