Greenlodge Weekly Update 2/12/2020
#ReachForYourBest
Important Dates:
Monday, February 17-21st - February Vacation
Tuesday, Feb 25 - PTO Meeting 7PM
Tuesday, March 3 - No School - Professional Development/Presidential Primary Elections
Thursday, March 5 - Greenlodge School Council 4PM
Friday, March 13 - DEF Spelling Bee, 6PM at DMS
Saturday, March 14 - Noble and Greenough - Ice Skating at Bliss Flodd Omni Rink 2PM
Wednesday, March 25 - Lifetouch Spring Portraits
Friday, March 25 - Term 2 Report Cards Issued
Friday, March 25 - All Town Chorus Concert (5th grade performing) 7PM @DHS
Tuesday, March 31 - MCAS Testing begins - see schedule below
Mark Your Calendars for this Year's PTO Meetings - Tuesdays 7:00-8:00 PM @Greenlodge
February 25 ~ March 24 ~ April 28 ~ May 19
June 16 - End of year elections and thank you!
News and Information...
Let's Give Back Together!
25% of Sales will be donated to Greenlodge!
Valentines!
Lost and Found
Arrival and Dismissal Traffic Reminders
In the afternoon, the driveway circle is CLOSED between 2:45 and 3:30 PM. Parking is only available on Greenlodge Street above or below the driveways. The section on Greenlodge Street above the flagpole is for loading and unloading only.
Please use the crosswalks! Cutting across the driveway is a safety hazard at all times of the day. Thank you for your adherence to these safety requests.
MCAS 2020 Dates - Grades 3-5
Helpful Links
SixFlags Reading Log
Internet Safety
Greenlodge Battle of the Books
YMCA Before and Aftercare Spaces Available
Gift of Failure: Fostering Resilience in Kids
In an effort to be highly responsive to our children’s well being, we as parents aren’t giving them the chance to experience failure — or the opportunity to learn to solve their own problems. Jessica Lahey lays out a blueprint with targeted advice for handling homework, report cards, social dynamics, and sports. Most importantly, she sets forth a plan to help parents learn to step back so that children can grow up to be successful, resilient, and self-reliant adults.
Come hear from Jessica at this complimentary evening program!
Notes from the Nurse
Friendly reminder: please do not attach any food or candy to Valentine’s Day cards. Also, please do not bring any treats for the classroom such as cookies or cupcakes. We have several students with food allergies in the building. Thank you!
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Did you know the Greenlodge School Nurse has a website? If you missed a past installment of my weekly newsletter input, click here. The website is in its early stages, but feel free to take a look here. Let me know if there is any health information you would like to see on the website.
The Dedham School District also has a Health Services Website here. There is great information on current health issues and links to health forms.
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Please remember the following while we are still in flu season:
Your child should remain at home for treatment and observation if they have any of these symptoms:
Fever (greater than 100 degrees). Your child should remain at home until they have been fever free for at least 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medicine such as Tylenol or Ibuprofen.
Vomiting - remain at home until 24 hours free of vomiting
Diarrhea - remain at home until 24 hours free of diarrhea
Chills
General malaise or feelings of fatigue, discomfort, weakness or muscle aches
Frequent congested (wet) or croupy cough
Feel free to call me if you have any questions.
From: Kate Duckworth, RN, Greenlodge School Nurse, 781-310-4248
100th Day!!!
The Buzz from Ms. Blais
Anxiety is universal and adaptive. It keeps us safe, prepares our body for action, motivates us and can help us do our best in performance situations. It is only when people become anxious at times when there is no real danger—often called “false alarms”—that anxiety becomes a problem. Dr. Kathryn Boger, Program Director of the Mclean Anxiety Mastery Program (MAMP), shared the following helpful information about anxious behaviors during her recent visit to the district.
Avoidance and Anxiety
When a child expects to feel anxious in a situation, she/he often feels the urge to avoid it. If she/he does avoid the feared situation, she/he might feel relief in the short-term, but in the long-term this avoidance makes anxiety stronger. Facing fears, or approaching, is the best way to break this habit of avoiding. By approaching, your child will have a chance to see that:
This situation is almost never as scary as her/his worries predicted it would be.
Even if that situation does not go as hope, she/he can get through it.
Your child is strong! She/he can tolerate feeling anxious while staying in a challenging situation.
By staying in an anxiety-inducing situation long enough, her/his distress will naturally go down. No one has ever stayed anxious forever!
Reassurance-Seeking
Kids often want reassurance when they are anxious. Reassurance-seeking behaviors may look like repeated questions about an anxiety-inducing situation, statements that they “can’t do” something because they feel anxious, or request for your help in leaving an anxiety-inducing situation. Unfortunately, when caregivers pay attention to these behaviors, they accidentally strengthen anxiety in the long-term. If your child engages in these behaviors, develop a plan with her/him to decrease reassurance-seeking:
Gently inform her/him that these behaviors are evidence that anxiety is bullying her/him.
“When you ask me many times what time I’ll pick you up from school, I think that’s anxiety trying to boss you around.”
Plan a small response to reassurance-seeking behaviors that you and your child agree on.
“The next time you ask me a question more than once, I’m going to give you a thumbs-up to show you that I hear you, but I won’t answer.”
Eventually, update your plan with your child to stop attending to reassurance-seeking behaviors altogether.
“You’ve done a great job accepting my thumbs up for a few weeks now! Now when I hear the same question more than once, I’m not going to respond at all.”
Praise Approaching Behavior
As a caregiver, you can support your child’s brave behavior by giving lots of positive attention and praise when your child approaches a feared situation. This could look like:
Giving high fives, hugs, or pats on the back when your child approaches.
Planning small rewards your child can earn when she/he successfully faces an anxiety-inducing situation, especially if she/he still feels anxious when she/he faces it.
Labeled praising her/his efforts. Labeled praises name the specific anxiety-fighting approach behavior your child did:
“I’m proud of you for making it to school on time this morning!”
“You did a great job speaking in a loud voice in your play tonight!”
“Good work taking your test today even though you were nervous!”
Note: Sometimes anxiety can make it difficult for kids to tolerate praise. If this is true for your child, the other kinds of positive attention listed above may work better.
Stay tuned for more information about strategies for family members next week!
Source: McClean Hospital Harvard Medical School Affiliate, Mclean Anxiety Mastery Program (MAMP)
Celebrating Diversity and Cultural Awareness at Greenlodge
- This year's theme for Black History month is "African Americans and the Vote." 2020, an important general election year, is also landmark year for voting rights. 2020 marks the 150th anniversary of the Fifteenth Amendment (1870) which gave the right of black men to vote following the Civil War. The fight for African American suffrage raged on for decades.Many brave and impassioned Americans protested, marched, were arrested and even died working toward voting equality. In 1963 and 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. brought hundreds of black people to the courthouse in Selma, Alabama to register. When they were turned away, Dr. King organized and led protests that finally turned the tide of American political opinion. In 1964 the Twenty-fourth Amendment prohibited the use of poll taxes. In 1965, the Voting Rights Act directed the Attorney General to enforce the right to vote for African Americans.
- At our All School Community Meeting on Thursday, we will be reading The ABC's of Black History. Students will be given a follow-up at home activity to choose an important figure from black history and create a commemorative stamp.
- Your child might enjoy learning more about famous black Americans in the book ABC's of Black Inventors
Pictures of the Week...
Light and Color Enrichment in 1P
Seeing Things In A Whole New Way!
First Grade Artists
Newsletter Translations
About Us
Email: abodkins@dedham.k12.ma.us
Website: https://www.dedham.k12.ma.us/greenlodge
Location: 191 Greenlodge Street, Dedham, MA, USA
Phone: 781-310-4000
Facebook: facebook.com/GreenlodgeDedham
Twitter: @GLDGESchool