Dear Wawaloam School Community,
Hoping everyone had a fantastic week, it is really amazing that we are preparing to send home 3rd quarter report cards in two weeks! We are moving into that home stretch, once April vacation goes by we seem to blink our eyes and the year comes to an end. This year has been incredible! Full day kindergarten, smartboard technology, a computer lab that a whole class can use and our work in the implementation of a Growth Mindset have kept us learning and stretching our brains!!
Mrs. Donnelly consistently pushes for our addition of PERSEVERANCE as one of our expectations, which we love! When the weather breaks, we will be adding the words PERSEVERANCE and KINDNESS to our Queen Bee outside of our school. I am very proud of the work of our SIT team and our PBIS team for continuing to refine our systems, our work is never "finished" at Wawaloam School because we believe there is always room for improvement and growth.
I recently read a publication on the subject of bullying and there was a piece of information that I found fascinating in how we can work together to teach a skill that will have a powerful impact! Check out this amazing statistic:
In the world of bullying prevention, the “simpler solution” includes the power of bystanders. Research shows that when a peer bystander intervenes in a bullying situation, the bullying usually stops within 10 seconds. 10 SECONDS. THAT is a powerful intervention worth nurturing! Let us work together as partners to teach this skill and this statistic!!
The article goes on to say: Let’s be sure to keep our eyes on the importance of relationship building and social emotional skills MORE than entering the slippery slope of “criminalizing” bullying behavior (the person bullying needs our support and guidance too) and thinking the solution lies in ever more structured ways of passing on expectations and norms.
In one kid-friendly story that I shared, they review how powerful it can be to simply teach children to say, "Stop it!" when bullying behavior is observed. Please feel free to share your thoughts and ideas on this information.
This past Wednesday, I attended a session on Cyber Safety at New England Institute of Technology. Meghan Martinez, Cyber Terrorism Program Manager for the RI State Police and Leader of the Cyber Disruption Team. I would encourage you all to become as informed as possible in terms of online safety. They shared some valuable resources for parents and I thought I would pass these websites along to you to review:
www.netsmartz.org provides tips for families, children, and teens about online safety. www.netsmartz411.com is parents' and guardians' premier, online resource for answering
questions about Internet safety, computers, and the Web.
The following sites contain information regarding keeping your child safe online:
Bright Futures' Safety Tips for Surfing the Internet
Cybersmart Kids' The Risks and How to Deal with Them
Department of Justice's Project Safe Child
ConnectSafely's A Parent's Guide to Facebook
US Health and Human Services' Stop Bullying
We are excited to be participating in the Washington County Coalition for Children "Feelin' Groovy" bookmark contest with our Grade 2 students. The goal is to teach emotional literacy to children and Mrs. Gagner and I have teamed up together to have Wawaloam School participate. I don't know if your children mentioned the Academy Award winning performance she gave to "showing" the children what our different emotions can LOOK LIKE by acting these out. We had so much fun working on this together. We can not enter your child's bookmark if we do not have the permission slip forms returned to school. They will select 1 winner per school to have their entry turned into a printed bookmark that will be shared throughout the state and possibly beyond.
If you have a 2 minutes to spare, check out this adorable cartoon video with a very powerful Growth Mindset message. You have to appreciate the PERSEVERANCE of this sweet little bird.
If you have a 2 minutes to spare, check out this adorable cartoon video with a very powerful Growth Mindset message. You have to appreciate the PERSEVERANCE of this sweet little bird.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksiob6KVPDw
Reminders:
PTA Meeting Thursday at Wawaloam School 6:30 PM
Spring Pictures- Wednesday April 8th (Spring Pictures are Optional)
Spring Pictures- Wednesday April 8th (Spring Pictures are Optional)
Report Cards will come home on Friday, April 17th
Have a fantastic weekend!!
Melissa Marino
Have a fantastic weekend!!
Melissa Marino
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