Ms. Reid

What's Happening!

Self Regulation Tool Kit

Hello parents and families - Happy Snow Day!

Please take a look and read the "Chill Club" information in the previous the What's Happening posts. Your child's Chill Club information has been sent home.

In your child's homework duotang, I have also sent home a photocopy of the self regulation toolkit your child has developed. If you could take a few minutes to review with them that would be helpful. 

I have been working with the class on using the strategies from tool kit and Chill Club. The hope is that students will use these strategies independently, regardless of whether I am present in the classroom or not. If you have a chance please discuss with your child before next week. 

Have a wonderful family day weekend! 

Chill Club Completed!

Hi everyone,

Today, we discussed multiple strategies and explained that not all strategies work for everyone. Students may need to experiment with different approaches to determine what works best for them.

Additionally, we have completed all five sessions of the Chill Club. Students reviewed the strategies they learned and will be bringing the Chill Club Tool Kit home to share their insights with their families.

We encourage practicing the strategies they have learned in the Chill Club.

It was a pleasure working with this class, and I wish them all the best.

Thank you!

Chill Club (from Tuesday)

Topic: Recognizing Feelings

Main Message: We all experience feelings. It is important to recognize when a feeling may be a sign of worry. People have different levels of worries for the same things and that is ok. We also used a body map to help visualize where we may feel a worry in their body.

Objectives:

• Review key points from previous session.
• Introduce Worry Ruler and have students complete scaling activity.
• Create Worry Envelope.
• My Toolkit Strategy-  Worry Ruler & Worry Envelope.

Chill Club

Topic: Introduction to Chill Club/ Body Clues

In our first session, we met as an introduction to Chill Club to discuss what worry means to us. We also discussed that worry is a feeling, and it is okay to feel this way. Worry is a part of everyday life and we all experience it. We also discussed that our bodies have different ways of responding to worry, and these responses are often broken down into three categories: Fight or Flight or Freeze. We also used a body map to help visualize where we may feel a worry in their body.

Objectives:

• Introduction to Chill Club
• Discuss
• What is Worry?
• Where students feel worry in their bodies
• Fight/ Flight/Freeze Response (The Three F’s)
• Activity - “What’s on My Plate?”
• Review Chill Club Kit
• My Toolkit Strategy - Bubblegum Breathing

Math Facts

We have started a unit in Math in area/perimeter and multiplication. We will be spending a fair bit of time over the next four-six weeks learning and reviewing multiplication facts. I approach this in a both differentiated (each student will be determining what they need to learn and work on that) and systematic (starting a review with smaller numbers, and then working up to larger numbers). Grade fours are responsible for up to 10 x 10, and grade fives need to know up to 12 x 12. 

One aspect of this work is continued practice. You might consider picking up some flash cards from the Dollar store to help with review. There are some excellent resources in the Math section of this website too. 

A fun week, and mindfulness

Hello everyone! We are wrapping up a fun week here in room 208, with an excellent "Peaches" performance, viewing of the spectacular Art show, and a very fun pizza party. Congratulations to the class. 

In the new year we will continue our work developing self regulation strategies. My friend Ginny Megin, who is a retired elementary teacher from the Peel Board of Education, will be working with the class on some mindfulness activities. This will start on January 7th. 

Have a safe and restful winter break! Thank you for your ongoing support. 

Week 3 - Second Step

Dear Parent/Guardian, 

In this week's Second Step lesson, we focused on "How to Rethink".  Students learned about what questions they can ask to rethink situations and they practiced using made-up stories.

For the program to be most effective and impactful, we encourage the conversation to continue at home. Below is a suggestion to help further the discussion outside of school and continue your child's learning on this topic.

Ask your child, "What questions could you ask yourself to rethink a situation?" (Questions might include: "What happened? Has this ever happened to anyone else? and What is something good that happened?"). Talk about how these questions can help them think differently about a situation.

Progress Reports

Progress reports are arriving home on Monday November 18th. As we approach this important check in on your child's progress, I wanted to provide a bit of additional information. 

One realization I have had is that many of the students did not know how to act in a junior classroom. There are a myriad of reasons for this (e.g., this class had missed classroom experiences due to covid). Junior classrooms also have different expectations from primary. Regardless, I have taken a step by step approach to practice important classroom routines. These include how to work independently, keeping the floors clean, practising a smooth end of day, and how to participate during a lesson. We have also been working with Jen Gillot on understanding balance between our emotional and logical brains. 

The feedback you will receive in the progress report is an honest assessment of where your child is. They are all making gains and learning, and I did not hesitate to indicate where I see them Progessing with Difficulty academically or Needs Improvement in a Learning Skills. I would view the progress report as a check in, and I strongly believe that many will improve and this feedback will look differently for term one report cards that are sent home in February. I encourage you if you have not as of yet to sign up for a student led conference.

Thank you for your ongoing support! :) 

Week 2 - Second Step

Dear Parent/Guardian,

In this week's Second Step lesson, we focused on "What is Rethinking?".  Students learned what it means to rethink a situation and how it can help them calm emotions.

For the program to be most effective and impactful, we encourage the conversation to continue at home. Below is a suggestion to help further the discussion outside of school and continue your child's learning on this topic.

"Tell your child about a time when rethinking a situation, or thinking about it in a different way, helped you feel better.  Encourage your child to talk about times in their lives when rethinking could have helped them."

Letter Home, September 4

Dear Parents, Guardians, and Families -
Welcome back to another school year!

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