OES Guidance Newsletter
January 2016
Start of a New Year!!
In Guidance, we get a magazine called "Teaching Tolerance." In the magazine, they have a article that describes a "Buddy Bench." A "Buddy Bench is used to help create a positive atmosphere for students while at recess. If a student is feeling lonely and/or doesn't have anyone to play with, the student is to sit on the bench so other students will see them and want to play with them. It's popularity was started by a first grader named Christian Bucks (Vandermeulen, 2016). The "Buddy Bench" has been installed in at lease 1000 elementary schools on six different continents (Vandermeulen, 2016). Some would think this would cause bullying situations but, in fact, it can help to decrease bullying incidents (Vandermeulen, 2016). If you would like more information about the "Buddy Bench," you can go the following website: http://buddybench.org/. If you would like to read the artilce, you can go to the following website: http://www.tolerance.org/magazine/number-52-spring-2016/feature/wanted-playground-buddy.
They "Buddy Bench" idea poses two questions:
1. Do you think the "Buddy Bench" would be a good addition to OES?
2. Do you think students would benefit from having the "Buddy Bench"?
We have a google form where we would like you to answer the above questions. PLEASE answer the questions honestly. A link to the survey is here: http://goo.gl/forms/RB5LKzcWKR
What's Happening This Month?
Guidance Lessons
For fourth and fifth graders, we talked about different situations that related to win-win. We introduced this by having the students watch a video made by other elementary school students. The video described the following situations: Lose-Lose, Lose-Win, Win-Lose, and Win-Win. We then went through the different situations by having them read different scenarios.
The next topic we covered was diversity. With all the grade levels, we talked about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and how important he was to the world. We also discussed how his dream led to him changing the world. We watched a few Kid President videos on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his dreams. We also watched the a video with someone reading the book "A Taste of Colored Water" by Matt Faulkner. The book was set in the time period when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was alive. We then did an activity where the students discussed a dream they had for the world. An example of that is below.