Monday 2/4 & Tuesday 2/5

In Open Circle we have introduced the problem-solving steps. We will be learning how to use the traffic light. Ask your child what the red light reminds us to do. The children will be bringing home their own problem-solving traffic signal. Please see the latest parent newsletter below.

The kindergartners have begun their study of the rainforest in anticipation of reading the next Magic Tree House book, Afternoon on the Amazon.

We have brought the iPad cart into the classroom twice this week and through guidance the first graders have been exploring a few apps.

Today we broke into grade level groups for math, with the kindergartners playing a bingo game and making scrolls that will help them with skip-counting, and the first graders working on money and number sense.

Dear Family:

In Open Circle this week, we began a multi-lesson unit on problem solving. In the coming weeks, we will be learning to use a three-step process for solving people problems. We began by talking about what a problem is. A problem is something that goes wrong, makes us feel worried or upset, or is a situation in which we need to decide what to do. We all have problems at school — in the classroom and on the playground. We even have problems as a whole class.

To help us learn and remember the problem-solving steps, we use the colors of a traffic signal: Red = Stop. Yellow = Think. Green = Go. In problem solving, we do the same three things that a traffic signal tells us:

RED LIGHT:

• First, we have to STOP.
In problem solving, that means we have to calm down. Then we tell ourselves the problem and how we feel.

YELLOW LIGHT;

• Second, we have to THINK.
In problem solving, that means we have to be careful and think of many different ways to solve the problem and what would happen if we tried them.

GREEN LIGHT:

• Third, we can GO.
In problem solving, that means we make a plan and try it.

The problem-solving traffic signal will be sent home this week in your child's home school folder. Please post it on your refrigerator or someplace in your home where you can see it often as a reminder to both you and your child to use the problem-solving process to solve problems that come up outside of school. Problem solving is an important skill that your child can use throughout life, not only in school but later on in the workplace and the community.