Bingham Elementary

News and Notes Week of April 30

Weekly Schedule

Monday

Blue Jay News - online

Tuesday

Pledge - Pinney

Wednesday

Pledge - Pinney
I will be out in the afternoon for a meeting

Thursday

Pledge - Pinney

Friday

Pledge - Pinney

Crazy Doc's rant and raves...

Testing is upon us. Great to see the gains made already!

Our device collection day will be May 18 for grades 3 - 5. I will share more information about that as we approach.

I will shoot for deployment next year on August 17.

Teacher Spotlight

I nominate Christy Mustain for person/teacher in the spotlight.

She shows her students that she cares in a very genuine way.

She can also talk to them in her style. She lets them know that they are not pulling anything over on her. She can just say, “Really?” They know what she expects.
Dana Bridges has been doing a wonderful job of getting the students artwork out in various public places.

Do you have a idea for a person in the spotlight? Please let me know.

From Jessica

I found the information below on the "Connect the dots to ACEs" Facebook page. It was initially intended for parents, but it applies perfectly to an elementary school setting as well.

Connection is the success key!
To understand why we must first understand a bit about the brain.
For a simple explanation, let's talk in terms of the downstairs brain and the upstairs brain. The downstairs brain, fully functioning at birth, is the primitive part of the brain. This controls the body's vital functions such as breathing, temperature, heart rate, and balance. This is where our survival center is, where fear and overwhelm send us to fight, flight, freeze, or faint. When we are out of control, our downstairs brain takes over.

The upstairs brain is the thinking brain. This is where logic and reasoning occur. This is also where empathy and compassion reside. This part of the brain is very underdeveloped at birth, and parents actually have a major role in how the upstairs brain develops. The calmer and connected parents are, the better the neural wiring in the child's upstairs brain.

When a child is really upset, the downstairs brain has control and she can't access her upstairs brain. She's being reactive, not receptive. Being receptive, taking in the lessons she's being taught and internalizing them, involves logic and reasoning. That isn't happening when she's stressed out, only when she's calm. This is why making children feel ashamed, rejected, or furious when we discipline has the opposite effect we're hoping for. We literally hijack their ability to reflect on their actions and think through to a solution because they're in their downstairs brain.

When we meet their turbulence with calmness (which requires us to be accessing our own upstairs brains!) we can help them reflect and make better choices. The best way to calm her down is to connect with her. In the book No-Drama Discipline by Tina Payne Bryson, PH.D. and Daniel J. Siegel, M.D., it says this - “When they feel our love and acceptance, when they 'feel felt' by us, even when they know we don't like their actions (or they don't like ours), they can begin to regain control and allow their upstairs brain to engage again. When that happens, effective discipline can actually take place.”

When this happens repetitively – she's upset, you meet her with calmness and help her calm herself – this pathway gets strengthened in her brain, and this becomes her pattern. She learns to calm down before she reacts. On the other hand, if you meet her downstairs brain with your downstairs brain, both of you angry and shouting, then that's, unfortunately, the pathway that gets strengthened, and this will become her pattern.

This obviously sets you up for years of frustration and disconnection, and this is a pattern she will carry on into future relationships, and eventually with her own children if she doesn't learn how to rewire her brain, which is much more difficult to do as we get older, though still possible.

The truth is children want to please the adults they feel deeply connected to. They more readily listen, cooperate, and take advice from a connected, warm, and loving adult. Connection helps them feel secure, valued, and understood. It is the foundation of good emotional health.

On-Going Reminders

If you send a student to the focus room please do so with one of the tickets Casey has provided, that way she knows why they are there. If they do not have a ticket they will be sent back to class.
Please remember to only send emergencies to the nurse's office during breakfast and lunch. Please use a blue note when you do. Nurse's lunch time is 12:50 - 1:20.
If you send a student to the office for a phone call or any other reason please make sure they have a pass.
Please make sure you are not sending large printing jobs to the basic printers, please send these to the copiers.
Lunch counts and attendance need to be entered by 9:20, or Terri will start calling.