Small Moments, a blog about school counseling at Armstrong Elementary School
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K and 1 Feelings

12/11/2018

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Dear Kindergarten and First Grade Parents and Guardians,

This week, I am talking about feelings with kindergarten and first grade classes.  One of the most important parts of being a kind member of a community is recognizing how other people are feeling and why.  As part of our lesson, we spent time discussing different feeling words.  We then looked at and practiced feeling faces.  Finally, everyone chose a feeling to write about and illustrate.  

This year, I am incorporating a program called the Zones of Regulation into our lessons on feelings and conflict resolution in first grade classes.  Understanding the feelings that fit into certain zones helps us learn how to respond when we are feeling a certain way.  You can see the different zones in the chart attached to this post.  
We will use this work on feelings when we discuss problem solving over the next several weeks.

Building a feeling word vocabulary is important for everyone, and you can help at home.  Try and find opportunities to introduce feeling words into the time you spend with your children.  When they are feeling good, help them instead recognize if they are excited, surprised, confident, silly, comfortable, or proud, and what has caused them to feel that way.  When they are upset, help them figure out if they are angry, sad, bored, jealous, grumpy, shy, uncomfortable, frustrated, confused, scared, embarrassed, guilty, disappointed, or lonely.  Understanding these more complex feelings is an important step to figuring out the cause of the feeling, and if it is something you don’t like, making it better.

Thank you for your support with this important lesson.

Sincerely,

David Starr
School Counselor, ​Armstrong Elementary School
PH: 508-836-7760 Email:  starrd@westboroughk12.org
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2nd Grade Hunter's Remote Continued

12/6/2018

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Dear Second Grade Parents and Guardians,

This week, we are continuing our work with Hunter's Remote Control.  As you might recall, before Thanksgiving, we read a book about Hunter's remote.  In the story, Hunter creates a remote control to help him become a better student and friend.  Each button on the remote is a strategy Hunter can use.

This week, we reviewed the buttons on Hunter's remote.  Students then chose a button to focus on and practice using.  They each wrote about why they chose their button, and will be bring this writing home to share with you.  

Students also brainstormed buttons they might choose to add to Hunter's remote.  If you have a moment, consider asking them about the button they created.

Sincerely,

David Starr
School Counselor, Armstrong Elementary School
PH:  (508) 836-7760   Email:  starrd@westboroughk12.org

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3rd Grade Brainology Continued

12/6/2018

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Dear Third Grade Parents/Guardians,

This week, we are continuing our work with Brainology.  As you might recall, Brainology is a website that uses engaging cartoon characters to teach academic skills.  For the second part of the Brainology curriculum, the program focuses on strategies you can use when you are feeling stressed or nervous.  These feelings are a natural part of life.  The challenge is that there are times when we get so nervous that we are unable to focus.  At these points, certain strategies can help us to calm our down. 

​The program describes a few different strategies.  These include:


  • Calm your body.  In previous grades, we spent time reviewing strategies to calm your body when you are upset.  These include:
  1. Take 3 deep breaths
  2. Count slowly to 10
  3. Think of something that makes you happy
  4. The program introduces a strategy called square breathing.  Consider asking your child to show it to you.

These skills can work to help calm your body during a stressful academic situation as well. 
 
  • Turn a negative thought into a positive one.  For example, if you are thinking “I’m going to fail this test,” focus on changing your thoughts to “I studied, I prepared, and this is my time to show what I know.”  This can work for any nerve-wracking academic situation and fits with the Growth Mindset language being taught in third grade classes.
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If you have a moment, please review these strategies with your child/ren.  And if you are finding that they are nervous about homework or an upcoming test or presentation, you can help them use these strategies to hopefully make things a little less stressful.


Thank you for your help reinforcing this important lesson.

Sincerely,

David Starr
School Counselor, Armstrong Elementary School
PH:  (508) 836-7760        Email:  starrd@westboroughk12.org

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

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