Monclova Primary
Weekly Bulletin
Events for Week of November 27 - December 3
Happy Birthday, Laney!
Zoo visits all week
Monday, November 27
Jeans day
ADAI Presentations - 9:00 am (AM K, Gr. 1 and 3); 10:00 am (Gr. 2 and 4)
Tuesday, November 28
Jeans day
Potluck - 11:00 - 1:15 pm
Wednesday, November 29
Thursday, November 30
Friday, December 1
Staff Holiday Party - 5:00 pm
Announcements
Thank you:
Staff for another round of successful parent teacher conferences!
Fay for organizing the meditation challenge and keeping mental health at the forefront for the staff!
Reminders:
If anyone needs craft sticks, see Alyssa Hodge or the Makerspace. We had thousands of them donated. These sticks would be great in STEM bins, use for STEM projects or other craft projects.
ADAI is helping us celebrate Laney's 3rd birthday by giving presentations about the process dogs go through to be come therapy dogs.
9:00 am - AM K, Gr. 1 and Gr. 3
10:00 am - Gr. 2 and Gr. 4
Please remind your students about bringing in 3 quarters for Laney's birthday rather than gifts. Each morning, after announcements, students will be called down to the community room to put their quarters in a bucket, pet Laney and tell her "Happy Birthday."
Sign up for the Staff Christmas party on the shared Google doc. This is a fun night raising money for a good cause. The money raised this year will be donated to the Spanbauer family to help with travel expenses associated with Robby's care and help the family have a Merry Christmas. Get your quarters out and ready to go!
The MAPS Barnes and Noble fundraiser is Monday, December 4. Please get your wish lists completed. These will be available for families to purchase books for your classroom.
Words of Wisdom and Action..............................
Be thankful: Science says gratitude is good for your health
If you need one more reason to be thankful, here it is. More and more researchers are finding that gratitude doesn’t just make you feel like a better person, it’s actually good for your health.
“Clinical trials indicate that the practice of gratitude can have dramatic and lasting effects in a person’s life,” said Robert A. Emmons, professor of psychology at UC Davis. “It can lower blood pressure, improve immune function and facilitate more efficient sleep.”
One recent study from the University of California San Diego’s School of Medicine found that people who were more grateful actually had better heart health, specifically less inflammation and healthier heart rhythms.
“They showed a better well-being, a less depressed mood, less fatigue and they slept better,” said the study’s author, Paul J. Mills. “When I am more grateful, I feel more connected with myself and with my environment. That’s the opposite of what stress does.”
Another study found that gratitude can boost your immune system. Researchers at the universities of Utah and Kentucky observed that stressed-out law students who characterized themselves as optimistic actually had more disease-fighting cells in their bodies.
But Emmons said there’s even more evidence.
People who keep a gratitude journal have a reduced dietary fat intake — as much as 25 percent lower. Stress hormones like cortisol are 23 percent lower in grateful people. And having a daily gratitude practice could actually reduce the effects of aging to the brain.
Being thankful has such a profound effect because of the feelings that go along with it, Emmons said.
“Gratitude works because, as a way of perceiving and interpreting life, it recruits other positive emotions that have direct physical benefits, most likely through the immune system or endocrine system.”
Research shows that when we think about what we appreciate, the parasympathetic or calming part of the nervous system is triggered and that can have protective benefits on the body, including decreasing cortisol levels and perhaps increasing oxytocin, the bonding hormone involved in relationships that make us feel so good.
But if you’re still not feeling the love, experts say gratitude is something you can learn.
“Some people may not be grateful by nature but it is a habit you can get accustomed to,” said Dr. Norman Rosenthal, a psychiatrist and author of “Winter Blues.”
“One very good way is being aware of comparing up. It’s a formula for unhappiness because you can always find a person who is more advantaged than you are.”
Mills says all you have to do is think about being grateful and you’ll become more grateful.
A good way to do that is by journaling.
“Some people say they don’t have anything to be grateful for,” Mills said. “If you take such a person to find one little thing to be grateful for and focus on that, you find over time that the feeling of gratitude can transform the way they see their lives.”