Good Citizenship...

The harsh grip of winter has loosened... the frozen ground given way to gooey mud. Gotta love it!

Students at East are enjoyed some interesting Guidance lessons:

How Does Your Engine Run?

This program helps kids to become aware of their inner "engine" and to be able to know when they are "hyper" or "just right" or "low energy". They have been introduced to various ways to change their "engine speed" - such as yoga positions, using straws for breathing exercise (or just to chew on!), squeezing Playdo, rubbing smooth ribbons between their fingers, or even popping bubble wrap!

All of these are sensory methods that help kids cope with focus problems, anger problems, or just worries. Through the use of "ordinary" objects, kids can distract (0r focus) themselves to get to a better state of mind.

We are learning to "draw" on memories that we recall when hearing different kinds of music and sound effects. Through this exercise we get to understand how music, television, movies, games, even people can affect our moods. Negative music and other media will make us less creative, use less color in our pictures... while the opposite happens when listening to music that is upbeat, cheerful, or humorous.

What is on at your house? How does it creep into the attitudes of the people in the house? Are you a fan of "Survivor" type shows? These emphasize exclusion, manipulation, gossip and other hurtful actions. What do the kids in the house learn from these shows? How to step on others to "win".

We are also learning about non-verbal communication. Aggressive communication is what we do when we are wanting to make another person feel isolated or made fun of (such as eye rolling, sticking out our tongue, crossing of the arms or turning our back to someone, or even telling a secret in front of a third person.)

This is the type of communication most often associated with bullying and relational aggression.

Assertive communication is the body language that is non-threatening (like good posture, positive eye contact). This is the communication we show when we are paying attention to someone in a respectful way.

Non-assertive communication looks like someone who is trying to "fade" into the background. Slumping, head down, lack of eye contact can tell someone that there is a lack of confidence.

Students are learning how to understand the "body language" that they are communicating, and how to interpret the nonverbal messages others send. This will help them prevent and solve many friendship problems.