News from Student Services
Nature Hill SMORE Addition
News from Student Services
Nature Hill Student Services Staff:
Brenda Barker, School Counselor barkerb@oasd.org
Peihua Reinke, School Counselor reinkep@oasd.org
Nicole Mara, School Social Worker maran@oasd.org
Heather Olwig, School Psychologist olwigh@oasd.org
Positive Actions to Improve School Attendance
CLASSROOM GUIDANCE
5th Grade - Peer Pressure Refusal Strategies
5th graders are learning ways to take a stand against peer pressure. These strategies include Say No in an assertive voice, Reverse the Pressure, A Better Idea, Make an Excuse, State the Facts, and Broken Record. Students are then given a variety of situations in which they get to practice these important strategies and skills. Ask them to practice using some peer pressure strategies at home with you. The more the they use the skills, the more natural it will feel when they need them during tough situations.
6th Grade - Conflict Resolution
In February and March, 6th Graders are recognizing that conflict is part of life and it is really how they handle conflict that matters. In this classroom lesson they learn more about their conflict style and which approaches are healthy and unhealthy when a conflict occurs. They will be able to show constructive conflict resolution skills through role plays and large group discussions.
6th Grade - Perseverance
In February and March, 6th graders are learning about the importance of perseverance and grit when facing obstacles. Perseverance means not giving up even when things become difficult. Students will learn about some people in history who did not give up when facing obstacles. For example, did you know Walt Disney was turned down 302 times before getting the money to create Disney world? In this guidance lesson, 6th graders will also work with a team to face a challenge. They will need to access perseverance and teamwork to complete it. Ask your 6th graders how they saved Sam, the worm who needed rescuing.
7th and 8th Grade -Your Choice
In early February, members of the Your Choice team will be coming to classrooms to educate 7th and 8th graders on the dangers of vaping, alcohol and other substances. Your Choice is a local alcohol and drug prevention agency that has been providing education in the district since 2012. For more information, please visit http://yourchoiceprevention.org/
Parents and guardians, check out the most recent blog on the Your Choice website "How can I talk to my teen about the consequences of vaping when my teen can hop on the Internet and find an article that debunks what I say?" In this post, they tackle competing information on vaping.
Small Groups at Nature Hill
Throughout the school year, Student Services staff offer the opportunity to participate in small groups. Group counseling offers students a great deal. It provides a safe place for kids to try new behaviors, share their thoughts with others, get to know others more closely, get help from students their own age, and learn that others have feelings like their own. In addition, students build the ‘soft skills’ employers are looking for: communication, listening, and decision-making. Small groups also build self-confidence and self-awareness.Groups meet 6-8 times, once a week during the school day. We do our best to make sure the same class is not missed more than twice.
Winter/Spring Group Offerings:
Building Healthy Relationships
The group provides an opportunity for girls to explore ways to develop healthy peer relationships and will look at ways relational aggression impact themselves and others. Relational aggression includes behaviors that hurt others through acts such as eye-rolling, spreading rumors or gossiping, cyber bullying, and excluding others. Many middle school girls experience relational aggression as they are striving to find their identity. The goal of the group is to create an environment where everyone feels safe and included.
Student Services staff will be facilitating these groups.
Open Lunch Group
This group is available to any student that would like to have an interactive social experience during lunch. It meets every Wednesday, and provides a quiet, smaller setting for students to eat while they engage in fun group activities with others.
Ms. Barker and Mrs. Strassburg facilitate this ongoing group.
If you would like to discuss the group options for your student, please contact Brenda Barker barkerb@oasd.org, Peihua Reinke reinkep@oasd.org, or Nicole Mara maran@oasd.org.
Gals Group
In partnership with OASD and funded by Oconomowoc Public Education Foundation, Gals Institute Facilitators are offering a 6-week resiliency building group. This group will focus on creating skill-building to lower stress and anxiety in an interactive engaging way. If you wish to have your son/daughter join this tool building skill group register by calling 262-337-9770 and make reference to 6-week Oconomowoc school program and Nature Hill. Parents will receive weekly updates on the skills we teach weekly with tips and tools to help further strengthen resiliency.
Mindful Parenting Tips
Our “Choice” as Parents
After working in the social services field for over twenty years, with most of that time working with families, I can honestly say that Parenting is one of the most difficult, yet rewarding jobs we can have in this lifetime. It is also the only job that has little to no training! Ugh! Until this changes, we are asked to “wing it” and this can be downright scary. With every “choice” we make with our kids we then tend to ask ourselves…Was I right? Was I wrong? Do I even know what I am doing? Well, I can say that through my professional AND personal experience, choices come and choices go, but there are three that definitely stand out...
First … CHOOSE communication. Even if ‘talking’ isn’t your strong suit, it is critical that we talk with our kids, even if it feels it is the last thing either of you want to do. In order to do this effectively, it is important to remember this golden rule...speak less and listen more. Be willing to talk about important subjects such as drug use, mental health issues etc... Making our kids aware of things such as family history of anxiety issues, depression, etc… could mean the difference between whether your child thinks he or she is ‘crazy’ or simply born with the ‘genes’ that can make them feel “off” at times. It could also be the reason WHY most kids turn to alcohol/drugs or sadly enough, suicide. Talking openly with them, as uncomfortable as this can be, could seriously be one of the most important things you can do for your child.
Second …CHOOSE truth. As parents, we can be very proud, almost to a fault. At times, we might feel if we admit something is wrong with our child, then we might as well be saying something is wrong with us as well. This simply is not true. Being honest with yourself and your child with what is TRULY going on, can be difficult and uncomfortable, yet necessary. Turning a blind eye might make things easier in the short term, but definitely makes things far harder in the long run!
Lastly, CHOOSE forgiveness. Be patient with yourself and patient with your children. We can be so hard on ourselves and our kids that we create unrealistic expectations. As humans, we are not perfect and we are expected to make mistakes! This is where we gain our greatest lessons and wisdom. We of course don’t want to invite these situations, but when they arise, we need to be kind enough with ourselves and our kids in order to see them as opportunities for growth.
At the end of the day, none of us are exempt from making choices ..Parents and children alike. With choice comes consequence. Whether the outcome be favorable or not, we must learn to continue to see every misstep and victory as a new lesson learned and a new sense of strength in your relationship with your child and with yourself. So continue to communicate, be truthful and forgive without fear.
Submitted by:
Karen Kujawski
Outreach/Support Coordinator
262-364-8730
The Lighthouse Project: A Program of NAMI Waukesha, Inc.
Anxious Child(ren)?
On their website, Copingskills4kids discusses the "coping brain". All humans have these different functions of their brain that the website lays out. For example, the reptilian brain, the emotional brain, and the thinking brain. Student services staff have been working with students to discuss these different characteristics of the brain and teach students skills to help push through the reptilian and emotional brain. Though these two facets of our brain are important and keep us safe, at times they cause us to overreact and do without thinking. Finding strategies and ways to work through difficulty ultimately help our children regulate and find solutions to their problems.
If you would like to learn more about the information provided above or would like to find ways to discuss this at home with your children please reach out to one of the student services staff or check out this website, http://copingskills4kids.net/The_Coping_Brain.html
8th Grade Classroom Lesson
Ms Mara and Ms Barker spoke to 8th graders in January to share a variety of strategies to cope with stress while in the classroom. The lesson discussed the different ways our brains respond to situations and how to get back to our 'thinking brain'. Some of the strategies include 5-4-3-2-1 (engaging the senses), Lazy 8 breathing, mandala coloring, and other mindful ways of thinking and being. Your students created a toolbox of strategies they could use while in the classroom to stay engaged in their learning. Talk with your students about the tools they are using to get back to their thinking brain!
Local Resources
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lAL60c163Ku7d3xbwVChmTDix7qXQN6KFwjSHi9WvwI/edit?usp=sharing