Park School News
January 2018
Important Dates
1/2- School back in session
1/19- Oscar Awards @ 2:20
1/23- 4th grade swimming1/25- 4th grade swimming
1/26- No School Professional Development Day
1/30- 4th grade swimming
2/5- Breakfast in the classroom starts
2/1- 4th grade swimming
2/6- 4th grade swimming
2/6- Literacy Night @ 5:30
2/8- 4th grade swimming
2/12- No School Professional Development Day
2/20- 3rd grade swimming
2/23- Oscar Awards @ 2:20
More Dates to remember
Jan 24 End of Second Quarter
Jan 26 NO SCHOOL
Feb 12 NO SCHOOL
March 5-9 NO SCHOOL--Spring Break
March 30 NO SCHOOL
April 9 End of Third Quarter
April 16 NO SCHOOL
May 11 Early Release 11:30
May 28 NO SCHOOL
June 8 NO SCHOOL
**Report Cards--Going Online Jan 2018**
Starting with the next report cards, they will only be available on Skyward. More information will be available closer to the end of the next quarter, January 24, 2018.
Winter Weather
10 Tips: Keeping Children Safe in Cold Weather
- Think layers. Put several layers of clothing on your child and make sure their head, neck and hands are covered. Dress babies and young children in one more layer than an adult would wear.
- Beware clothing hazards. Scarves and hood strings can strangle smaller children so use other clothing to keep them warm.
- Check in on warmth. Tell children to come inside if they get wet or if they’re cold. Then keep watching them and checking in. They may prefer to continue playing outside even if they are wet or cold.
- Use sunscreen. Children and adults can still get sunburn in the winter. Sun can reflect off the snow, so apply sunscreen.
- Install alarms. More household fires happen during the winter so make sure you have smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in your home.
- Get equipped. Children should always wear helmets when snowboarding, skiing, sledding or playing ice hockey. Any sports equipment should be professionally fitted.
- Teach technique. It takes time to master fun winter activities like sledding, so make sure children know how to do the activity safely.
- Prevent nosebleeds. If your child suffers from minor winter nosebleeds, use a cold air humidifier in their room. Saline nose drops can help keep their nose moist.
- Keep them hydrated. In drier winter air kids lose more water through their breath. Keep them drinking and try giving them warm drinks and soup for extra appeal.
- Watch for danger signs. Signs of frostbite are pale, grey or blistered skin on the fingers, ears, nose, and toes. If you think your child has frostbite bring the child indoors and put the affected area in warm (not hot) water. Signs of hypothermia are shivering, slurred speech, and unusual clumsiness. If you think your child has hypothermia call 9-1-1 immediately.
Bullying or Conflict?
Bullying is being mean to another kid over and over again. Bullying often includes:
- Teasing
- Talking about hurting someone
- Spreading rumors
- Leaving kids out on purpose
- Attacking someone by hitting them or yelling at them
When it is not bullying but conflict
Conflict is a disagreement or a difference of opinion or interests between equals. The people involved in a conflict may disagree vehemently and emotions may run high. When conflict is badly managed, it may result in aggression. In a conflict, both parties have power to influence the situation. That is their goal.
The incidents on this list are NOT considered bullying:
- Not liking someone – It is very natural that people do not like everyone around them and, as unpleasant as it may be to know someone does not like you, verbal and non-verbal messages of “I don’t like you” are not acts of bullying.
- Being excluded – Again, it is very natural for people to gather around a group of friends and we cannot be friends with everyone, so it is acceptable that when kids have a party or play a game at the playground, they will include their friends and exclude others. It is very important to remind kids they do the same thing sometimes too and, although exclusion is unpleasant, it is not an act of bullying.
- Accidentally bumping into someone – When people bump into others, the reaction depends mostly on the bumped person’s mood. If they have had a bad day, they think it was an act of aggressive behavior, but if they are in the good mood, they smile back and attract an apology. This is also relevant for playing sport, like when kids throwing the ball at each other hit someone on the head. It is very important for teachers and parents to explain that some accidents happen without any bad intention and it is important not to create a big conflict, because it was NOT an act of bullying.
- Making other kids play things a certain way – Again, this is very natural behavior. Wanting things to be done our way is normal and is not an act of bullying. To make sure kids do not fall into considering it as an aggressive or “bossy” behavior, we need to teach them assertiveness. If your kids come home and complain that Jane is very bossy and she always wants things to be done her way, you can show them that they want it too and that Jane is miserable, because she is not flexible enough and she will suffer in life for insisting that things be done her way. Again, although it is not fun or pleasant, this is NOT bullying.
- A single act of telling a joke about someone – Making fun of other people is not fun for them, but the difference between having a sense of humor and making fun of someone is very fine. It is important to teach kids (and grownups) that things they say as jokes should also be amusing for the others. If not, they should stop. Unless it happens over and over again and done deliberately to hurt someone, telling jokes about people is NOT bullying.
- Arguments – Arguments are just heated disagreements between two (or more) people (or groups). It is natural that people have different interests and disagree on many things. Think about it, most of us have disagreements with ourselves, so it is very understandable to have disagreements with others. The argument itself is NOT a form of bullying, although some people turn arguments into bullying, because they want to win the argument so much. They use every means to get what they want and find a weakness in the other person, abuse knowledge or trust they have gained and use it against the other person. It is very important to distinguish between natural disagreements and bullying during an argument.
- Expression of unpleasant thoughts or feelings regarding others – Again, communication requires at least two players. Although it may be unpleasant to hear what someone thinks about you, it is NOT a form of bullying but a very natural thing. In every communication, there are disagreements and some form of judgment about each other’s attitude and behavior. If someone says to you, “I think this was not a nice gesture” or “You insulted me when you said this”, this is NOT bullying but an expression of thoughts and feelings.
- Isolated acts of harassment, aggressive behavior, intimidation or meanness – The definition of bullying states that there is repetition in the behavior. Bullying is a conscious, repeated, hostile, aggressive behavior of an individual or a group abusing their position with the intention to harm others or gain real or perceived power. Therefore, anything that happens once is NOT an act of bullying. As a parent, it is important that you pay attention to what your kids are telling you and find out if things are happening more than once.
All the behaviors above are unpleasant and need to be addressed, but they are not to be treated as bullying. Many times, labeling a single act of aggression can turn it into bullying just by perceiving it that way.
Check your knowledge! Are these examples of bullying or conflict?
- Molly and Amara have been best friends. They got into an argument and Amara now claims that Julie is her best friend. Molly is hurt.
- Tommy and Vero are good friends. They get into a fight over a play station game.
- A group of 6th grade girls calls Sarah names, start rumors and encourage others not to talk to her.
- A 4th grade student keeps pushing a 1st grade student on the playground.
- Jeff attempted to stop Lena from harassing another student. Lena turned and hit Jeff in the face. Peers began teasing him daily and even his math teacher got involved. In front of the class, he asked Jeff “how does it feel to be hit by a girl?”
Answers:
1. Conflict
2 Conflict
3. Bullying; power imbalance, repetitive, intent
4. Bullying; power imbalance, repetitive, intent
5. Bullying; Could also be argued he was further bullied by his teacher
Fourth Grade News
In reading, fourth graders finished studying the important elements of stories (character, setting, plot, point of view, conflict or problem, and theme) and have begun to study making inferences.
In writing, fourth grade is busy revising and editing their fiction pieces to publish books for their classrooms.
In science, fourth grade has finished their study of matter. They are moving on to studying government in social studies.
In math, fourth grade has finished their long division unit and are beginning their problem solving unit.
Once again, don't forget that swimming starts this month! For each day they need a swimsuit and towel. Students will be bussed to the high school for lessons and bussed back to Park. The lessons take on place Jan. 23, 25, 30 and Feb. 1, 6, and 8.