Second Grade Program
I am working with the 2nd grade team on a positive thinking skills unit, called Free The Horses. Free The Horses is an adventure story that takes place during medieval times. The characters in the story learned many character -building lessons while trying to reach their goal (to free the horses). Your child will bring home a golden spiral of success, and 3 valuable keys – the key of courage, the key of responsibility, and the key to cooperation. There is an important message on the back of each key.
In the beginning of the adventure, we met Kelly, Jerome the Gnome and his positive attitude, Yes-Yes who took us into the Land of Think. There we learned about the power of positive thinking. Students practiced turning negative thinking into positive thinking. Then we entered The Land of Feel and The Land of Do where students saw that what we think determines how we feel, and what we do in a situation. Ask your child if he can tell you about the Think – Feel – Do connection. Hopefully, she will tell you that when we use positive self talk or thinking, we feel good about ourselves and are, therefore, more likely to do well on the task at hand.
Next, we entered the Forest of Confusion where we found the pieces of our spiral of success (BELONGING, LEARNING, and CONTRIBUTING). In order to find the first piece of the spiral, we had to realize that family and friends are important. Clever Beaver helped us find the second piece of the spiral by teaching us that we learn new skills by taking one step at a time and it’s okay to make mistakes as long as we learn from our mistakes. The Able One helped us learn that we all have a lot to give. It’s not what your have, it’s what you do with what you have that is important.
The students find the keys to courage, responsibility, and cooperation. This program defines courage as being able to accept our fears but not allowing the fears to stop us from learning new skills, make new friends, or ask for what we want. The theme of responsibility builds on the concept of choice and the consequences of the choices we make. The students learned that when they cooperate with each other by utilizing each of our special talents, we are more likely to accomplish a difficult task.
The final scene took place at the school assembly where Kelly and the characters in her dream share the lessons they learned in the dream adventure. This segment in the story emphasized the uniqueness of each of us. Students were given an assignment titled, I Am Special to complete as a follow-up activity. Please feel free to call with questions about the confidence building program.
In the beginning of the adventure, we met Kelly, Jerome the Gnome and his positive attitude, Yes-Yes who took us into the Land of Think. There we learned about the power of positive thinking. Students practiced turning negative thinking into positive thinking. Then we entered The Land of Feel and The Land of Do where students saw that what we think determines how we feel, and what we do in a situation. Ask your child if he can tell you about the Think – Feel – Do connection. Hopefully, she will tell you that when we use positive self talk or thinking, we feel good about ourselves and are, therefore, more likely to do well on the task at hand.
Next, we entered the Forest of Confusion where we found the pieces of our spiral of success (BELONGING, LEARNING, and CONTRIBUTING). In order to find the first piece of the spiral, we had to realize that family and friends are important. Clever Beaver helped us find the second piece of the spiral by teaching us that we learn new skills by taking one step at a time and it’s okay to make mistakes as long as we learn from our mistakes. The Able One helped us learn that we all have a lot to give. It’s not what your have, it’s what you do with what you have that is important.
The students find the keys to courage, responsibility, and cooperation. This program defines courage as being able to accept our fears but not allowing the fears to stop us from learning new skills, make new friends, or ask for what we want. The theme of responsibility builds on the concept of choice and the consequences of the choices we make. The students learned that when they cooperate with each other by utilizing each of our special talents, we are more likely to accomplish a difficult task.
The final scene took place at the school assembly where Kelly and the characters in her dream share the lessons they learned in the dream adventure. This segment in the story emphasized the uniqueness of each of us. Students were given an assignment titled, I Am Special to complete as a follow-up activity. Please feel free to call with questions about the confidence building program.
Second Grade Lunches
Each 2nd grade student will have a turn to eat lunch in the counseling office. In addition to getting to know the children better, I want students to feel comfortable coming to me when they need help problem solving. In addition, I like to know how the students are adjusting to 2nd grade. We measure, on a scale of 1 – 10 (10 being the best), how much they are enjoying school. If your child rated school 6 or below, we made plans to eat together again and do some problem solving. We know from research that the more students feel comfortable in their surroundings, the more they learn.
Please contact your child’s teacher if you have concerns about him or her adjusting to the 2nd grade. I am also available to help. I can be reached at 410-313-5512 or [email protected].
Please contact your child’s teacher if you have concerns about him or her adjusting to the 2nd grade. I am also available to help. I can be reached at 410-313-5512 or [email protected].