News from Dale St.
January 2024
Welcome Dale Street Families,
Happy New Year and welcome back to school! I hope all families had a fun and relaxing winter break! While the holidays and new year can be a very exciting time, it can also be difficult to get back into the school routine in January. I find it's a good time to review coping strategies with students, and I've included some popular ones below:
Square Breathing
Take a walk or a break
Imagine your favorite place
Grounding Technique
Please don't hesitate to reach out to me with any questions!
Sincerely,
Lindsey Maloney, Dale Street School Counselor
April 2023
As students are preparing for the end of the school year in a few months and their upcoming MCAS tests, I have been reminding them to use their calming strategies and to practice growth mindset. As a reminder, growth mindset, explained by Carol Dweck, is the idea that people can change, grow, and improve. It's the belief that we're not just "good" or "bad" at something, but we can improve with effort and hard work. I often hear students say things like "I'm just not good at math" or "I'm just a shy person." Strategies for increasing a growth mindset include:
Reminding students of a time when they did get better or improve at something that was difficult for them
Teaching students about famous people who didn't get something right away (for example - the fact that Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team)
Encouraging students to embrace their own mistakes
Teaching and encouraging students to use calming strategies
Listen to Carol Dweck explain more about "the power of yet" here.
The following have been popular calming strategies in my office this month:
Counting colors (look around the room and notice how many different colors you can see)
Thinking a positive thought such as "I got this!" or "I can do this"
Reminding yourself of what you're grateful for or looking forward to
Reminders to take a deep breath (example: Lazy 8 Breathing)
Sincerely,
Lindsey Maloney
lwarner@email.medfield.net
March 2023
Friendship is a topic that comes up in my office a lot, but especially around this time of year! I wanted to share some tips and resources that I have found helpful in my work with 4th and 5th grade students.
I remind students to remember the "Circle of Control" and that we can only control ourselves and our actions.
I often use the Social Behavior Map from the Social Thinking program. This chart helps students to understand the string of consequences from their expected behavior vs. unexpected behavior. You can ask students how did their "unexpected behaviors" make people feel, how did people react because of this, and then how did they feel as a result? Then, ask the same questions for the "expected" behavior.
We practice using appropriate tone and language for expressing our emotions in these conflict situations. This is also addressed in our Sanford Harmony program where students learn appropriate ways to "Talk It Out": start with by expressing how they are feeling and the explain what they would like their friend to do next time.
In our SEL program, students in grades 4 &5 learn and practice the STEP it Up approach to problem solving.
Stop Think, and Cool Down
Talk It Out
Evaluate Possible Solutions
Pick a Realistic Solution
The Growing Friendships: A Kid's Guide to Making and Keeping Friends book by Eileen Kennedy-Moore and Christine McLaughlin is also a very helpful tool. This is a great book to read with your child! There are different sections for topics such as making new friends, giving friends space, and dealing with friendship conflicts. Each chapter ends with discussion questions to review with your child.
Please let me know if you have any questions!
Lindsey Maloney
lwarner@email.medfield.net
February 2023
This month I will begin offering Guidance Lessons in grade 4 and 5 classrooms related to the CASEL Core Competencies of Self-Management and Self-Awareness. According to CASEL, Self-Management is related to emotion regulation, the use of coping strategies, and creating personal goals. Self-Awareness is related to understanding yourself and your emotions, recognizing your own strenghts and weaknesses, and use of a growth mindset. To learn more about the CASEL competenices, you can click here. The following lessons will be offered:
Impulse Control: We will read "Hunter and his Amazing Remote Control" by Lori Ann Copeland and Brian Drumm. Then students will practice using these skills in certain scenarios and get to make their own remote control.
Stress Management Strategies: We will read "The Whatifs" book by Emily Kilgore, and then learn and practice strategies for helping us manage our Whatif thoughts and worries.
Emotion Identification & Regulation: We will discuss different emotions and how to identify how our feelings. Then, we will review the Zones of Regulation and match certain scenarios with each Zone. We will choose strategies to get us back to the green zone (happy, calm, ready to learn).
Ask your child if I've visited their classroom and to share what they've learned!
Mrs. Maloney
lwarner@email.medfield.net
January 2023
Welcome Dale Street Families,
Happy New Year! I hope you all had a happy holidays and a relaxing winter break. As we transition back to school after break, I find this is a great time to review problem solving strategies. This is also the topic in our upcoming SEL unit in the Sanford Harmony program. Students start by identifying and discussing 3 different conflict styles: avoidance, compromise, and controlling. Classes have discussions about what each of these styles mean and the best types of situations to use each style.
Next, we practice 4 steps to problem solving using the acronym STEP:
Stop, Think & Cool Off : Take a break and think about how you're feeling. Use a strategy to calm down if needed before responding or reacting.
Think about your perspective and the other person's perspective: Have a respectful conversation where both sides are able to share their perspectives.
Evaluate possible solutions: Develop a list of possible solutions and think about the potential consequences
Pick a realistic solution!: Pick something that is best for everyone involved!
I like to add an additional step of "how did it go?" to encourage students to reflect on their problem solving practice and adjust anything next time if needed! Please check out the linked Sanford Harmony parent letters for Grade 4 & Grade 5 for more information on this SEL unit.
Please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions or comments!
Lindsey Maloney
lwarner@email.medfield.net
December 2022
It's hard to believe it's already December and the holiday season is quickly approaching. This is very fun and exciting time, but of course also very busy and stressful for students and families. In my lunch bunches and check-ins with students, we have been focusing on remembering to use our calming strategies even more than usual.
Square breathing has been a popular strategy this month. This can be a very helpful strategy to use in the moment when you are feeing stressed or overwhelmed. Check out this video explaining how to use this strategy and the visual below.
Following the holidays and the winter break, I know some students are excited to return to school to see friends and teachers. However, this can also be a difficult transition time. Recently, Yudelik Firpo-Perretti, Ph.D. from our McLean school consultation service provided some tips for easing the transition back to school in January 2023:
Have your child utilize 3 coping strategies the night before school, even if they're not feeling distressed
Try this progressive muscle relaxation activity
Prepare your clothes and materials for the morning -- this will help your child to feel more mentally prepared as well!
Try to build in some extra time in the morning before school
In addition, driving to the school building and/or playing in the playground through the week of winter break can be helpful as well!
SEL Updates
In their SEL lessons, 4th and 5th grade students have been focusing on identify Communication Bloopers & Boosters in their classroom. Ask your child to share some of the bloopers and boosters they have learned about recently! The newsletters for the Communication Unit are also included below for more information.
Grade 4 Home Activities Letter
Grade 5 Home Activities Letter
Happy Holidays! Looking forward to seeing everyone when we return in 2023 :)
Lindsey Maloney
November 2022
Welcome to the Elementary Guidance Website! Each month I will add updates and announcements from the Dale Street Guidance Office, as well as any helpful tips or resources.
At Dale Street we've had a great start to our school year! 4th and 5th grade students have started the second unit of our SEL program: Empathy and Critical Thinking. Click here to learn more about the Sanford Harmony SEL program! Please see the parent letters below for more information on this unit and tips on how to reinforce these skills at home!
In the Guidance office, many students have been working on and practicing their coping strategies! A popular one this month has been the Grounding Technique. This is a Mindfulness technique that can help students cope with overwhelming or big emotions by bringing them back to the present moment. Students are asked to use their senses to think about what they are feeling right now. I've attached a visual below and a helpful video here.
We are lucky to have a partnership with McLean this year! Part of our partnership includes 4 parent/guardian webinars throughout the school year. The next webinar is on Wednesday, November 16th from 12-1pm and focused on "Bringing Down the Temperature: Supporting Your Child in High Intensity Moments". Please see the document recently shared by Mary Bruhl for information on how to access this webinar and the schedule for upcoming events. Feel free to reach out to me with any questions!
I'm looking forward to working with you all this year! Stay tuned for next month's updates at the beginning of December.
Lindsey Maloney
lwarner@email.medfield.net