These past two weeks we have been discussing and labeling different sized problems. The kids colored a sheet in green, yellow and red to indicate the different sizes. A small problem is one in which you can fix yourself. Spilling a cup of water, knocking over a pencil tote, breaking your pencil. Those are all small things that can be ignored if they do not impact you or that you can fix yourself. I equated it to the color green for go! Go fix it yourself! You are capable and this is not a big deal. Small problems need to have small reactions. A medium problem is yellow like slow down. You may need help from a teacher or a friend. If you spill food or drink all over yourself you probably need some help cleaning up or maybe even getting a spare set of clothes to change into. This could also be a social misunderstanding that you need help to "get". Medium problems need medium sized reactions-getting some help. Then the big problems are red. I like to call them the BIG B's....blood, barf, and broken bones. My second graders added two F's this year: floods and fires. Very true. These problems deserve big reactions. I told the kids I expect you to yell or scream, have an emergency sized reaction because you have to stop and get help for sure. Red for stop and get help.
We began a witches hat project with the sizes as the way Mrs. Reece and I usually refer to the problem/reaction sizes are in the shape of a triangle where small is on the top (in thirds), medium is in the middle and then of course big is on the bottom in the biggest space. Last year we made candy corn, which most of you may remember. This year we are switching it up. These will be hung on our ceiling. If you will be in the building on Friday, please stop in to see them! This coming week we will be priming the kids for their parade and celebrations in their classrooms. Our classroom will not have a separate celebration but will support students in their general education classrooms.
This week we also had our first "team" meetings. If your child signed up and received a job they attended the first meeting. I trained our recess buddies about what to do, how to interact and work with our kids and shared a photo and a few fun facts about each child. We talked about confidentiality first and foremost so that we all respect each others privacy. There were many students who have been buddies in the past so it will be a great group! We will likely not start this week so that Mrs. Reece and I can pair the students up and send out the information to the kids. You will get a note home with who your child will play with at recess 2 times a week. We will switch kids after usually 6-8 weeks so they can get to know other kids and meet new friends. Please let me know if you have any questions!
Hopefully you all have a conference time. I have most of you on my schedule and so far no one overlaps so that I can attend. I will be floating among 5 general ed teachers so I will do my best to be at your conference for as much of it as possible. Please know that we can always meet an additional time.
Thanks and have a Spooky week!
We began a witches hat project with the sizes as the way Mrs. Reece and I usually refer to the problem/reaction sizes are in the shape of a triangle where small is on the top (in thirds), medium is in the middle and then of course big is on the bottom in the biggest space. Last year we made candy corn, which most of you may remember. This year we are switching it up. These will be hung on our ceiling. If you will be in the building on Friday, please stop in to see them! This coming week we will be priming the kids for their parade and celebrations in their classrooms. Our classroom will not have a separate celebration but will support students in their general education classrooms.
This week we also had our first "team" meetings. If your child signed up and received a job they attended the first meeting. I trained our recess buddies about what to do, how to interact and work with our kids and shared a photo and a few fun facts about each child. We talked about confidentiality first and foremost so that we all respect each others privacy. There were many students who have been buddies in the past so it will be a great group! We will likely not start this week so that Mrs. Reece and I can pair the students up and send out the information to the kids. You will get a note home with who your child will play with at recess 2 times a week. We will switch kids after usually 6-8 weeks so they can get to know other kids and meet new friends. Please let me know if you have any questions!
Hopefully you all have a conference time. I have most of you on my schedule and so far no one overlaps so that I can attend. I will be floating among 5 general ed teachers so I will do my best to be at your conference for as much of it as possible. Please know that we can always meet an additional time.
Thanks and have a Spooky week!