Small Moments, a blog about school counseling at Armstrong Elementary School
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2nd, 3rd Grade Feelings, Calm Body Lesson

2/26/2018

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Dear Second and Third Grade Parents and Guardians,

This week, we are continuing our unit on including others at school.  For this lesson, we are taking time to think about some of the emotions, or feelings, associated with peer relationships.  Other students have a big impact on how we feel.  When things with our peers are going well, we feel happy, safe, and comfortable.  When we have problems with others, we might feel upset, uncomfortable, even unsafe.  As part of our lesson, we reviewed some of the feelings, both positive and negative, that we have throughout the day.  We read the book, “The Way I Feel,” by Janan Cain, which uses poetry to describe different feelings.

In the second part of our lesson, we discussed ways to calm our body when unexpected things happen.  When we have a problem with another person, we often feel negative feelings, and as a result, can sometimes make choices that make the problem worse.  Since this is the last thing we want to do, our first job when we have a problem is to stop, and if we are upset, work to calm our body down.  As a class, we reviewed three strategies to calm our bodies.  They include:


  1. Take deep breaths
  2. Count slowly to ten
  3. Think about something you like

At the end of the lesson, each student picked a strategy to try over the next few weeks.  If you have a moment, ask your child to share the strategy they chose, and when they are upset at home, encourage them to use it.

Thank you for your help with this important lesson.

Sincerely,

David Starr
School Counselor, Armstrong Elementary School
PH:  (508) 836-7760   Email:  starrd@westboroughk12.org
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Kindergarten, First Grade Expected and Unexpected Behaviors

2/7/2018

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Dear Kindergarten and First Grade Parents and Guardians,

This week, I am introducing the vocabulary “expected” and “unexpected” to kindergarten and first grade students.  These words can be helpful for teaching students the impact their behaviors have on other people.  When we do things that are unexpected, it makes others feel uncomfortable, unhappy, and unsafe.  When we do things other people expect, they feel comfortable, happy, and safe.  When we make others feel good, we usually feel good too. 

If you have a moment, please review the words expected and unexpected with your children.  You can even use these words to reinforce expectations at home.

Sincerely,

David Starr
School Counselor, Armstrong Elementary School
PH:  (508) 836-7760      Email:  starrd@westboroughk12.org
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2nd, 3rd Grade Including Others

2/1/2018

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Dear 2nd and 3rd Grade Parents and Guardians,

This week, we are continuing our work including other students.  Last week, we brainstormed and practiced strategies for including others and asking to join a group.  Including others is important, but sometimes it can be hard, especially if someone looks or acts different than we expect.  For this lesson, we talked about the importance of understanding and appreciating those who appear different.  By getting to know all students, we can learn to appreciate their uniqueness and find similarities that we did not even know existed.  

To support increased understanding of others, we are practicing by becoming more familiar with students in our own classroom.  Students are taking time to share information about their families.  Even in a class where students have been together for over half of the school year, they are discovering that there are still new things to learn.

Being willing to learn about other people is an important strategy to help us empathize with others and increase our comfort with including all students.
 
If you have a moment, encourage your child to reach out to someone new at school, especially someone they might not typically.
 
Thank you for your support.
 
Sincerely,
 
David Starr
School Counselor, Armstrong Elementary School
PH:  508-836-7760     Email:  starrd@westboroughk12.org
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    Author

    David Starr is the School Counselor at Armstrong Elementary School in Westborough, MA.

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