We are STARTING STRONG in September!
Is your child coming home tired from a long day at school? It can take our younger students up until Parent/Teacher Conferences in October to adjust and really assimilate into their school schedule. There is A LOT going on here at school so just know that we all eventually come around to this new normal schedule of school, but it does NOT happen overnight.
Along with learning about reading, writing and arithmetic, students are also learning SEL skills. I plan on sharing what our lower and upper elementary students are learning each month in the upcoming articles.
Our younger students are learning about the steps we take when learning new things:
PRACTICE
Make mistakes-“It’s okay to make mistakes because it shows you’re trying.”
Try Again and keep saying helpful thoughts to yourself like, “I can do hard things. It’s ok to make mistakes.”
I’m also visiting with the 4th grade students about a topic that many of us get confused about. When does being mean cross the line and become bullying?
Conflicts happen. Many conflicts are common in life like: disagreements, arguments, teasing and kids can be just plain mean to each other. Bullying is different. It doesn’t happen that often because when reported to adults at school, the adults can usually make it stop. We use the following 3 step definition when normal conflicts between students rise to the level of actual bullying.
Bullying is when someone:
Keeps being mean to someone else on purpose, AND
The person it’s happening to hasn’t been able to make it stop (repeated) AND
There is an imbalance of power making it (unfair and one-sided).
If these three criteria are met, the situation is bullying. If one of the three criteria isn’t met, it wouldn’t be considered a bullying situation. We still want to know about the situation. Most conflicts between students can be solved by using the Debug System which you will see includes seeking out an adult if the other steps aren’t working.
What do you do if you think someone is being bullied? Check out our next Counselor’s Corner.
Recognize-Report-Refuse