The next week we talked about "A" Act- we have to make the choice that will get what we need/want peacefully. We started to read a story called, What Should Danny Do?, a fun book that allowed us to use our STAR steps to make decisions for Danny!
**Below I included a copy of the parent letter I sent home to summarize these lessons in case you didn't get it!
1st- Life Changes. Talked about big events that change our lives. We talked about how those changes affect us--our thoughts, feelings, and actions. Read We are Best Friends and talked about the change he had and how he felt about it. We talked about how to cope with big feelings and did a guided relaxation script together to practice taking deep breaths, relaxing our bodies, and thinking positive thoughts.
2nd- Diversity. We talked about ways our families and their traditions are different. We talked about why diversity is good and how we should treat people who are different--even if we don't agree we can be respectful! Read How My Parents Learned to Eat and talked about how they could have decided they were too different, but instead decided to learn about each other and respect their differences.
3rd- We reviewed feedback and talked about how it might make us feel. Feedback doesn't mean we are bad-it means we have an area in which we can improve and we ALL have things to improve on! It's okay to need help, to ask for help, and to get help. We talked about strategies for dealing with feedback that doesn't feel good. We also practiced giving positive feedback in the form of compliments to a classmate. We also complimented ourselves!
4th- Using positive to cope with negative. Building on our conversation from last time, we talked about how life sometimes has "sour" patches. We listed some events that might seem sour to us. Then we talked about adding a little "sugar" to help us cope. We discussed positive coping strategies that help us to deal with those tough times. The positive doesn't take away the sour in this case, but it does make it a little easier to take! We used Sour Patch Kids candy as part of our example :)
5th- Coping Strategies. Building on our self-control lesson from last time, we talked about feelings that have different intensities and needing coping strategies to deal with them all. We also talked about positive note taking strategies--how to know what to write down to remember the key points later. We read Soda Pop Head and took notes about the coping strategies in the book that can help us when we are upset.