We had a busy, busy week! On Monday, we read a story about Being Proactive and reviewed the importance of being in charge of ourselves and our feelings. Throughout the week, we created and attached weather photos to our classroom five point scale to symbolize different moods and feelings and talked about "Carrying our own weather" which is language from our 7 Habits book. Carrying your weather means that you control how you feel and react to things. It helps kids (and adults) understand that they are responsible for their mood and can choose to change it if it's not working for them. We spent a lot of time working on these concepts. For the older groups, I also took a photo of students at each level of the 5 point scale which I will be turning into personalized scales. They will receive one to take home so that you can use this language and these concepts at home too! Younger students will receive a more generalized scale that will help them with the emotions. All students made the mini 5 point scales (pictured above) that will be utilized within the school setting. I brainstormed with different groups of where they thought they would most need/use a mini five point scale. Some children want them on their desks, others want them in their lockers and other want them taped inside the lid of their desk. It was great to see the kids working through the applications and how this scale could be useful in their daily lives.
Joke of the week: "What is a tree's least favorite month? Sep-TIMBER!"
Emotional Vocabulary Word of the Week: "bummed" The children wrote it in their social skills notebook under "sad".