Fire Safety and Handling Frustration

We spent several days this week talking about fire safety and firefighters. We read many books about firefighters, and wrote about their gear and equipment in our journals. On Wednesday, Mr. Ellis came in with some of his firefighter gear and everyone was able to try it all on. It was very heavy to wear!

We prepared a little snack this week -pumpkin pudding. It was fun to stir the ingredients together.

We talked about frustration during our skills for learning lessons. We are beginning to notice clues that someone else is frustrated, and how we can help. More importantly, the children are beginning to understand the clues that THEY are feeling frustrated. This is the time that a coping skill can help. Students suggested "deep breathing",  "take a break", and "get adult help" as good coping skill choices. Some older students also named "self-talk" and "bump it out". We can help children actually use coping skills :
           *anticipate when something might be frustrating, and rehearse which coping skill to use
           *prompt your child to use a coping skill during the frustrating moment
           *praise your child for his/her attempt to use a coping skill
           *model using a coping skill when you feel frustrated
Sometimes, we as parents, want to help our children avoid frustration. But, frustration is a wonderful opportunity to practice newly learned coping skills. Feeling frustrated is part of learning new and challenging things -we are working hard to help give your child tools to use, so welcome those opportunities to practice them.

Don't forget - our Parent Support Group Meeting is this Thursday at 6:30 in Room 113. Hope you can come!