The week of January 7th

Parents,

This month we will begin our study of the ocean biome.  This week we will be focusing on the sunlight zone of the ocean.  This is the uppermost layer of the ocean and goes down to about 650 feet.  We will talk about some of the plants and animals that live there.  The vertebrate we will focus on this month are fish.  We will begin by talking about what makes a fish different from other vertebrates, such as having scales, fins, and gills as well as living its life underwater.

The element of art we are focusing on this month is line.  We talked about several of the different types of lines that there can be in art such as zigzag lines, looped lines, broken lines, vertical lines and horizontal lines to name a few.

We are on habit 4 of the 7 habits of happy kids.  This habit is “Think Win Win”.  In this habit we will be moving from the private victory to the public victory.  Our first 3 habits were all about bettering ourselves and improving our own lives.  With “Think win-win”  we will learn about 4 outcomes that are available when you interact with someone else; win-win, win-loose, loose-win, and loose-loose.

Win-Win-  “Let’s find a solution that works for both of us.” People who search for solutions that make them happy and at the same time make others happy. People in this category have both the courage to say what they want and the consideration to work toward mutual benefit.

Win-Loose- “I am going to beat you no matter what”  People who fit in this category are only concerned with themselves they want to win and make others loose. They have the courage to say what they want, but are low on consideration. With win-loose you think of competition, comparison, power, and position.  This is actually a very common interaction in our society.  As parents we naturally have position over our children and sometimes put our agenda over theirs.  We must remind ourselves to constantly be on guard for situations in which we can change a win-loose to a win-win when interacting with children.

Loose-Win- “I always get stepped on”  People in this category have lots of consideration of others but they lack the courage to express and act on their own feelings and beliefs.  Too much time in this category creates the victim mentality and people who just follow the crowd.  They may bury a lot of their feelings, have no demands or expectations of others, and they are quick to please others even at the expense of themselves.

Loose-Loose- “If I’m going down, you’re going down with me.”  People in this category are low on courage and consideration they envy and criticize others.  They put themselves and others down.  This situation can be the long term result of a win-lose.

In class we will talk about ways to make situations win-win, we will think of cooperation, communication, and seek for mutual benefit.  These are great topics to discuss at home in your family.

We will be juicing oranges as one of our practical life activities this month and could use donations of whole oranges.  We appreciate your help in advance.

No school on Friday.  We will not have school on Friday for professional development.

Here is the link if you would like to volunteer this week https://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/tcdtj

Have a great week!

Ms. Jen, Ms, Jess & Ms. Kimber

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