What’s going on in Stanton Time?!
Kindergarteners are plugging along in their “Being a Good Friend” unit. During our time together, students read stories, did some activities, and discussed qualities they think make a good friend. Our Kindergartners believe good friends are people who: Share their toys, take turns, play by the rules/are fair, are kind and respectful, include others, are helpful, and listen. Friends also give us “green thoughts” and say sorry and try better next time when they give us “red thoughts”. It is always ok to get help from an adult if we are having a hard time with friends because we are still learning about it - KINDERgartners are learning and growing so much each day!
First grade has been learning about feelings and emotions. We talked about using our social detective skills to be able to tell how others might be feeling by looking at faces, hearing tone of voice, and using smart guesses based on the situation. Now we are thinking about how our brains and bodies might be feeling in certain situations. This is the first step in self-regulation as students have started learning about the ZONES OF REGULATION. The hope is that students are able to identify which zone they might be in, think about whether that is expected or unexpected when thinking about their environment, and use a calming or alerting tool that helps them get back into the green zone or learning zone. ALL feelings are ok and ALL zones are ok! We just want to make sure we are being safe with our body and words and taking care of our friends, classmates, and teachers while at school. First graders are doing a super job during these activities and discussions.
Second grade has been reviewing Zones of Regulation and are starting their Self-Control unit. Both classes have audaciously completed the “Bubbles Challenge” where they were challenged to not move a muscle when bubbles were blown at them, proving that they absolutely have the ability to control their bodies and impulses (with previewing and coaching!). We talked about their older less evolved part of their brain, the “Chimp Brain” (amygdala/emotions and instant gratification) makes us want to act on impulses and how their newer more evolved “Professor Brain” (prefrontal cortex/executive function and self-regulation) helps us to STOP, THINK, ACT, and REFLECT about our choices (STAR Power). This can be really tough! Especially when sugar is involved...We will continue to work on noticing when our Chimp Brain is trying to get in the driver's seat and practice letting the Professor Brain be our chauffeur (they are likely the one that passed the road test at the DMV anyway…)
Third graders are learning about being an UPSTANDER in situations where someone is being targeted. We watched a GREAT Pixar short called LOU and had loads of discussion about “aggressors” “targets” “bystanders” and “upstanders”. This has tied in beautifully with our Compassion Project curriculum and learning about “empathy”. Third graders have also been participating in a group with Mrs. Stanton and Ms. Connie that focuses on positive peer relationships and are making connections between the classroom and small group experiences. It has been a lot of fun working through scenarios and discussing how to make our school community more fun, safe, and kind.
Fourth graders have had a melange of topics since our last update. We paused on team challenge initiative for a little bit to talk about thoughts, feelings, actions and how they all interact. We watched a video that explained the CBT Triangle - (Cognitive Behavioral Theory) essentially learning that our thoughts cause us to have feelings, which impacts our behavior/actions - what we do in response to those feelings. If we change our thoughts, then our feelings and behaviors might change, too - REFRAMING. We did an activity in partners where students received a negative thought, “I’m not going to do well on my test”, “I’m going to strike out”, “I don’t understand any of this” - filled out what their feelings might be and what they might do in response to those feelings. They then took the thought, reframed it to have either a neutral or a positive emotion and then predicted what the actionable outcome would be with that REFRAMED thought. They did an excellent job with this and it was really neat to see them talk with each other and tease out how they might think about something differently.
5th Graders have continued to do their team building initiatives and reflection over the past couple months. Last week we paused as a whole class to talk about and review what being an upstander truly means in our school and with our peers. We reviewed this info with some fun Jeopardy questions and it was great to see what the 5th graders had retained from last year. We’ll begin our digital citizenship unit after the February break using a great resource from Common Sense Media to help these students as they continue to navigate their online and digital worlds.