What We've talked about in Guidance so far……
During our second quarter of the school year for Guidance class, we’ve discussed:
Empathy & Perspective
Relationships & Self Esteem
Self Regulation & Calming Strategies
Safety & Coping Tools
In Pre-K, Kindergarten, First and Second Grade, we discussed and practiced self regulation and calming strategies. We discussed and practiced how we can control our feelings and our bodies. We discussed and practiced calming strategies such as deep breathing and yoga. We discussed personal safety and identified places that are safe at home and school. We identified warning signs, dangers & threats and how we can best respond to them through the use of coping tools and strategies.
In Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Grade, we discussed relationships, what it means to be a friend and practiced on how to build and maintain friendships. We identified healthy and unhealthy relationships, as well as how to manage our feelings in relationships. We discussed empathy, how we can better understand what someone else is feeling and practiced how we can respond in kind and respectful ways.
Currently, we are discussing a program called Cares for Kids:
Care for Kids is a program for students K-2 that features a unit that teaches and reinforces 2 to 4 simple, age-appropriate messages via a circle time, a book, and an activity or craft. The activities are designed to compliment the fact that children of this age group learn naturally through play and use schemas to assimilate new information. Information is presented in a matter-of-fact way using anatomically correct language.
For students in grades 3-6, The We Care Elementary curriculum includes six lessons at each grade level. Each grade focuses on different topics related to healthy relationships. We Care Elementary moves beyond the concrete and physical nature of the Care for Kids lessons, capitalizing on children’s capacity for generalizing information and reflecting on their emotions and experiences.
*ACT One Vermont State Mandate: An Act Relating to Improving Vermont’s Sexual Abuse Response System Educating Kids and Adults to Help Prevent Child Sexual Abuse in Vermont (From the VT Departmentof Children and Families and Prevent Child Abuse VT). This act was signed into law in March of 2009 and is available to view at http://www.leg.state.vt.us/docs/2010/Acts/Act001.pdf
It includes several mandatesfor Vermont school,including:
Educating children about sexual abuse
Educating school staff about child sexual abuse; and
Informing parents about child sexual abuse. Information available: http://dcf.vermont.gov/sites/dcf/files/pdf/protectkids/GuideforParent.pdf
With spring arriving, hopefully soon, here are topics that we will discuss in Guidance during the months of April, May and June:
We will begin a new curriculum called The Zones of Regulation for all grades that will be a continuation of the work we’ve done throughout the school year. Zones of Regulation is a curriculum that focuses on self awareness, emotional skills, communication, problem solving and emotional understanding.
We also will continue to focus on intrapersonal and social skills in individual and small groups. Families may contact the guidance counseling office at rfrisenda@u32.org or call ext. 105 to request brief individual/small group counseling sessions for students. I am also available to send referrals for community resources throughout the Calais area.
Hello from the music room! In music this year we have been doing many many different things. Right now we are in the middle of our Ukulele unit with third grade through sixth grade. We have been practicing Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling” and Vance Joy’s “Riptide”. Both songs are very fun for us, and only use three chords in them!
Before our ukulele unit, fifth and sixth graders created songs using an online digital audio workstation (DAW) called Soundtrap. With Soundtrap students were able to record their own music and sometimes voices, combine them with an expansive loop library, to create well organized multi-part songs. Students got a chance to share them with their classmates throughout the project.
In the younger grades we have been singing many songs and playing many song and dance games. We recently learned the songs “Oh Ricka Bamboo” and “Going on a Bear Hunt.” We have been doing many fun moving and dancing song games. Recently we have ‘painted’ our classroom with stripes and dots to express flow, and have sang and played a fun song game called “Closet Key”. We are just continuing our study of different musical instruments and the families that they belong in.
Hi Cougars!
It is truly amazing to be back working with our wonderful students. Over the past few weeks we have been working hard during our hockey unit which has been a tremendous amount of fun. We are now transitioning into our fitness unit. With that being said, we still have much to catch up on. You can expect to hear about the various lacrosse skills, volleyball skills, team handball skills, and games that we will play as these skills are on our radar for the near future.
In Health class, we have learned about the components of fitness, different parts/functions of our bodies, as well as the different influences on health. Mental health and personal safety are where we are headed next during Health class!
I can’t express how excited I am to be able to work with such amazing students and I can’t wait to see what the rest of the school year will bring! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at amccarthy@u32.org
Thank you,
Andrew McCarthy
