SafeTalk (1st, 3rd, & 5th grades)
Comprehensive, child-friendly workshop designed to help keep children safe.

Uses the curriculum of the Child Assault Prevention Project.

Focuses on empowerment & encourages children to be “safe, strong, & free”.

Combines guided discussion with role-plays that focus on situations children frequently encounter, like bullies, strangers & known adults who may behave inappropriately.  Teaches children how to recognize & respond to a potentially harmful situation & how to express their concerns to a trusted adult.

Feeling Safe (Kindergarten)

The program promotes personal safety, teaching children how to be assertive & the importance of not keeping secrets that are scary, harmful &/or painful.
The program is developmentally appropriate & conducted by Certified Sexual Assault Crisis Counselors.
“Feeling Safe” is safety education, not sex education.
Parents & teachers are partners in the process & we welcome your involvement. To find out more about these programs, you are invited to attend a district-wide evening parent orientation meeting on Thursday, November 6th from 7:00-9:00PM (Darien Board of Education Conference Hall, 35 Leroy Ave).
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In an effort to promote the safety of all our children, we look forward to your participation in this very important event.

Parents that cannot join us in person can watch this short promotional video about the Feeling Safe program: http://goo.gl/JOFNI9.

Additionally, parents can contact The Center and sign up for a webinar at: 203.487.0663 or j.buchanan@thecenter-ct.org

Sincerely,

Lavi Ben-Zvi

Coordinator for Student & Family Social Services

Darien Public Schools LBEN-ZVI@darienps.org

THANK YOU for all of the great books from the book fair.  I appreciate it!


REMINDERS:
Halloween Share - Friday, October 31st at 2:15.  Parade to follow! 
Please no masks or toy weapons. 
Label ALL parts of your child's costume.


During Reading Workshop readers...

• Practice telling what happened in the beginning, middle and end of the story.
• Stop and think about the characters actions and feelings.
• Practice a Rockstar Retell:

- 1 guitar - give the characters in the story.
- 2 guitars - give the characters and their actions.
- 3 guitars - give the characters, their actions, and their feelings.


During Writing Workshop writers...

• Write informational texts across pages - we began writing in 3 page booklets.
• Use patterns in their writing; just like real authors.
• Work with others to get new ideas for their writing.
  

During Math Workshop we continued counting and combining numbers to 10.  We completed Halloween counting activities.  We learned a new math workshop game called Roll and Record.  We practiced Grab and Count, as well as our other center activities.


Social Studies/Science:   Our 2nd Steps lesson practiced following directions using self-talk.  A strategy that encourages children to repeat directions quietly as they complete tasks.  We started talking about Halloween and all of the excitement that comes along with it:)

Everyone enjoyed our first Marble Jar Celebration!!  We loved being comfy and cozy in our PJs for the day. 


We learned that Readers...

• Share their thoughts as they read.
• Think about how and why a character is feeling a certain way.
• Act out the character's actions and give the character a voice.
• Make connections between characters in different books.

We learned that Writers...

• Go back and add more information to their writing.
• Add fancy labels to their illustration.
• Say the word, stretch it, hear it, and write it.

We learned that mathematicians COUNT!...

• Count objects with one-to-one correspondence.
• Double check their count.
• Draw a representation of the quantity.
• Count backwards and identify numbers.

Social Studies/Science:  We continued our study of the 5 senses.  We learned more about the Kimochis in our classroom (emotion pillows) and started identifying different feelings. 


2nd Steps - We practiced focusing and using self-talk to remember instructions (quietly repeating 3-step directions).


HALLOWEEN SHARE - October 31st at 2:15 in the common room!

No School Monday, October 13th!

Readers can see more with their buddy!  One of the books we read was Harry the Dirty Dog...

• Look closely at the picture and tell the story.
• Figure out the problem and solution.
• Talk about the character and how she/he is feeling.
• Notice sight words in all of their reading.

During Writing Workshop we learned that writers...

Are like scientists - they notice details in the world around them.

Take nature walks and collect items to look closely at and write about.

Look closely at items and draw all the details - shape, color, even the tiny hole in a leaf.

Label like a scientist using words like; pointy, bumpy, flat, thick.

During Math we began Unit 2 in Investigations. We looked at and discussed counting books. We talked about what we count in class, when we count and why. We count...to take attendance, how many people are buying lunch, how many sunny, rainy, or cloudy days on our weather graph, how many days we have been in school. We created our own counting books too!  Students matched numerals, number words, and quantities.




Social Studies - Our 2nd Steps Lesson worked on focusing.  We discussed Christopher Columbus and why we celebrate Columbus Day.  We continued exploring with our 5-senses.




The Halloween Share is Friday, October 31st at 2:15pm!

Picture Retakes

Picture retake day is Wednesday, Oct. 29.

 

Retake Procedure:  Students having a retake need to bring back their portrait package, minus the class picture, and give it to the photographer on retake day.  It is important that the student brings his/her package to the photographer because there is a barcode on the envelope that needs to be scanned.

 

Happy October!

During Reading Workshop we learned that readers...

• Read emergent storybooks like Corduroy!
• Think about who the characters are, what they are doing, how they are feeling, and what the trouble is.
• Read closely to find sight words and patterns in the story.
• Talk about the most important part with their buddy.

During Writing Workshop we learned that writers...

• Fix and fancy up their writing by adding to the words and pictures.
• Write across more than one page - everyone began using lined paper and writing in booklets.
• Say the word slowly, listen for the sound, write the sound.
• Write about their nature walk using their 5-senses:)

During Math Workshop completed surveys and discussed them.  Surveys included - are you the youngest in your family? Are you a boy or girl?  We finished our unit on sorting and began a new unit on counting.


**Rough drafts from our Launching Unit were sent home this week.


Science/Social Studies - We continued our exploration of the 5-senses.  We used all of our senses (except for taste) on our nature walk.  We looked closely at half of an apple, and labeled a diagram of an apple.  Our 2nd Steps lessons was on focusing.