Laura Hawes

May 12-16

I cannot believe how quickly this year has gone! It seems like just yesterday that we had our first week of school and now I am doing my last week of classroom guidance lessons for the year with the third graders. It has been a privilege to work with the students, teachers and parents  at Bullard this year. There have been many memorable moments!

This last week of guidance lessons with the third grade will focus on ways we can build each other up through both our words and actions. Hopefully the third graders will put these ideas into practice not only at school, but at home and in their communities this summer.

I hope everyone has a fabulous summer!!

May 5-9

This week I will be visiting all of the kindergarten classes. We will be talking about our feelings and specifically focusing on happy feelings and positive ways to express our feelings.

This has been such a fast year for all of us!! I cannot believe how big the kindergarten students are getting and how much they have learned this year. It has been a joy to work with all of the kindergarten teachers and students!

April 21-May 2

I will not be in the classrooms these two weeks due to CRCT testing preparation and the actual testing itself as well as assisting with make- up testing. Please make sure your student gets enough sleep and comes to school on time ready to go. This is their chance to show what they know and SHINE!!!

April 14-18

Wow! Spring Break sure went fast! I will be working with the third graders this week during classroom guidance. I have a testing preparation powerpoint to share with them. One of the big ideas I want to share is not to be stressed out about theCRCT. They have been learning all they need to know to be successful  all year long if they have been listening in class and doing their homework. When they are feeling stress, I will remind the students about some relaxation strategies to help them concentrate.

March 31 - April 4

March is not going out like a lamb! Even though it is still a little cool to wear those spring fashions, the rain we got is a good thing.

This is a kindergarten guidance week. We will be "writing" a book about making good friendship choices. The book gives a variety of friendship characteristics and we will discuss who would be good to "swim" with. ( The students are characteized as fish in their stories) There are examples of both positive and negative friendship characterisitcs to help the students differentiate their best choices.  Be sure to look over their stories and talk with your student about their friendship behaviors.

March 24-28

Happy Spring to everyone even though it feels a little like winter still! This week the lessons will be with the third grade classes. We will be examining thoughts and behaviors that could lead students to be "left behind" when their classmates are promoted to the next grade level at the end of the year. We will brainstorm the strategies that are useful for student success and promotion. As a culmination of this activity, we will be making individual  books to reinforce  positive strategies for success.

March 17-21

This week lessons will be with the kindergarten classes. We will be talking about Stranger Danger. By the end of the lesson, the students should know that a stranger is someone that you do not know well and that they should NEVER accept candy, money or gifts from strangers. They should SAY NO. They should also know that they need to get away ( better yet, stay away) if a stranger does something that makes their uh-oh alarm go off.  Their uh-oh alarm is their bodies danger signal that something is not right and they will be told to pay attention to these feelings. They should also know that they need to not only  get away from the stranger, but also tell an adult they trust what happened. We will practice dialing 911 and talk about call/don't call times.

March 10-14

This is the week for third grade guidance lessons. We will be reading Dr. Seuss's book about Sneetches and participating in a lesson on diversity and tolerance. The students will be able to express an awareness of how they plan to be more tolerant of everyone's individual differences.

March 3-7

This is the week for kindergarten guidance lessons. We will be talking about friendship and what it looks like when you are being a teddy bear kind of friend ( a good friend). We will reinforce the kinds of choices they need to make to be a frined and to have friends.

February 25-29

I will be completing the kindergarten lesson from last week in a few classes that we had to reschedule. The guidance topic for this week with the third grade classes is safety awareness. We will review what a child lure is- ways people try to "attract" children to abduct them- and what to do. The students will be reminded of safety strategies. Parents, if you have not talked about this important topic in a while you might want to review the abduction prevention tip sheet with your student when they bring it home this week. Have a great week!