Parents,
We will introduce the final zoo phonics characters this week. They are:
Q – Queeny quail
U – Umber umbrella bird
V – Vinny vampire bat
X – Xavier fox
Y – Yancy yak
Z – Zeek the zebra
We will learn more about our earth by focusing on the land, air and water. We will also get to spend some time with some of our junior high mentors when they come to read books to our class.
As part of our peace curriculum we will be giving a simple introduction to Black Elk’s vision. Maria Montessori felt so strongly about the role of peace education. She knew that if our dreams for peace were to be realized it would be through the education of the next generation. she said “Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war.”
We have a small area in our classroom that is our designated peace area. It has a small table and shelf in the corner of the room. The peace area has two uses. The first is a place for one to go when their emotions are overwhelming and they need a quiet space to regroup. If a student is using the peace area to regroup, they may choose one of the soothing objects from the shelf to look at to help them calm their emotions. These objects range from a kaleidoscope, to a bottle of glitter suspended in water. The Peace area’s other use is to resolve conflict. We have a Peace rock in the Peace area that is used much like a talking stick. Students can take turns talking to each other in order to resolve an issue in the classroom. We find that this is a very valuable lesson, one that creates good life skills and empowers children to problem solve and resolve conflict without adult intervention. This leads me to the concept of saying sorry. When someone does something to hurt another they should apologize, this is the socially and morally acceptable thing to do. We often try to teach our children to apologize by forcing them to say sorry. Two things happen when we do this. The first is that the apology whether sincere or not looses it’s power to heal. Have you ever received an apology from someone who was forced to do it? You may feel better in that your feelings were validated, but it does not bring about good feelings toward the person who wronged you. It is the same with children, and some children will refuse to apologize putting you in a power struggle (Always avoid power struggles!). So we must treat children with more respect. When two children enter the peace area each child will get a turn to hold the peace rock and tell their side of the story without any interruptions. If they need my help, I will validate how each child was feeling. Throughout the discussion, I will do my best not to make any judgment calls on who was right, and who was wrong. I will also ask questions to help the children better understand what happened or how their actions may have contributed to what happened. Then I will ask each child (if necessary) to ask the other what they can do to make it better. This is better than an apology in that an apology does not always make things better and it puts the power into the hands of both students. Sometimes a student will ask for an apology, sometimes it is just saying they won’t do it again, sometimes it is a hug/handshake or other appropriate physical contact and sometimes it is nothing. I also allow the students to refuse to do what is requested and offer another solution instead, this does not happen often in that students are usually willing to fix a problem when they see that their side of the story matters too. In the end both children hold on to the peace rock look each other in the eye and say “Friends” They almost always giggle at this point and return to their work happy.
Hopefully this may be of some use to you.
Have a great week.
Ms. Jen & Ms. Martha