The Power of Teamwork

This week in second grade, we talked about what teamwork looks like not only at team sports or at recess playing kickball, but also in the classroom.  Students watched the above video and then we discussed all the different ways the animals showed teamwork.  Students came up with ideas like:

The animals all worked together
Stayed as a group
Communicated
Included everyone
Watched out for one another
Followed the leaders directions without argument
Worked for one common goal
Listened
Followed directions

After our discussion, we put "teamwork" into action and played "Transformation Rock, Paper, Scissors" that I found here.  Students (including teachers and myself) enjoyed moving through the levels of egg, chicken, dinosaur, and All Knowing Being.  During our reflection circle, students discussed ways they saw teamwork happening.  They also decided they would like to add a few more transformations to the game.



Lesson adapted from Ms. Sepp's Counseling Corner

What Do I Do When My Daughter Comes Home From School Upset?

The article below from girlsleadership.org has some wonderful ideas about how to talk to your daughter when she comes home upset.  Sometimes, it feels easier to step in and want to solve the problem for her but read below on some tips to help her be the problem solver first.

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What Do I Do When My Daughter Comes Home From School Upset?

If there’s one question we get asked more than any other, it’s this: what do I do when my daughter is upset about a conflict with a friend or teammate?

As parents, we’re wired to protect our kids, so our first (understandable) instinct is to throw ourselves into solving the problem for her. Maybe we dish out advice, offer to call the other parent, or email the school. But it’s also our job as parents to teach our children how to manage their social challenges. To do that, we’ve got to give them a combination of skills — the know-how — and confidence — the belief that I can do it if I try.

In other words, our job is to cultivate resilience in our girls: the ability to handle stress and adversity in productive ways. Over the last twenty years, research has found that children and adolescents are struggling with resilience (particularly those in the middle class), leading to increased levels of stress, anxiety and depression.

When we try to solve our girls’ problems for them, we send the message that they can’t resolve conflicts on their own. We also tend to make the situation worse. In this video, we share alternatives to getting involved as a first step. By delaying your intervention, and allowing your daughter to wrestle with her options, you have the opportunity to help her:

• Recognize that all relationships involve some hurt, disappointment and setbacks, giving her a more realistic set of expectations and healthier definition of friendship.
• Consider multiple strategies to respond, allowing her to flex her problem solving muscles.
• Reflect on her feelings before acting, developing her emotional intelligence. Many Girls Leadership families keep this tool around to help during just these kind of tough days.
• Validate her feelings by affirming them with her, increasing her confidence to act.

This video introduces a way to approach social challenge with your daughter that you can use in almost any difficult situation. We urge you to use these tactics again and again; over time, with practice, your daughter will eventually begin having the conversation “with herself.” In other words, she’ll begin to use these strategies on her own.

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If you are worried about your child’s safety, or are concerned she is being bullied, immediate intervention is always the best course of action.

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Asking What She Wants to Do Builds Resilience: Wondering what to do after your daughter starts brainstorming some brilliant or terrible solutions to her challenge? Sign up for our newsletter to receive new, upcoming videos on how to role play at home.

Think About It: How do you tend to respond when your daughter is upset about something that happened with a peer? In what way does that response cultivate or pose a challenge to her resilience? When you were a child, what kind of help did your parents or guardians offer you? Has that influenced the way you react to your daughter?

Talk About It: Use these questions to start a conversation with girls about how you respond to her social challenges.

• When you have a problem with a friend, what is one thing you wish adults like me would do more of?
• What do you wish we did less of?

Further Resources:

Dr. Kenneth Ginsburg’s “7 C’s” of Resilience for parents

The books of Dr. Wendy Mogel

How to Develop Self-Esteem in Children

Below are some tips from the Austin Oaks Hospital on how to help build self esteem in children as well how to be encouraging.

Encourage your child.  Focus on your child's resources, giving positive recognition to improve the child's self-concept and feelings of self-worth.  Keep it simple, and be consistent.  These four methods of encouragement can build a foundation of mutual respect for a positive parent/child relationship.

• Show faith and have confidence in your child.  Allow him or her the opportunity to be responsible.
• Build self-respect by enthusiastically supporting your child's interests.  Avoid comparisons with siblings or peers.
• Help children develop realistic goals, then recognize and acknowledge improvements and progress toward those goals.
• Focus on a child's strengths.  Society tends to emphasize mistakes and faults.  By emphasizing your child's strengths and assets, you offset those negative influences and help your children develop independence and self-determination.

10 Ways to Encourage Children

1. Give responsibility.
2. Show appreciation for contributions at home.
3. Ask your child for opinions and suggestions.
4. Encourage participation in decision making.
5. Accept mistakes.
6. Emphasize the process, not the product
7. Turn liabilities into assets.  Look for positive potential.
8. Show confidence in your child's judgment.
9. Demonstrate positive expectations.
10. Develop alternate ways of viewing situations.

Time to Meet the Counselor...again!

 1^st and 2nd grade students learned about “Who is the School Counselor” and what does the school counselor do.  We talked about how a school counselor can help with things like:

• making new friends
• being included and including others
• worries at school or home
• problem solving in a peaceful way
• bullies
• manage strong feelings

2nd grade students talked about community and what makes our school and classroom like a community.   Then, we discussed what makes each of us unique and what do we have in common that joins us together.  I read, The Crayon Box That Talked by Shane Derolf and Michael Letzig.  Students created handprints and wrote a special quality about themselves on the thumb and each paper finger.  Qualities included, favorite food, something they are good at, favorite animals, or words that describe them.  

Lesson adapted from Crayola.com "Give our class a hand.  Diversity Banner"

1st grade students also read the The Crayon Box that Talked then made their own unique crayon. I made each classroom their very own crayon box and displayed it in the 1st grade hallway.

Austin ISD Every Day Counts!

It's a fact that students who attend school regularly, learn more and are more successful than students who do not. Parents who make regular school attendance a priority also are helping their children learn to accept responsibility.

Attendance patterns are formed early in life.  Children who develop good attendance habits in the early grades will be more likely to continue them throughout their school careers.  Here are some ways to support your child's good attendance.

10 Tips for Good Attendance

1. Get your child to school on time, every day, and make sure homework assignments are completed on time.
2. Absences due to car trouble, a late bus, and bad weather are considered Unexcused and will go on your child's permanent record.
3. Extended vacations, long weekends, and frequent doctor appointments scheduled during school hours will cause your child to fall behind in class.
4. Being in school every day raises your child's chances for scoring well on important tests throughout the year.
5. Follow the proper school guidelines for reporting Excused absences in a timely manner.
6. Allow your child to stay home only when he/she has a contagious illness or is too sick to be comfortable.
7. Make sure your child exercises, eats a balanced diet, and gets plenty of sleep. This will help him/her to be mentally and physically ready to learn, and strengthen the immune system.
8. Read all information sent home by the school. Post important dates on a family bulletin board or on the refrigerator.
9. Give your child enough time to get ready for school in the morning. Prepare lunches, pack school bags, and lay out clothing the night before.         
10. Monitor your child's attendance through AISD Parent Cloud.

What Else Can I Do?

Value education and give it high priority in your family! Convey a positive attitude about school and treat going to school as part of the normal course of events, something that is expected of your child. Let him know that school is the most important thing in his life at this time, and that his future job opportunities will depend on how well he handles his present "job" (school). Help him develop good study and work habits and praise him when he is successful. Get to know your child's friends as they have more influence with him at this time in his life than you do. Get personally involved in school activities, go to sporting events, attend plays and concerts, join the PTA, volunteer, read the school paper. Know what's going on at school.

Please remember: EVERY DAY COUNTS! Please visit Austin ISD Every Day Counts website for more helpful hints and information.

Time to meet the counselor!

My first lessons with the students are always about "Meeting the Counselor" and "What does my counselor do?"  In Kindergarten, I talk about how counselor help students talk about feelings and what to do when you have strong feelings.  I read the story, "Glad Monster, Sad Monster" written by Ed Emberly and Anne Miranda.  

We look at the pictures and students  share when they may have felt like a  monster in the book.  We also talk about the different colors the illustrator uses for each feeling.  At the end of the lesson, I ask the students to think about how they are feeling today and what color would that feeling be.  Then comes the fun part, we do a magic trick together.  Using my Magic Coloring Book of Feelings, written by Robert Bowman and Kim Frank, the students take their feeling, throw them about my book, and poof, all my pictures are colored in.  At the end of the lesson, I give the students a blank face to draw their own monster.  At the bottom of the paper is my contact information for parents.

Austin Child and Guidance Fall Groups

Austin Child Guidance Center provides mental health evaluation and counseling services to youth age 17 and younger who are experiencing emotional, behavioral or social problems and their families. For more information regarding individual or group services, please contact ACGC at 512.451.2242 or click here.

 Groups for Children and Parents

Eight Sessions, 6-7:30PM, One night a week

Low Cost Sliding Fee Scale. Free Childcare Provided. 

 

 

ADHD Parents Group in ENGLISH

Tuesday 9/30/14 - Tuesday 11/18/14

Parents of children ages 5-12 years old with ADHD

Improve use of positive attention, rules, and appropriate discipline.

 

ADHD Parents Group in SPANISH

Monday 9/29/14 - Monday 11/17/14

Spanish speaking parents of children ages 5-12 years old with ADHD

Improve use of positive attention, rules, and appropriate discipline.

 

Social Skills/Friendship Group

Wednesday 10/1/14 - Wednesday 11/19/14

Group for children ages 6-9 years old

Kids learn about body language, communication, and socially appropriate interactions.

 

Conflict Resolution/Anger Management

Thursday 10/2/14 - Thursday 10/20/14

Group for children ages 9- 12 years old

Kids will focus on establishing trust within the group, developing solutions to common problems, exploring consequences, and practicing how to diffuse a heated situation