Second Grade Class Council

Second Graders are continuing to learn more about expected and unexpected behaviors. Last week they learned how to replace unexpected behaviors with expected behaviors in school. Check out some of their artwork!

4th Grade Class Council

Greetings! I am excited to announce that I began fourth grade class council last week. We have a lot to cover this year! Last week fourth graders started a seven week curriculum on social thinking. The curriculum will be focused around expected and unexpected behaviors. They were introduced to this concept in second grade class council so, we will be exploring a little deeper into how these behaviors cause what and how people think and feel.

Last week was a review. We discussed the meaning of behavior, and the concept of expected and unexpected behaviors:

Expected Behaviors= Good Thoughts and Good Feelings
Unexpected Behaviors= Uncomfortable Thoughts and Comfortable Feelings

We read from a really great book called You Are a Social Detective. It helps to reinforce how expected and unexpected behaviors are used in the classroom, playground, and at home.

We also played a game that allowed students to think about when a behavior can be both expected and unexpected. An example:

Running is expected on the playground.
Running is unexpected in the hall.

The students came up with some really great examples!

This week we will be reading more from The Social Detective, doing a group activity that focuses on expected behaviors in school, and a really great team activity to reinforce expected behaviors! Stay tuned. I will be posting some of the students work in class!

September Newsletter

Click here to read the September issue of Feeling Good and Getting Along.

Helping Hands

First graders illustrated page 2 of their "My I-Care Rules" books this week. They had lots of good ideas for how they can follow the I-Care rule:

Hands are for helping, not hurting.

Here are some examples:

Social Thinking

This week second graders started a unit on social thinking. For the next four weeks they will be learning about expected and unexpected behaviors in the classroom.

They have learned that:

Expected Behaviors = Good Thoughts and Good Feelings
Unexpected Behaviors= Uncomfortable Thoughts and Uncomfortable Feelings

We discussed specific expected and unexpected behaviors.

Expected behaviors in the classroom:
Raising your hand
Walking
Sharing
Listening

Unexpected behaviors in the classroom:
Yelling
Calling out
Punching
Running

Second graders also learned that they develop good thoughts about students who use expected behaviors and, uncomfortable thoughts around students who use unexpected behaviors. They were given an example of a behavior on the smart board and asked to chose a thought they would have about it.

For example:

Someone helps you pick up- “I like being in class with this kid.”
Someone is not doing their work- “I don’t like being in class with this kid.”

Next week we will learn how to replace unexpected behaviors with expected behavior.

Bullying = Danger!

The fifth graders started a unit on bullying in class councils this week. We learned that . . .

Bullying = Danger!

A situation is bullying if it . . .

• is on purpose to hurt

• happens over and over

• involves an imbalance of power

Because bullying is dangerous, you must ALWAYS tell an adult about it, whether it's happening to you or to someone else. Bullying is NOT something kids can solve for themselves. If the adult doesn't believe you or tells you to solve it yourself, tell them, "We're always supposed to tell when it's bullying. I know this is bullying because it's on purpose to hurt, it happens over and over, and there's an imbalance of power."

After learning how to tell if a situation is bullying, the fifth graders watched some video clips and analyzed the bullying behaviors they had noticed. Their ability to think deeply about what was happening and their empathy for the bullying targets in the movie were impressive. Many of them spoke right up about how they would have helped if they had witnessed the bullying.

Over the course of the unit we will learn about the different types of bullying, why people bully, what to do if you: are being bullied; see someone being bullied; are the friend of someone who is bullying; or are bullying someone else. Stay tuned for more information and student work samples!

We Listen to Each Other

First graders have started making their "My I-Care Rules" books in class councils.  Here are a few of their illustrations for rule #1: "We Listen to Each Other."  Notice the ears that help them be good listeners!

First Graders Learn the I-Care Rules

First graders are learning about friendship and conflict resolution in class councils with Mrs. Lallier.  We will spend six weeks exploring the I-Care Rules, with the help of I-Care Cat, a perennially favorite puppet. The kids will each make their own copy of "My I-Care Rules" book to bring home.  The I-Care Rules are:

1. We listen to each other.
2. Hands are for helping, not hurting.
3. We use I-Care Language
4. We care about each others' feelings.
5. We are responsible for what we say and do.

You may notice that rules #4 and #5 are two of our three DBS expectations. Yes, that's right, I-Care Cat is so influential around here that the DBS staff used some of his ideas when we developed our expectations in 1999, long before the current first graders were even born!

First grade class councils are on Mondays in both Mrs. Burriss' and Mrs. Thorburn's classes.  Last week we played a listening game and then made the first page of our books.  This week the kids will practice ways to use their hands for helping and will make page two of their "My I-Care Rules" books.