Theme of the Week

Jump-Start Your Day!

This year we are using the program Jump-Start! with our morning announcements.  The program focuses on the school as a whole and emphasizes behaviors that cultivate and support respect, friendhsip, individuality, and compassion.  Daily lessons include role models and goals to achieve at home and in the classroom.  This will help cultivate empathy, think about the feelings of others, respect themselves and others, and stand up for their own rights. 

Third Nine Weeks

Week 1 - Go Above and Beyond:  Going above and beyond requires that everyone do his/her part, plus a little more.  It requires that people act responsibly and do their best.  Encourage your child to take a risk and go above and beyond in order to achieve a goal.  Activity:  As a family, to above and beyond in helping someone out.  Point out times when your child goes above and beyond.  Praise him/her for these actions.

Week 2 - Show Compassion:  Showing compassion lets others know they are not alone and that someone cares about them.  Showing compassion eliminates the loneliness and isolation felt by people who are bullied or picked on by others.  Showing compassion helps people reach out to others and promotes empathy.  Activity:  Practice making compassionate statements with your family.  This is a great game when you are in the car.  Each person takes turns making compassionate statements with each other.

Week 3 - Reach Out:  Reaching out to others helps us become aware of the needs of others and hlep others with these needs.  It is easy to become so involved in our own worries and day-to-day activities that we don't notice things around us.  Activity:  As a family, talk about ways that you have reached out to help others.  Invite someone to dinner or visit a nursing home to spend time with the people who live there.

Week 4 - Walk in Someone Else's Shoes: Imagining walking in someone else's shoes helps us not to judge others.  It also helps us become more empathetic and caring towards others.  Talk with your child about what life is like for children in different countries.  Activity:  As a family, prepare a meal that is associated with another country.  Spend time talking about the culture and customs of the country.  Imagine what life might be like in this country.

Week 5 - Do the Right Thing: Doing the right thing helps us think about whether we're making the right decisions.  This often takes more time, is harder to do, and requires more thought.  Making the right decision saves many people from being hurt and is the better thnig to do.  Activity:  Talk with your child about times when you have had difficulty making the right decision.  Talk about a time when you made the right choice and a time when you made the wrong choice.  Explain that we all make mistakes at times and sometimes make bad choices.  Hopefully, we learn from our mistakes and make better choices.

Week 6 - Make a Difference:  Making a difference helps us change things in the lives of others.  If we don't like the way someone is being treated, we have the power to get help from an adult for that person.  We need to be brave and believe that what we do is important.  Activity:  Volunteer to take part in a community clean-up day or a charity event.  Some families make it a holiday tradition to volunteer their time to help out in a soup kitchen or some other charitable effort.

Week 7 - Assert Yourself:  Asserting yourself shows others that you respect yourself and will stand up for yourself.  Asserting yourself is different from passive behaviors by people who may be too afraid to stand up for themselves.  It is also different from being aggressive when violent behaviors may hurt others.  Activity:  Discuss the differences between these three behaviors.  Practice assertive behaviors with simple role plays.

Teacher Websites © 2010 SchoolWorld