Rhinebeck students engage in dynamic, proactive and responsive community building activities, lessons and experiences designed to build, community, interpersonal skills as well as self-management skills. 

Common Language to Use At Home:

Assertive: Being assertive involves using an assertive posture (face the person you’re talking to, keep your head up and shoulders back) and an assertive tone of voice (use a calm, firm voice: use respectful words).  Assertive communication is the best way to ask for help.  Assertiveness also helps students in their peer relations.  Students who are passive are at a higher risk for being bullied.  Students who are too aggressive in their interactions have fewer friends.

Belly Breathing:  (Diaphragmatic breathing) helps lower blood pressure and heart rate, which calms the body. This deep breathing is marked by expansion of the abdomen rather than the chest when breathing.  How to Belly Breathe: Focus your attention on your breathing.  Take a breath that makes your tummy move out wen you breathe in, and in when you breathe out.  Breathe in slowly through your nose and out slowly through your mouth.  It should be so quiet that you can hardly hear it.

Blaming Words:  Part of the first Problem Solving Step, Say the Problem Without Blame.  Examples: Always, Never, You made me…, Because of you…, It’s your fault.

Compassion: Empathy in action.  You can say kind words or do helpful things to show your compassion.  Focusing attention and listening to others can help you have empathy and show compassion.  Students can channel their empathy into compassion to help peers fell less isolated, provide emotional support to peers in difficult circumstances, and strengthen friendships.  Students who are bullied can experience fewer difficulties if other students are compassionate and show them support.

Empathy: Feeling or understanding what someone else is feeling.  Empathy is a key ingredient in the development of pro-social behaviors and interpersonal problem-solving skills. It is necessary for social-emotional competence and contributes to academic success.  Being able to identify, understand, and respond in a caring way to how someone is feeling provides the foundation for helpful and socially responsible behaviors, friendships, cooperation, coping, and conflict resolution, all of which help students succeed in school.

Focusing Attention:  When you focus your attention, you use your eyes, ears, and brain.  The more you practice, the better you get.  Using self-talk helps focus attention.

Listening Skills: Eyes watching. Ears listening. Voice quiet. Body still.

Positive Self-Talk: Speaking quietly to yourself or thinking positive things in your mind.  Positive Self-Talk is an effective strategy for calming down strong emotions.  Positive Self-Talk engages the thinking part of the brain and helps divert students’ attention from negative self-talk which can escalate strong feelings.  Examples of Positive Self-Talk “I can do my best.” and “I am in control of my emotions.”

Self-Talk as a Skill for Learning: talking to yourself out loud in a quiet voice or inside your head.  Self-talk helps you focus and maintain attention.  For example, “Ignore Distractions” and “I can do this.”  Self-talk is a developmentally appropriate strategy students can use to help themselves list, follow directions, and stay on-task.  Over time self-talk typically becomes internalized and no longer spoken out loud.  It can be a powerful tool to help students remember directions and focus and guide their efforts.

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