Dear Families,
In an effort to highlight the impact that name calling and bullying leaves on individuals, HEDP is turning Governor Patricks "No Name Calling Day" into a week of fun easy to participate activities for our entire program. “No Name Calling Week” at HEDP will consist of one phrase a day for all Pre-K-grade 6 children to help build awareness, understanding and compassion for those who may be affected by name calling. According to the anti-bullying law, the purpose of No Name-Calling Day is to “increase public awareness of the devastating effects of verbal bullying, to encourage students to use positive dialog and pledge not to use hurtful names on this designated day. The day “promotes tolerance and respect for differences and to reaffirm the commitment of the citizens of the Commonwealth to basic human rights and dignity.” At HEDP, we are extending this one day into a week full of reminders that will encourage one another to be kind to others and use meaningful words and displays of compassion and respect. Monday, January 23 Put a Cap on Name Calling: All HEDP children are encouraged to wear hats to support the fight against name-calling and bullying. Hats will be worn in HEDP after 2:20pm since this is a HEDP special. Tuesday, January 24 You Can’t Take It Back: HEDP children will be allowed to wear their shirts backwards to help reinforce the message that once you say something, you can’t take it back. Wednesday, January 25 Take a Stand and Lend a Hand: HEDP children will be encouraged to help others and give someone a message of proud praise or kind compliment so we can add it to our caring chain. The HEDP Caring Chain will be used as a visual reminder of how kind we can be to one another. The entire group will measure how long the caring chain is at 5:30pm on Wednesday 1/25. Thursday, January 26 Show you Care and Share: Children will be given special sticky “badges” to wear that recognize their efforts to make OUR school a better place. Friday, January 27 Team HEDP: We’re all on the same team against name calling. Students will be invited to wear their Heath School Spirit Wear or the Color Green to show we are all on the same team. Please mark your calendars to help you remember what each day will stand for. We also encourage you to discuss name calling and bullying with your children and hear what they know and how they feel about this important subject. HEDP will also be focusing on many social skill activities to help children build confidence, learn compassion, build leadership skills, develop problem solving skills and more in an effort to stamp out name calling and bullying. Sincerely, Noelle and the HEDP Team
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Welcome back! We hope everyone had a restful winter break! We enjoyed hearing and sharing events from vacation.
-We kicked off January by conducting interviews with each other about the children’s favorite parts of vacation. We paired the children up with new friends, whom they normally would not choose to work with, and they interviewed each other, then as a group we shared what we learned about each other. The goal of this activity was to encourage self-confidence through speaking aloud to the whole class, and to make connections with peers that normally the children would not choose to work with. We will be beginning each day with an afternoon message and greeting or team building game. -We celebrated the 124th birthday of the drinking straw by doing some painting with straws, as well as a building challenge. We paired the children up with new peers and challenged them to build a tower strong enough to hold a baseball on the top with only scissors, 50 straws, and masking tape. Many groups succeed in the challenge, but the team work, cooperation, communication, and use of science factors being used were extremely rewarding to see occurring within each and every pair. -This month we will be having a birthday bash for all the December birthdays in 1-2. We will be honoring interesting days such as, static electricity day by doing science experiments. Milk day through some painting with evaporated milk and baking. Backwards day through wearing out clothes backwards, as well as many others. -Many children have begun to earn wish day. These are given when a child earns 10 homework stickers on their star. Stickers are given daily to a handful other children who showed their best behavior during homework and reading time. *A gentle reminder, to please remember to sign-out your child at pick-up and make a timely exit between 5:30 and 5:45 as we close at 5:45, and teachers need to clean-up and prepare for the next day* Happenings in Extended Day Wednesday 1/11/12 - Ice Skating at Cleveland Circle Please return your permission slip by Tuesday January 10th- Slips will NOT be accepted on Wednesday! -In the 1-2 classroom we will be starting up our caring chain challenge on 1/9. A caring chain consists of links of paper staples together that hangs through the classroom. The links are earned by the students when a kind act is recognized by a teacher. Our first challenge is to get the chain across the whole classroom, our long term challenge is go the length of the first floor of Heath. The goal of this fun activity is to encourage kindness, teamwork and cooperation. As well, allow the students to see how their kind acts are growing as the year moves forward. -We will be honoring “No Name Calling week” January 23rd through the 27th. According to the anti-bullying law, the purpose of No Name-Calling Day is to “increase public awareness of the devastating effects of verbal bullying, to encourage students to use positive dialog and pledge not to use hurtful names on this designated day. The day “promotes tolerance and respect for differences and to reaffirm the commitment of the citizens of the Commonwealth to basic human rights and dignity.” In Heath Extended day we are extending this one day into a week full of reminders that will encourage one another to fill each person’s “bucket” with kind words and displays of compassion and respect. -The 1-2 class has teamed up with the Speech and Language teachers and another extended day teacher, Ellie Edraos, a former guidance to incorporate the curriculum “Superflex Our Social-Thinking Superhero.” This goal is to improve children’s social and behavioral flexibility and develop better self-monitoring and self-feedback loops for social behavior. Please reiterate and discuss these characters with your children at home, Superflex, Rock Brain, Brain Eater, Body Snatcher, D.O.F(Destroyer of Fun), Un-Wonderer, Space Invader, Glass Mna, Grump-Grumpaniny, Topic Twister Meister, Wasfunnyonce, Energy-y, One-Sided Sid, Worry Wall, Mean Jean. We look forward to a Jolly January! ~Alyssa and Jackie~ Please note that these groups are different from the Heath School After School Activities. These clubs do not cost extra and are only open to children enrolled in HEDP. We have designed these groups to help build small group cooperation, create more meaningful small group activities and do something different. Please let us know if you or a family member would ever be interested in volunteering to teach a small group class.
Mondays 2:20-3:15pm for 3rd-6th graders - Photography with Rachel: Students will receive basic knowledge of manual photography. They will learn how to take a photograph and incorporate an understanding of composition perspective and lighting. Students will also take photos of certain topics including, landscape, portraiture and storytelling. By the end of the course students will pick their favorite images and show them in our HEDP gallery. 3:30-4:15pm for K-2nd graders - Science, Technology, Engineering and Math with Jared: This group will learn projects created by the Boston Children's Museum to help build understanding with STEM. This will be a fun, action packed hands on experience. 4:20-5:10pm for 1st and 2nd graders - Lego creations! This club will create, design and engineer great understanding with Legos. Tuesdays 2:20-3:15pm for 3rd-6th graders - Music with Jared: We will continue on with music refining skills on a traditional Jazz song and adding a new one as well. We are working hard to learn our music while having fun. 3:30-4:15pm for 3rd-6th graders Architecture with Jared: This new club will teach students how to create structures in scale and require use of creativity to design their own houses. Wednesdays 2:30-5:00pm for 7year old's and up -Ice Skating with Jared: Yes, that time has come again and emails have been sent for permission to join this group as they walk down to the Reilly rink at Cleveland Circle and go ice skating! Fridays 2:20-3:15pm for 3rd-6th graders - Construction with Jared: Construction of the 1:85 scale model of the Heath school will continue as planned. We have finished building most of the materials and this month the school starts to take shape. 3:45pm-4:45pm for K-1st graders - Around the world cooperative gym games with Jared. This group will focus on physical and mental activity games to help build team building and cooperating Happy New Year and Thank You!
The 3-6 teachers would like to thank all the families for the wonderful holiday gifts, treats and warm wishes. We hope you had a nice holiday season and wish you the very best in 2012. We are excited for the many events and activities we have in store for the rest of the school year! We would also like to thank you for the continued support we receive from year to year during the Project Bread Holiday Spoons Project. Your spoon purchases and donations are greatly appreciated. We also appreciate all of your votes for the Holiday Spoons Contest. 3-6 To Learn All about New England As our Champion New England Patriots venture into yet another playoff season, we thought it would be quite appropriate for the 3-6 kids to learn about the six states that make up New England. Each week of the six leading up to February vacation will be dedicated to one of the New England states. For each of the states, the kids will learn fun state facts, build a famous state landmark, construct the state flag and make (and eat) a recipe known to the state. Go Pats! Winter Weather The 3-6 Kids will continue to enjoy outdoor time throughout the winter months. Please be sure your child brings the appropriate clothing daily that is needed for the cold weather. When (and if) we get snow, sledding will begin. Your child may leave his/her sled at extended day in the upstairs room. Children are responsible for retrieving and putting back their sleds. Please note, your child MUST have a helmet in order to participate in the activity. Children are welcome to keep a pair of slippers in their backpack to change into while at extended day to keep their feet warm should they have wet boots or sneakers. New Clubs in 3-6! Mondays- Photography with Rachel: Students will receive basic knowledge of manual photography. They will learn how to take a photograph and incorporate an understanding of composition perspective and lighting. Students will also take photos of certain topics including, landscape, portraiture and storytelling. By the end of the course students will pick their favorite images and show them in our HEDP gallery. Tuesdays- Music with Jared: We will continue on with music refining skills on a traditional Jazz song and adding a new one as well. We are working hard to learn our music while having fun. Architecture with Jared:This new club will teach students how to create structures in scale and require use of creativity to design their own houses. Wednesdays- Ice Skating with Jared: Yes, that time has come again and emails have been sent for permission to join this group as they walk down to the Reilly rink at Cleveland Circle and go ice skating! Friday- Construction with Jared: Construction of the 1:85 scale model of the Heath school will continue as planned. We have finished building most of the materials and this month the school starts to take shape. |
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