I had a great time celebrating my 50th with my family on Tuesday night and with my staff on Wednesday. It was a great way to bring on my 50's! I literally danced until Wednesday morning to Indian music!! The skits Jaxson created were hilarious and the guys did a great job creating a video to one of my favorite Indian songs.
Happy Holidays from the Wright Family
Thank you for everything you DO for our students!! I hope that you have time to enjoy some time off with family and friends. I am going to say it again, I am so lucky to work with such a dedicated group of teachers that will take NO EXCUSES to ensure that our students are successful!! Happy Holidays and have a Happy New Year!!
Observable Fish Moments at SV:
Be There: Thank you 2nd and 3rd grade for treating coffee and breakfast treats for our support staff.
Play: Thank you Heather M. for hosting a fun birthday get together. Thank you Daniel for planning fun reindeer games for our 7th and 8th graders.
Choose your attitude:Be kind. Be kind. Be kind. Be kind.
Make Their Day: Thank you for making a your classroom a safe and fun place to be.
As many of you know, I lost my mom when I was 11 years old to cancer and my dad last year. During my birthday I always tend to miss her the most and now my dad as well! She was only 41 when she died and since my 41st birthday I feel so lucky to be alive and to be with my family. Instead of getting gifts from my family, every year I participate in random acts of kindness. Chris, the kids and I will do 50 random acts of kindness. My mom and dad were immigrants and taught all four of us the art of giving back to our community. She was a teacher and because we lived in a community of immigrants many of the women would come to her for guidance. Our house was always that house, there was always someone over. I learned so much from my mom and dad. The above picture of my mom I keep on my desk by my laptop. The one with my dad I keep by our dining room table. It is something I look at multiple times a day! It drives me to be a better mom, sister, friend, wife, and educator. I am constantly thinking how can I grow.
Congratulations to Valerie who has taken a position with Napa County library. Her last day with us will be January 4th. We will miss you!!
Observable Fish Moments at SV:
Be There: Thank you Heather M., Daniel, and Kristin for helping out with fun friday.
Play: Please make sure you fill out at least one good news referral a week.
Choose your attitude:Be kind. Be kind. Be kind. Be kind.
Make Their Day: A huge thank you to Kristin making phone calls and ensuring we had 100% of our meal applications in. We won $2,500 for our site budget!! WOOHOO!!
We, as educators, can be that one person in a child’s life that can make a difference. Watch the video below: Brings tears to my eyes every time!!
Why Teaching Kindness in Schools Is Essential to Reduce Bullying
Phrases like "random acts of kindness" and "pay it forward" have become popular terms in modern society. It seems that we just can't get enough of those addictive, feel-good emotions -- and with good reason. Scientific studies prove that kindness has many physical, emotional, and mental health benefits. And children need a healthy dose of the warm-and-fuzzies to thrive as healthy, happy, well-rounded individuals.
Patty O'Grady, PhD, an expert in neuroscience, emotional learning, and positive psychology, specializes in education. She reports: Kindness changes the brain by the experience of kindness. Children and adolescents do not learn kindness by only thinking about it and talking about it. Kindness is best learned by feeling it so that they can reproduce it. A great number of benefits have been reported to support teaching kindness in schools, best summed up by the following.
Happy, Caring Children
The good feelings that we experience when being kind are produced by endorphins. They activate areas of the brain that are associated with pleasure, social connection, and trust. These feelings of joyfulness are proven to be contagious and encourage more kind behavior (also known asaltruism) by the giver and recipient.
Increased Peer Acceptance
Research on the subject has determined that kindness increases our ability to form meaningful connections with others. Kind, happy children enjoy greater peer acceptance because they are well liked. Better-than-average mental health is reported in classrooms that practice more inclusive behavior due to an even distribution of popularity.
Greater Sense of Belonging and Improved Self-Esteem
Studies show that people experience a "helper's high" when they do a good deed. This rush of endorphins creates a lasting sense of pride, wellbeing, and an enriched sense of belonging. It's reported that even small acts of kindness heighten our sense of wellbeing, increase energy, and give a wonderful feeling of optimism and self worth.
Improved Health and Less Stress
Being kind can trigger a release of the hormone oxytocin, which has a number of physical and mental health benefits. Oxytocin can significantly increase a person's level of happiness and reduce stress levels. It also protects the heart by lowering blood pressure and reducing free radicals and inflammation, which incidentally speed up the aging process.
Increased Feelings of Gratitude
When children are part of projects that help others less fortunate than themselves, it provides them with a real sense of perspective. Helping someone else makes them appreciate the good things in their own lives.
Better Concentration and Improved Results
Kindness is a key ingredient that helps children feel good about themselves as it increases serotonin levels. This important chemical affects learning, memory, mood, sleep, health, and digestion. Having a positive outlook enables greater attention spans and more creative thinking to produce better results at school.
Reduced Depression Dr. Wayne Dyer, an internationally-renowned author and speaker, says that an act of kindness triggers an increase in serotonin, a natural chemical responsible for improving mood. This boost in happiness occurs not only in both the giver and receiver of kindness, but also in anyone who witnesses it. This makes kindness a powerful, natural antidepressant. (PDF, 14KB)
Less Bullying
Shanetia Clark and Barbara Marinak are Penn State Harrisburg faculty researchers. They say, "Unlike previous generations, today's adolescents are victimizing each other at alarming rates." They argue that adolescent bullying and violence can be confronted with in-school programs that integrate "kindness -- the antithesis of victimization."
Many traditional anti-bullying programs focus on the negative actions that cause anxiety in children. When kindness and compassion are taught instead, it fosters the positive behavior that's expected. Promoting its psychological opposite is key in reducing bullying to create warm and inclusive school environments.
Maurice Elias, Professor at Rutgers University Psychology Department, is also an advocate for kindness. He says:
As a citizen, grandparent, father, and professional, it is clear to me that the mission of schools must include teaching kindness. Without it, communities, families, schools, and classrooms become places of incivility where lasting learning is unlikely to take place . . . [W]e need to be prepared to teach kindness, because it can be delayed due to maltreatment early in life. It can be smothered under the weight of poverty, and it can be derailed by victimization later in life . . . Kindness can be taught, and it is a defining aspect of civilized human life. It belongs in every home, school, neighborhood, and society. It's become clear that education must encompass more than just academics, and that matters of the heart must be taken seriously and nurtured as a matter of priority. How do you teach kindness?
The HourofCode is "a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify "code" and show that anyone can learn the basics to be a maker, a creator, an innovator." Coding is the process of writing a program to make the computer do something. Everything that is done on a computer, like websites, games, applications, word processing, videos, and photos, has been coded to do its specific feature. The process of coding may seem daunting, but learning the basics can be quite easy.
Every year we participate in HourofCode during Computer Science Week - December 6-12. This short video explains a variety of ways to get your students involved in HourofCode.
