First full week under our belt and it is going so well! Great to see so many of you at back to school night and also those of you that are new choosing to set up times to come and chat with us. Knowing you and having a good relationship with you helps us to know and understand your child better, so thank you!
I feel like we have been back a lot longer than 8 days which is a wonderful sign....it means we are getting to know the children and they are getting to know us and our routine!
This week we introduced the Peace Rose....a tool to help children with conflict resolution. The premise behind it is that when children have a conflict, they get the peace rose and the child who is holding it talks first about their 'issue' and their feelings about it. Then the other child gets an opportunity to hold it and talk about their feelings and then they when they are finished and have come to a resolution, they both put their hands on the peace rose and declare 'friends' or 'peace'. Sometimes it takes a tool and sometimes just talking about their problems and feelings is enough. We are trying to establish responses to conflict as opposed to reactions. There are many ways to do this and we also talked about taking a break if you need to before getting into a conversation/discussion. Things to do during that break include taking a little walk, counting to ten and breathing....sometimes it is necessary to do any or all of these things before getting into a discussion!
Lessons are being introduced daily and the children are really open to all that is being offered to them. Kindergarten met their Spanish, Drama and Sustainability teachers this week and also had their first maker space time. Music and Mindfulness begins next week, all of these special opportunities offer experiences of openness and growth and we are truly grateful for each and every one of them.
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