April 2014 Dear Families, Its nice to be able April has started off with the sun shining,

the flowers blooming and everything returning to green! Lets hope this weather keeps up! It feels like just yesterday we sent out the March newsletter. Since weve already begun the new units of stud,y this newsletter will be fairly short but packed with some very important information. FIELD TRIPS! The third week in April well be heading to the Dimitrie Leonida Technical Museum. Ms. Bains class will visit the museum on the morning of Thursday, April 17. Ms. Mathews and Ms. Lewis class will attend the morning of Friday, April 18. A small number of parent volunteers will be needed to help supervise the students. Please contact your childs teacher if you are interested. BULLYING! Call it spring fever, but friendship problems seem to be on the rise. There is some confusion around the term bullying and how it is defined at AISB. We use a bullying prevention program called Olweus. The working definition of bullying at AISB is: Bullying is when someone repeatedly and on purpose and over time says or does mean or hurtful things to another person who has a hard time defending himself or herself. There are several different forms of bullying. verbal bullying social exclusion or isolation physical bullying bullying through lies and false rumors having money or other things taken or damaged threats or being forced to do things racial bullying sexual bullying cyber bullying (via cell phone or the Internet)

We take bullying very seriously here at AISB and do everything we can to prevent and deal with bullying when it occurs. As our students prepare for the big move

upstairs, we also want to empower students to solve small problems on their own by being proactive and independent. To develop these attitudes we encourage students to use Kelsos Choices. These are simple choices that students can use in an attempt to problem solve. If the issue is bigger than simple friendship problems the classroom teacher, guidance counselor and/or principal will become involved in order to help students work towards the best resolution.

It is important to remember that children at this age are learning a lot about acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. While they can often tell us the answer we are looking for, practicing it can be a bit harder. When your child comes home with problems we ask that you sit down and have a conversation with them that allows them to reflect on the problem and possible ways it could be solved. It is also important that similar language is being used at home and at school so we encourage you to help your child understand AISBs definition of the word bullying. APPS of the Month Free: The Social Express Home As mentioned earlier in the newsletter, teachers are dedicated to building social skills in the class. The Social Express Home is a way for parents to further boost social-awareness skills. Each lesson presents daily interactive social situations using video modeling, and suggestions for how to problem-solve in daily life. Paid: Wreck This App

This is a fantastic app meant to spark kids imagination by encouraging messy, appstyle art. As our Unit of Inquiry relates to invention/innovation development this app is a great tie in. Wreck This App is in the format of a journal and based on the book Wreck this Journal by Keri Smith. While not actually destructive, many of the exercises are posed as challenges and made to sound destructive, such as scribbling all over a page of typed text or defacing a photo. UPCOMING EVENTS

Seussical!

The performance dates are:

Thursday, April 10, at 7:00pm Friday, April 11, at 7:00pm Saturday, April 12, Matinee at 2:00pm Spelling Bee- June 9th Come support the six second grade contestants PTO Gala- April 5th (2nd grade art is being auctioned off!) Parent-Teacher Conferences- April 9 and 1o. These are half days with 12:00 dismissal. If your child is picked up from school, please make sure all important parties are informed of the days and times. REMINDERS! Please help us keep classroom floors tidy. We do a lot of work on the carpet throughout the day and there is nothing worse than sitting on chunks of dirt and clumps of grass. Indoor and outdoor shoes are quite necessary. Please make sure your child has indoor and outdoor shoes. A very simple solution is to have your child leave their PE shoes here at school. We are trying to go green in second grade. If your child has a reusable water bottle, we would love to make use of it at school. All you have to do is make sure your childs name is on the water bottle. As always, thank you for your support and please let us know if you have any questions! Yours Professionally, Ms. Ms. Ms. Ms. Lewis, MLewis@aisb.ro Bain, LBain@aisb.ro Mathews, MMathews@aisb.ro Alina (EAL) AGuzganu@aisb.ro