Counseling Corner

For Elementary aged students, try treating Mindfulness like a game. Incorporate this practice in daily routines like driving to school or while having breakfast.

1. 5-4-3-2-1 Game: Identify 5 things they see, 4 things they hear, 3 things they feel, 2 things they see, and 1 thing they taste

2. During a meal: Focus on saying out loud the different textures and tastes they are experiencing

3. Belly breathing: Practice bellying breathing after an active moment in their day, count 4 breaths in and 5 breaths out. For our younger children, put a stuffed animal on their bellies and watch it rise and fall while they breath (rocking them to 'sleep')

4. Check out guided resources: Cosmic Kids yoga has great child-friendly videos to illustrate different strategies

(healthychildren.org, childmind.org, cosmickids.com)

If your family is in need of assistance due to financial hardship, please reach out to someone on the team. We are offering help with winter gear (coats, hats, mittens, gloves, boots, snow pants) and Holiday meals and gifts.We will need the following information: Ages and gender identity/expression of anyone living in the home under the age of 18, coat sizes, and the total number of people living in the home.

Please know this information will be kept confidential.

Counseling Team:

Shannon Songin- ssongin@walpole.k12.ma.us

Tori Dore- vwintersdore@walpole.k12.ma.us

Or you can reach out directly to Mrs. Buller:

Jen Buller- jbuller@walpole.k12.ma.us

As part of our general education social-emotional support, ALL students will receive either weekly or biweekly social-emotional "SOAR" lessons. Kindergarten lessons are taught weekly and grades 1-5 are taught bi-weekly.

These lessons are based on the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) competencies. Some topics we cover include feeling identification and strategies, problem solving and conflict resolution, friendship and bullying, goal setting, exploring differences, and decision making. Each month, we will provide an updated newsletter which previews our lessons for the month ahead.

Ms. Dore will be teaching lessons and working directly with students in Kindergarten, 2nd and 3rd grade. Ms. Songin will be teaching lessons and working directly with students in 1st, 4th, and 5th grade.

• Students will learn to identify and label thoughts and feelings
• Students will begin to discuss what it means and looks like to stay on the Group Plan

• We will revisit the Zones of Regulation and what feelings they represent
• We will talk about strategies to dealing with feelings in each zone and how at school we do our best learning in the Green Zone.
• At the end of the month we will talk about Gratitude and acknowledging people who are invested in us!

• Students will learn about Green, Blue, Yellow, and Red Zones
• We will identify body language and facial expressions what give clues on what zone someone is in
• We will talk about how our body feels in each zone
• We will define Gratitude and discuss what expressing it is important

• Students will review Zones of Regulation
• We will focus on what each zone LOOKS, SOUNDS, and FEELS like
• Students will discuss Gratitude and how it impacts their life

• We will be introducing Personality traits pattern of human’s behaviors, thoughts, feelings). and how they can inform goals we have for ourselves
• We will look at how to take responsibility for our actions and the choices we make day to day.
• At the end of the month we will talk about Gratitude and acknowledging people who are invested in us!

• We will wrap up our Nutrition Lesson with Mrs.DeCiccio
• We will discuss how to avoid engaging in "gossip and rumors", ways to deal with rumors.
• At the end of the month we will talk about the science of gratitude

Kindergarten:

• "Thinking Thoughts and Feeling Feelings" by the Incredible Flexible You series
• "Name that Emotion with Murray"-Sesame Street
• "Do what I do"-Sesame Street
• "The Group Plan" by the Incredible Flexible You series

1st grade:

• “Little Spot of Feelings”
• " I feel" Books

2nd grade:

• Clips from Disney's Inside Out
• "25 Reasons to be Thankful"-Kid President

3rd grade:

• "The Reflection in me"- by Marc Colagiovanni
• "Practicing Gratitude (and 10 things I'm grateful for)"-Rocket Kids

4th grade:

• "I Promise" by Lebron James
• Responsibility Jeopardy Game

5th grade:

At this time, no books will be used in this month's lessons.

Mrs. Tori Dore (grades K, 2, and 3)

Email: vwintersdore@walpole.k12.ma.us

Phone: 508-660-7374, ext. 5615

Ms. Shannon Songin (grades 1, 4, and 5)

Email: ssongin@walpole.k12.ma.us

Phone: 508-660-7374, ext. 5615