ELC at George Earle Weekly Update

What is School-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports. School-wide PBIS is a multi-tiered framework to make schools more effective places. It establishes a social culture and the behavior supports needed to improve social, emotional, behavioral, and academic outcomes for all students.

The ELC values hard work and good behavior. Our PBIS program showcases these values in our school and praises students for their leadership qualities. Their peers see this good behavior and it creates a learning environment that is enriched with kindness, leadership, grit and perseverance. All students have the opportunity to earn tickets as a class as well as individually for modeling good choices. They can cash in individual tickets they earn in their classes for rewards like picking out of the treasure box, stinky feet day, being able to write in markers all day long. They can even bank their tickets and be SRO, Janitor, or Principal for the day! They can cash in their class tickets for special opportunities in their class like a PJ Day! We celebrate as a school with rewards like dance party and extra recess day. Each day we are looking for and rewarding those positive behaviors.

Last week in our newsletter, we featured our individual kindness royalty and grit winners- this week we are celebrating ALL the kids! We are so proud of all the kindness and learning goals being met and all the tickets the kids are earning. As a school, the kids earned WAY more tickets than they needed to reach their goal.. and their reward? A bounce house party!!!! Each class got 30 minutes to themselves in the bounce houses... and they had a BLAST! Keep being awesome Kindergarteners!

We are almost halfway through Quarter 3 already and progress reports will be coming home next Friday 2/24. There is so much learning happening every day! Below are the goals for each quarter- check them out!

This week we learned all about I-Messages from Miss Hannah our school counselor!

Dear Early Learning Center Families,

My name is Mrs. Hannah Lucas and I am the School Counselor at The Early Learning Center. One of the amazing parts of my role as School Counselor, is I am able to provide Social Emotional Learning classroom lessons to The Early Learning Center students.

This week I completed classroom lessons with students regarding I-messages. I-messages are when you start a sentence with “I feel ___” to let someone know how they made you feel. I-Messages help student build advocacy skills for self and others as well as the ability to assert self when necessary, building stronger peer relationships.

While your student just received a lesson about using I-messages, below is an extension of the lesson and an activity that you can complete with your student at home to continue the conversation of I-messages at home and to ensure their learning sticks! Attached to this letter are also worksheets that you can read with your student that break down the steps of utilizing I-messages.

You can discuss with your student:

"When Mrs. Hannah visited your classroom, you learned about using I-messages. Do you remember the three important steps in an I-message?"

· Say how you feel "I feel ______."

· Say what happened to you "When you ______."

· Say what you need "Can you please ________?"

You can also further discussion on I-messages by roleplaying with your student. You can practice talking through situations where I-messages can be used and have your student practice using I-messages. Practice identifying how your student feels, expressing it in a healthy manner, and problem-solving in a positive way. Here are some sample scenarios for you and your student:

· Your classmate never lets you join in games at recess.

· Your classmate takes your seat at the lunch table.

· Your classmate cuts you in front of you in line.

· Your classmate takes all the crayons to use for themselves.

· Your classmate keeps screaming in your ear.

If you would like to further continue the conversation on I-Messages, the following books would make for great companions! Some or all of these books could be found at the local library or as read-alouds on YouTube.

· The Problem with Problems by Rachel Rooney

· Speak Up, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell

· A Bug and a Wish by Karen Scheuer

I enjoyed working with your student on this important subject. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Hannah Lucas

ELC School Counselor

219-942-7263

HLucas@Hobart.k12.in.us

There is no need to call the office when calling your child off of school due to illness. Follow the simple steps below to have your child marked absent. If we have any questions, we will get ahold of you. Thanks so much!