What We've Been Up To.....

In Kindergarten, we have been learning (with the help of Puppy and Snail) about strong feelings and how to calm down when we have those strong feelings.  Students have learned about:

• belly breathing 
• counting  
• using your self-talk to "calm down"

We have also talked about using our bodies, regularly burning off energy, as a way to handle strong feelings.  Quiet activities such as drawing, building with legos or looking at books is a good way to calm down as well (changing the channel in our minds).

Talking with an adult that you trust is also an important way of dealing with strong feelings.  

We will soon move on to ways to solve problems using the Kelso's Choices curriculum.  First grade classrooms are currently reviewing this from last year.  For more information on Kelso's Choices please continue to read.

Students in the First Grade are starting the guidance unit in problem solving! Kindergarten students will be starting it soon! When we discuss problems we look at them as either being a small problem or a big problem.

A BIG problem is defined as either dangerous or scary.  If a student has a big problem he/she can tell an adult right away.  We don't want students trying to solve big problems on their own.

If it is not a big problem then we consider it to be a small  problem.  Students are smart enough and strong enough to solve small problems on their own using one or more of Kelso's Choices.  Students are expected to try two different solutions before getting help from an adult.

Kelso's Choices are:

• Go to Another Game
• Talk It Out
• Share and Take Turns
• Ignore
• Walk Away
• Tell Them to Stop
• Apologize
• Make a Deal
• Wait and Cool Off

Ask your child to show you the gestures we practice that go along with Kelso's Choices.  It is a fun way to help our brains learn the 9 ways to solve small problems.

In Second Grade we have been delving into our many feelings and making connections to how and where we feel the emotions in our bodies.  Using a program called The Zones of Regulation we group the emotions into color zones, 

There is a blue zone (sad, low energy, bored), green zone (good to go, ready to learn, calm), yellow zone (happy, frustrated, worried, a bit too much energy), and the red zone (out of control, terrified, enraged).  

We go through different zones for lots of different reasons. The green zone is where we expect kids to be most of the time at school.  If a student gets stuck in a particular zone there are tools in their tool boxes to help them move back to the green zone.  We are currently learning strategies to move to the green zone.