School Counselor Connection
November 2021
Tier I -Classroom Guidance from Second Step: Kindergarten, First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Grade
Dear Family Members,
Over the course of this school year kindergarten through fifth grade students at Whitney will be learning about Growth Mindset & Goal Setting, Empathy & Kindness, Emotion Management, and Problem Solving using the Second Step digital curriculum. To further the discussion at home, please take a look at the family communications below regarding the corresponding lessons. To make the most of the family communications please check with your child to make sure they have received the lesson. Please contact me if you have further questions. My phone number is (440) 268-5971. My email is eschibley@scsmustangs.org.November Lesson #1
Kindergarten: Lesson 8-Sometimes We Feel Mad
First Grade: Lesson 6-Noticing Feelings
Second Grade: Lesson 8-Help Yourself Feel Better
Third Grade: Lesson 7-How Angry?
Fourth Grade: Lesson 7-What is Rethinking?
Fifth Grade: Lesson 6-Strong Emotions
November Lesson # 2
Kindergarten: Lesson 9-We Can Feel Calm
First Grade: Lesson 8-Feeling Calm
Second Grade: Lesson 9-Differennt Feelings
Third Grade: Lesson 8-Take a Break
Fourth Grade: Lesson 8-How to Rethink
Fifth Grade: Lesson 7-What is Stress
Kindergarten
Lesson 8: Sometimes We Feel Mad
Summary
In this week’s lesson, your child will learn to use body language and context clues to figure out when someone feels mad. They’ll practice looking at the person’s face and body, as well as thinking about what’s going on in the situation.
Try This at Home
Encourage your child to notice when others around them feel mad. Have them practice using body language and context clues to figure out when family members, friends, or characters in books, movies, or on TV might be feeling mad.
Lesson 9: We Can Feel Calm
Summary
In this week’s lesson, your child will learn two ways to help themselves feel calm when they encounter strong feelings: asking for help and slow breathing.
Try This at Home
Ask your child to tell you some ways they’ve learned to feel calm when they get upset. Have them teach you how to use slow breathing to feel calm.
Imagine Neighborhood
Listen with your child to the Imagine Neighborhood podcast, Season 1, Episode 2: The Clouds Are Made of Cake.
Also the short summer episode: Summer Slow Breaths.
First Grade
Lesson 6: Noticing Feelings
Summary
In this week’s lesson, your child will practice using body language and context clues (looking at the person’s face and body, thinking about what’s going on in the situation) to figure out how someone is feeling.
Try This at Home
Ask your child to tell you how they think others around them might be feeling, for example a sibling, or a character in a story, a movie, or a TV show.
Imagine Neighborhood
Listen with your child to the Imagine Neighborhood podcast, Season 2, Episode 5: Alakazambra!
Lesson 8: Feeling Calm
Summary
In this week’s lesson, your child will learn to use body language and context clues to figure out when someone feels calm. They’ll practice looking at the person’s face and body, as well as thinking about what’s going on in the situation.
Try This at Home
Encourage your child to notice when others around them feel calm. Have them practice using body language and context clues to figure out when family members, friends, or characters in books, movies, or on TV might be feeling calm.
Imagine Neighborhood
Listen with your child to the Imagine Neighborhood podcast bonus episode: Mr. Music Man Lindsay Jones Calming Music.
Second Grade
Lesson 8: Help Yourself Feel Better
Summary
In this week’s lesson, your child will learn how to use positive self-talk to help themselves feel better when they’re upset, disappointed, or worried.
Try This at Home
Ask your child what they want to tell themselves when they’re having a tough day. Encourage them to use positive self-talk at home.
Imagine Neighborhood
Listen with your child to the Imagine Neighborhood podcast, Season 1, Episode 7: Macho’s New Spaceship.
Lesson 9: Different Feelings
Summary
In this week’s lesson, your child will learn that people can have different feelings in the same situation because of their experiences.
Try This at Home
Ask your child for an example of something that people can have different feelings about. Talk about the reasons people might have different feelings about it.
Third Grade
Lesson 7: How Angry?
Summary
In this week’s lesson, your child will learn words for three degrees of anger: annoyed, angry, and furious.
Try This at Home
Ask your child to explain the differences between feeling annoyed, angry, and furious.
Lesson 8: Take a Break
Summary
In this week’s lesson, your child will learn how, when, and where to take a break in different situations as a way to manage a strong emotion.
Try This at Home
Discuss where and how your child can take a break at home. Then ask your child how they could take a break in place, for example, in the car or at the grocery store.
Fourth Grade
Lesson 7: What Is Rethinking?
Summary
In this week’s lesson, your child will learn what it means to rethink a situation and how it can help them calm strong emotions.
Try This at Home
Tell your child about a time when rethinking a situation, or thinking about it in a different way, helped you feel better. Encourage your child to talk about times in their lives when rethinking could have helped them.
Lesson 8: How to Rethink
Summary
In this week’s lesson, your child will learn about questions they can ask to rethink situations and they’ll practice asking these questions using made-up stories.
Try This at Home
Ask your child, “What questions could you ask yourself to rethink a situation?” (Questions might include, “What happened?” “Has this ever happened to anyone else?” and “What’s something good that happened?”) Talk about how those questions can help them think differently about a situation.
Fifth Grade
Lesson 6: Strong Emotions
Summary
In this week’s lesson, your child will learn that it’s possible to anticipate recurring situations that cause them to feel strong emotions so they can plan ways to manage those emotions in the future.
Try This at Home
Tell your child about a recurring situation in your life that typically causes you to feel a strong emotion, like anger or frustration. Ask your child to tell you about similar situations in their life.
Lesson 7: What Is Stress?
Summary
In this week’s lesson, your child will identify signs of stress, situations that can cause them to feel stress, and strategies they can use to manage feelings of stress.
Try This at Home
Ask your child what their body feels like when they’re stressed and what things cause them to feel stress. Share your own experiences with stress and what you do to manage it.
Love and Logic
The Career Game Explorer
The Career Explorer allows students to investigate their strengths and interests as they are asked a series of personality questions. These booklets will follow the fifth graders as they transition to Strongsville Middle School.