First Grade
Students started the year with an introduction to the role of the School Counselor and P.A.W.S.
Personal space is always an issue for our younger boys and girls and the book Personal Space Camp is a fun way to talk about the amount of space we need to feel comfortable. Our personal space, or area around us, is like a bubble. It is smaller for our families, but should be larger for our friends at school and super big for people we do not know. We use a hula hoop to show the space needed between students when talking or sitting together. To make the point about the amount of space we need to feel comfortable, we get silly and slowly add more and more people to our hula hoop until we are too close for comfort.
In October we celebrated Red Ribbon Week and discussed., "What is medicine?" and "Who can give you medicine?" We learned medicine helps us when we are sick and should only be given to us by a grown-up we know and trust.
Lessons about "Things that are mean and not okay" focus on children's literature Chrysanthemum, Yoko, The New Girl, Nobody Knew What to Do and Hands are Not for Hitting. We learned that making fun of others, leaving someone out and hurting someone's body are all mean and not okay. When we see these things happening we can help by using our words to say, "Stop! That's not okay!", we can invite the boys and girls who are left out to play with us, or we can let an adult know there is a problem by saying, "I need help."
The Second Step program uses puppets and focuses on social skills like sharing, taking turns, waiting your turn, handling no, and using the "I feel" sentence to express your frustrations.
Child Safety Matters is a 2-3 lesson unit on personal safety, stranger danger, good and bad touch, and child abuse handle in a sensitive, yet matter of fact way. An opt out form is available for parents who do not wish for their child to participate in this program.
Personal space is always an issue for our younger boys and girls and the book Personal Space Camp is a fun way to talk about the amount of space we need to feel comfortable. Our personal space, or area around us, is like a bubble. It is smaller for our families, but should be larger for our friends at school and super big for people we do not know. We use a hula hoop to show the space needed between students when talking or sitting together. To make the point about the amount of space we need to feel comfortable, we get silly and slowly add more and more people to our hula hoop until we are too close for comfort.
In October we celebrated Red Ribbon Week and discussed., "What is medicine?" and "Who can give you medicine?" We learned medicine helps us when we are sick and should only be given to us by a grown-up we know and trust.
Lessons about "Things that are mean and not okay" focus on children's literature Chrysanthemum, Yoko, The New Girl, Nobody Knew What to Do and Hands are Not for Hitting. We learned that making fun of others, leaving someone out and hurting someone's body are all mean and not okay. When we see these things happening we can help by using our words to say, "Stop! That's not okay!", we can invite the boys and girls who are left out to play with us, or we can let an adult know there is a problem by saying, "I need help."
The Second Step program uses puppets and focuses on social skills like sharing, taking turns, waiting your turn, handling no, and using the "I feel" sentence to express your frustrations.
Child Safety Matters is a 2-3 lesson unit on personal safety, stranger danger, good and bad touch, and child abuse handle in a sensitive, yet matter of fact way. An opt out form is available for parents who do not wish for their child to participate in this program.