In this short week we focused on feeling Thankful not only for what we have but the things people do for us and the other joys in our lives. We read this story and wrote about what we are thankful for. We also completed other Thanksgiving worksheets you may have seen come home. Over the break, please fill out what you had for Thanksgiving dinner with your child. You can have them write or you can write for them. If you have time you can print pictures (google images) or have the kids color in what they ate with you. Taking the time to reflect strengthens memory skills and encourages language, conversation, and social skills. Return it to school so we can post them outside our room! Hope you enjoy the time with your families!
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This week the older kids continued working on the filtering activities. We sorted phrases we can say and phrases we need to keep in our thought bubbles. On Tuesday, we played games with our 5th grade peer mentors and Mrs. Szalay. The kid did a great job understanding the concept--now for generalizing it! The younger kids worked on keeping our brain in the group and staying on topic with our thoughts and words. Brain in the group is part of the Social Detective curriculum. Our thoughts need to match the topic so we know what to do and how to respond appropriately. We are also going to be completing some Thanksgiving activities to prepare for the upcoming holiday and break. Have a great weekend!
The tricky task of filtering our thoughts is one that all of our kids have to master. Not only is it important for making and keeping friends but it will also be a necessity when applying for and maintaining a job. We first focused on speech bubbles vs. thought bubbles. With a cup of water and some marbles, we poured our speech bubble thoughts through the filter and watched the water go through. This was able to be seen and heard. Then we poured in the thought bubbles ("I hate this", "You're dumb", "This is stupid" etc.) and with the marbles saw how they got stuck in the filter and did not come through. Those were unable to be seen and heard. We sorted more cards with statements on them and practiced within our social detective notebooks. Lastly, the kids watched a Model Me Kids video about sharing and taking turns to prepare for our combined game day with grades 2-5. The first graders caught up on work they were behind in, read Sad Sam and Blue Sue as well as the Feelings book and references the 5 point scale with them. We also began talking about Body in the Group-stay close to the group of kids or the teacher so they know we are interested and listening. They also played with Mrs. Szalay and practiced sharing toys. This week we had some changes. Not being here Tuesday and me being gone Thursday felt like a very choppy week. The older kids worked on Habit 5: Seek First to Understand and Then to be Understood and read the story from the 7 Habits book. We discussed how that looked expected and unexpected. On Monday we had a game day with some Mrs. Hamill's 5th graders. The first graders worked on reading the book How Do Dinosaurs Say I'm Mad? and practiced labeling with the 5 point scale. All grades read the story My Friend is Sad and talked about feeling sad and happy. The kids also took a Social Thinking Survey to see how they think they are doing in school with their social skills and social smarts. We will take another one again in the winter and spring to check our progress and goal setting. Have a great weekend! It was a spooky week here ending with the entire school going bananas over Halloween fun. We had fun working on a ghost project that took a handful of days to finish. The kids drew on faces onto ghosts (if they were able to), cut out them out and glued them onto construction paper. Next to them, depending on the goal the kids practiced writing the emotion to go with the face and practiced saying it, or wrote about something that makes them feel that emotion. It was a fun project. We also read a few Halloween books and reread the book the 2nd and 3rd graders created on the Tap-It to prepare for the parties that took place on Friday. Everyone made it into their parties and tried the centers. I was super proud of them handling all the extra noise, changes in schedule and additional people that were ALL over the building. They proved to me once again that they are capable of so much. It was fun to parade around the school as well, even though we were rained in. |
Megan McQuillan
Megan McQuillan is the lower elementary teacher in the ASD program Archives
June 2017
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