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Tips for Parent Teacher Conferences

10/17/2017

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Parent teacher conferences are coming up next week! Whether you’re a parent brand new to elementary school or you’re an old pro, we have some tips to help you make the most out of this brief, but valuable one-on-one time with your child’s teacher.

Conferences are a great opportunity for you to get feedback from the teacher, but don’t forget about your child!  Conferences are the perfect catalyst for conversations with your child and provide an opportunity to assess how your student feels about school, both academically and socially.  Below are some ideas for topics to bring up with your child prior to the conference and how to prepare yourself for the conference:
  • Explain that you and the teacher are meeting to help make this school year successful.
  • Ask your child how they feel about school: school work, friends, relationship with the teacher.
  • Ask your child if there is anything that they want you to talk about with their teacher.
  • Come to the conference prepared. Your child’s teacher will likely have a list of things he/she needs to cover, but it is helpful to be prepared if you have specific concerns you want to address going into the conference, so that your time together can be as productive as possible. If there is something going on at home that may affect your child’s performance socially or academically, this is a great time to bring it up!
  • If you have specific concerns, prepare a list of topics and questions such as:
    • What are my child's strengths and areas for growth?
    • How is my child doing socially?
    • How does my child treat & respond to others?
    • How is my child’s behavior?
    • What can I do at home to help support what you are doing at school?
  • Be open! It’s a near year, new teacher. This means you may hear things from your child’s teacher that are different from years past. Each year, with new class dynamics and new academic expectations students may behave or perform differently than in previous years.



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Counselor Corner 10/5

10/6/2017

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When tragedies such as Las Vegas and the destruction caused by recent hurricanes take place, it can be hard to find the words for yourself, let alone deciding what to say to your children.  As many of you know the recent mass shooting in Las Vegas closely touched one of our own BPE staff.  This week’s Counselor Corner will provide some tips and strategies on how approach and explain these events to your children. As much as we hope to shield our children from these tragedies, many parents are faced with difficult conversations.  

  1. Limit your child’s access to the news:  Although we can’t control what kids may hear on the bus or in the lunchroom, parents can limit access to disturbing news footage.
  2. Keep your message simple and developmentally appropriate:  Depending on your child’s age, kids require different levels of information.
  3. Be open to questions, but also know that it’s okay to not have all the answers.
  4. Reassure: Remind kids that they are safe, there are people who are there to protect them, and there are good people doing good things. Make sure they understand this isn’t their weight to carry.
  5. Encourage children to talk about their concerns and to express their feelings. Some children may be hesitant to initiate such conversation, so you may want to prompt them by asking them how they are feeling.  However, it is best to avoid talking about this at bedtime.  
  6. Focus on efforts to help.  This helps kids feel empowered and gives them an opportunity to feel in control.
  7. Be cautious in linking violence to mental illness. This could create a stigma that people with a mental health problem are bad or should be feared and can equate mental illness to violence. Extend this caution when making assumptions or generalizations about motives as well.

The following links are great resources for more detailed information on how to handle these tough conversations:
Psychology Today: How to Talk to Kids About the Las Vegas Shooting
How to Talk to Kids about the Las Vegas Mass Shooting

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Counselor Corner 9/28

9/28/2017

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This first nine weeks the SEL core competency we are focusing on is Relationship Skills. In addition to providing to students with skills to facilitate positive peer relationships, we also strive to empower students to handle peer conflict, which is common among elementary aged students. Children often come home with reports of problems on the playground, in the lunchroom, on the bus or even in the classroom. Kids are quick to involve adults and may be inclined to label their peers as “bullies”.  From there, a parent’s natural instinct is to jump in and protect our children from these challenges, but we may be doing them a disservice when we rescue them from a conflict.

These common everyday peer conflicts provide a teachable moment to empower our children and develop their conflict resolution skills.  Below are some strategies that you can encourage your child to be problem solvers in times of peer conflict:

  1. Take time to calm down
  2. Say the problem without blame, using “I statements” to explain feelings
  3. Think of solutions that are safe and respectful for everyone
  4. Apologize and take responsibility for your part of the problem
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Counselor Corner 9/14

9/14/2017

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Your BCE Counselors, Karen Wager and Amy Ashorn, are thrilled that the district has made Social Emotional Learning (SEL) a priority again this year. The district is supporting the SEL initiative by adding Second Step, an SEL curriculum, to all grade levels and classrooms.  In addition to our counselor-led classroom lessons, teachers will use the Second Step Curriculum to teach and embed SEL skills in their classrooms. We are optimistic about the growth our students will experience in 5 SEL Competencies: Self Awareness, Self Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills and Responsible Decision Making.

To further build on the SEL Competencies and Skills, all students are signing a Resolution of Respect.  The Resolution of Respect is the first step to BCE becoming a No Place for Hate® recognized school.  The No Place for Hate® initiative through the ADL provides a framework for schools to build a positive and inclusive community where respect is the norm.  You can read more about the ADL and the No Place for Hate initiative here.

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