Horace Mann PBIS Family Newsletter
2nd Issue - April 2020
Overview of Our April Meeting
You may remember our first newsletter going out during the first week of March. In the newsletter we shared information about PBIS and what this looks like at the Horace Mann School.
PBIS stands for Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports and it is grounded with the intention of creating systems in our school that proactively teach expected behaviors to students using consistent language and routines. PBIS believes that when we also develop systems for identifying these expected behaviors that we purposefully encourage students to engage in the schools' norms.
One topic that we spent a great deal of our time talking about was managing school expectations at home. Our family group has 3 Horace Mann parent representatives and they were incredibly helpful in highlighting some of the challenges that you are facing at home.
With this current remote learning situation, PBIS within our community is more important than ever. Our hope for this newsletter is to highlight ways you can use PAWS in your home now and to reassure all of you that...
You are all doing an amazing job and to please not worry. Think about what your children need for the current moment and reach out to us if you have any concerns or questions. We can do this together!
PAWS Home Matrix
P - Positive Mindset
A - Accepting Everyone
W - Working Together
S - Showing Respect
As you can see in the matrix, there are many ways to use this. We have filled this one out for you, but if you would prefer a blank one, please feel free to use this blank one to identify your own scheduled times.
Following April break, Horace Mann teachers will begin highlighting PAWS in their weekly communication and online experiences more and more (you may have already noticed it) and it would be beneficial for all of us, for them to see this consistency of language. Pleas reach out to any member of our team, if you have any questions about this matrix or about setting up a different one for your home.
HM Family Support - Let's Talk About the Matrix!!
The session will be facilitated by our district Social and Emotional Learning Instructional Specialist Jessica Patti, and will on Sunday, April 26 from 7-7:45pm. This is a Google Meet session that is geared toward adults.
Parents/guardians can RSVP via this link. Anyone that RSVPs will receive additional information on how to access the meeting and general norms just head of the meeting.
Sunday, Apr 26, 2020, 07:00 PM
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Social Emotional Learning
In Melrose, we follow the Center for Academic and Social Emotional Learning's (CASEL) 5 competencies. They are Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Management, and Responsible Decision Making.
As taken from the GettingSmart website, "SEL in the home means that families can use moments that happen organically to grow students’ SEL skills. Trips to the grocery store, playing a board game, responding to a family experience, opportunities to meet new and different people while out and about, and other experiences that happen every day add breadth and depth to social-emotional learning instruction and practice. In short, homes and their surrounding communities are ripe with opportunities for social-emotional learning growth. This type of highly personalized learning allows families to utilize students’ strengths as SEL superpowers and fill in gaps that emerge in everyday life, empowering students to independently apply these lessons as needed.
To extend social-emotional learning into the home, [especially during remote learning], families can:
1. Create avenues for learning.
Use family experiences as springboards for conversations. When visiting a park with your family, watch and observe your child. How does your child meet new friends? How do they respond when they’re frustrated? How do they share or take turns? Notice what your child does well, and find something they need to refine. Make a mental note of specific moments and even take a few pictures. Use these to help your child reflect on their own social-emotional skills and growth over time.
Books are another platform for conversations around social-emotional learning. While there are a plethora of books about specific SEL topics, the books you already have in your home contain examples of friendship, conflict, and dialogue. These books can serve as visual models for social experiences. Talk about the characters and what is happening in the story to give your child access to the words and language used to describe different feelings.
2. Anticipate and preview experiences.
Talk aloud about what a particular experience might be like to build your child’s ability to recognize their own feelings and develop their own methods to prepare for a situation.
3. Listen.
When your child has a tough moment, create a space to listen. Listening is a simple and easy way to validate the feelings that kids experience, regardless of the size of the problem.
4. Reflect.
As things happen in the world around you—whether it be a relatively insignificant moment at a sports game or something that makes national headlines—engage your child in conversations that help them identify problems and design solutions. When kids work through the problem-solving process with you, they grow their ability to think critically on their own.
5. Self-talk.
When you’re feeling frustrated in the grocery store checkout line and take a deep breath to keep your cool, invite your child into your world by using self-talk. Say, “We are in a hurry, and this line is not moving very fast. I am feeling frustrated, so I’m going to take a deep breath.” This quick exchange teaches your child words to associate with their feelings as well as strategies like taking deep breaths. SEL does not need to be complex to be effective. The words you use will become your child’s inner monologue when they’re faced with similar situations.
6. Personalize your conversations.
Your family’s background and experiences will inform how you talk with your child about their world. The more you personalize conversations about social-emotional learning, the more relevant that learning becomes.
7. Build up your child.
Social-emotional learning is about helping your child learn and apply the skills and understanding needed to manage their feelings. When your child is struggling with something new, remind them of a time they worked hard to overcome obstacles. By shining a light on your child’s past successes, their path forward is a bit clearer.
8. Join forces.
Connect with others, and don’t hesitate to access tools available to you. There is no right or wrong way to partner with your child as they develop social and emotional skills. Add to your parenting toolkit with resources such as:
- Parachute: a user-friendly, research-backed parenting app that provides easy access to solutions for common parenting challenges
- Mind Yeti: a mindfulness app with guided sessions that help kids destress, focus, get along with others, and relax
- Confident Parents, Confident Kids: a site with parent and child resources that support social-emotional development
- Parent Toolkit: a site with information and articles about all aspects of child development
Did you see our HM staff video?
A reminder of who our family PBIS team is...
We are a well represented group that believes in establishing a solid home to school connection. Our group includes:
*Jessica Hoffman - parent of kindergartner, 1st, and 4th grader
*Jill Tully - parent of 4th grader and two HM graduates, MPS instructional coach
*Marcy Solomon - 1st grade teacher
*Laurel Neubauer - 4th grade teacher
*Steve Goodwin - Principal
*Jessica Patti - PBIS coach for building and district, MPS social emotional learning coach
The norms that we follow are:
* Be Curious
* Speak and Listen with Respect to Ensure All Voices are Heard
* Be Mindful of Our Time Together
* Be Open to New Ideas
* Consider How Ideas Impact All Stakeholders