K- We started our Bullying Prevention Unit this week! Lesson 1 was all about how to recognize what bullying is: mean, on purpose, over and over. We watched a story on the smartboard and practiced identifying bullying.

3- We finished our Bullying Prevention Unit by talking about bystander power. Bystanders are people who see or hear bullying happen. They have the power to make the situation better or worse depending on their reactions. Bystanders can help by standing up for the person being bullied (if it is safe and appropriate to do so), reporting to an adult, or being a friend to the person being bullied.

4 & 5- We finished our Bullying Prevention Unit by talking about being a bystander to cyberbullying. We talked about what cyberbullying is-bullying using electronic technology- and how we have the same power as bystanders in a cyberbullying situation as we do in other kinds of bullying.

As we have talked about supporting kids who need a friend, I have mentioned the buddy bench to my classes! We'll spend more time talking about it in a few weeks when we do some inclusion activities school-wide. 

1st- Bully Prevention lesson 2: Refusing Bullying. We reviewed feelings and what bullying is then talked about how to be assertive when we stand up to unkindness.

2nd- Bully Prevention lesson 3: Bystanders. Bystanders are anyone who see or hear bullying happen. We talked about how they can recognize, refuse, report, and support in those situations.

K- We reviewed the characteristics of a good friend and positive community member. We read Friends Never Always and talked about how to choose a friend (things in common, play the same game, like the same things, etc). Then we learned how to introduce ourselves and practiced!

3rd- Bully Prevention lesson 2: How to refuse bullying. We talked about being assertive--using our strong respectful voices and body language--to stand up for ourselves when people are unkind. 

4th & 5th- Bully Prevention lesson 2: Bystander responsibility. We talked about how a bystander is anyone who sees or hears bullying happen. Those people can make the situations better or worse by what they do. We talked about how they can recognize, refuse, report, and support depending on the situation.

Kindergarten- We talked about characteristics of good friends and positive community members. We brainstormed in small groups what friends and learners do and then shared our ideas to create a friend! See the picture below :)

1st- We took a week off from bullying to talk about feelings. We reviewed the basic four feelings and then played a guessing game with some of the more complicated emotions. We discussed appropriate ways to express those feelings. I talked a little bit about how my job is to help kids with big feelings and did a little magic trick for them! :)

2nd- Bullying Prevention lesson 2-- Last lesson we talked about recognizing and reporting bullying. This lesson we discussed refusing assertively. We talked about the difference between aggressive, passive, and assertive responses and what an appropriate response would sound like (ex: "Stop. I don't like that." in a firm, but respectful voice).

Kindergarten- We learned about Safety! We talked about our 8 Never Never Rules, our Always Ask First Rule, and the 3 Rs of safety: Recognize, Refuse, and Report. A couple new friends, puppy and snail, came to visit to tell us stories about how they used the safety rules to keep themselves safe. 

1st-5th- We started our first of three bully prevention lessons. Our curriculum for this unit is by the same publisher as our safety curriculum: SecondStep. We use our 3 Rs: Recognize, Refuse, and Report to identify bullying (when someone is mean, on purpose, over and over, it is one-sided and we can't get it to stop on our own), know who to tell, and use our assertive words and actions to stand up for ourselves and others. We talked about how sometimes we need to report BEFORE we refuse to keep ourselves safe and to know how to handle tricky situations. 

1st-5th grade classes all got a brief review of what I do and how to let me know if they need me. Then we did a general safety lesson using a scripted curriculum made by SecondStep. 

Using cartoon pictures depicting different situations, we covered the 3Rs of being safe:
Recognize- is it safe or unsafe?
Refuse- if something is unsafe use words and actions to say "no"
Report- tell an adult in charge of you

Then we discussed the Always Ask First Rule- always ask an adult in charge of you before you go somewhere, take something from someone, or do an activity you aren't sure about

My younger grades also discussed the 8 Never-Never Rules to keep them safe!

Kindergarten- we spent time learning about what I do and things we will do together in class--like my very special Hello Song! We had fun moving around and doing the School Counselor Hokey Pokey together. Then I tried to learn ALL their names--definitely a work in progress :) 

I just have this feeling that THIS year is going to be something special and spectacular :) This morning was so exciting--I LOVE seeing all my "old" friends after such a long time apart and I LOVE making new friends as they join the Fairview family! Teachers have been back for a week already, but our students definitely add the magic to our building. It's just not the same until they are here!

I'm spending the next couple days getting people settled in before I start teaching classes and doing new student groups next week. If you are a parent who has a concern about a kiddo, please let me know and I'm happy to help however I can. I want this to be a GREAT year for everyone!

This school year has had some very definite ups and downs. We have had some moments of devastating sadness, immense pride, overwhelming joy and lots of other feelings in between. It has been a year of learning in all shapes and forms! Despite the challenges, there is still no place I would have rather spent the last 9 months and no other people I would have rather spent that time with. Here's to a restful summer and a fresh new start in the fall. :)

2nd grade-
​Because of other lessons that were added this year district-wide, I had to give up some lessons that I have done in the past that I really love. One of the lessons that didn't make the cut is the feelings volcano in 2nd grade. Just thinking about my kids not getting that lesson made me so sad!! I talked to the teachers and they graciously let me squeeze the lesson into their busy schedules this week :)

We talked about things that cause tough feelings--moving, family changes, loss of a pet, etc. We discussed coping strategies to deal with those feelings such as deep breathing, positive thoughts, talking to adults we trust, petting an animal, punching a pillow, etc. But what happens if we DON'T let those feelings out? They can make our bodies feel sick--stomach aches, headaches, crabby mood, tight chest. Eventually those feelings will come out! Like our volcano, we may EXPLODE! Then I use my volcano (with some diet Coke and MENTOS) to show what that might look like :) 

4th grade is doing career path stations! I LOVE this lesson and my awesome fourth grade teachers for being flexible with their time to make this happen :)

We do a one-hour lesson. I set up a station to represent each of the four career paths. I put students in small groups and they spend just over 5 minutes at each station exploring some activities that represent each of the career paths. At the end of the lesson we talk about what paths/ jobs the activities might represent, what they enjoyed most and why, and how they can connect what they did to jobs they might want to explore.

Business- sorting and counting "money," alphabetizing words, correcting mistakes in a paragraph

Health- assessing a patient's leg injury and bandaging the wound (my giant bear's silly putty accident ;) ), using a pulse oximeter to measure their pulse when resting and after running in place

Helping- giving advice for tricky situations, solving riddles, and filling someone's pizza order

Nature- assembling a dinosaur skeleton, doing animal research, and completing a science experiment about refraction

Fixing, Building, and Technology- building a unique structure out of LEGOs

Creative- three objects were presented: a fake apple, a plastic snake, and wind up chattering teeth with eyeballs. students could draw a picture, create a comic strip, or write a short story involving one or more of the presented objects