Bennington Public Schools

This unit will be taught in the first quarter. This unit is made up of 4 lessons. 

Click here to download a PDF of an overview of this unit. This handout includes what your child is learning and ways you can practice at home.

Lesson: Noticing Feelings
In this lesson, students will practice using body language and context clues (looking at the person’s face and body, thinking about what’s going on in the situation) to figure out how someone is feeling.

You Can Try This at Home
Ask your child to tell you how they think others around them might be feeling, for example a sibling, or a character in a story, a movie, or a TV show.

Lesson: Sometimes We Feel Worried
In this lesson, students will learn to use body language and context clues to figure out when someone feels worried. They’ll practice looking at the person’s face and body, as well as thinking about what’s going on in the situation.

You Can Try This at Home
Encourage your child to notice when others around them might feel worried. Have them practice using body language and context clues to figure out when family members, friends, or characters in books, movies, or on TV might be feeling worried.

Lesson: Feeling Calm
In this lesson, students will learn to use body language and context clues to figure out when someone feels calm. They’ll practice looking at the person’s face and body, as well as thinking about what’s going on in the situation.

You Can Try This at Home
Encourage your child to notice when others around them feel calm. Have them practice using body language and context clues to figure out when family members, friends, or characters in books, movies, or on TV might be feeling calm.

Lesson: Feeling Frustrated
In this lesson, students will learn to use body language and context clues to figure out when someone feels frustrated. They’ll practice looking at the person’s face and body, as well as thinking about what’s going on in the situation. They’ll also learn about a new strategy for feeling calm when they get frustrated: slow counting.

You Can Try This at Home
Encourage your child to notice when others around them feel frustrated. Have them practice using body language and context clues to figure out when family members, friends, or characters in books, movies, or on TV might be feeling frustrated.

This unit will be taught in the second quarter. This unit is made up of 3 lessons. 

Lesson: Ways to Stay Safe

Your child is learning the Ways to Stay Safe and eight safety rules called the Never-Never Rules. The Ways to Stay Safe are Recognize: Is it safe? What’s the rule? Report: Tell an adult. Refuse: Say words that mean no. 

Practice at Home 

Before doing something that requires following a Never-Never Rule, like going for a bike ride, ask your child: What can you do to stay safe when you ride your bike? Help your child remember the Never-Never Rule: Never ride on wheels without wearing a helmet. Remind your child that following the Never-Never Rules helps you stay safe.

Lesson: The Always Ask First Rule

Your child is learning the Always Ask First Rule: Always ask a parent or the person in charge first. Your child is learning to follow this rule when someone wants him or her to do something, go somewhere, or take something.

Practice at Home 

Notice when you see other people, such as family or friends, asking your child to do something or trying to give your child something. Remind your child to follow the Always Ask First Rule: What should you do first? (Always ask a parent or the person in charge first.) When your child comes to you to ask first, thank him or her for following the Always Ask First Rule and say that doing this helps keep him or her safe.

Lesson: Safe and Unsafe Touches

Your child is learning about the importance of respecting others' personal space.

Practice at Home 

Some examples to be discussed at home include not hitting, kicking, pushing, etc.

This unit will be taught in the second quarter. This unit is made up of 4 lessons. 

Click here to download a PDF of an overview of this unit. This handout includes what your child is learning and ways you can practice at home.

Lesson: The Power of Kind Acts
In this lesson, students will learn that a kind act is something they can do to help someone feel good. They’ll practice suggesting kind acts to do for people in different scenarios.

You Can Try This at Home
Encourage your child to think of a kind act they could do for someone, for example a sibling, grandparent, or neighbor.

Lesson: Ways to Be Kind
In this lesson, students will learn and practice two ways they can be kind to others: asking, “Are you okay?” and offering to keep someone company.

You Can Try This at Home
Help your child think of a family member or close friend who could use some company. Encourage them to ask the person, “Would you like some company?”

Lesson: Offering Kind Acts
In this lesson, students will learn and practice two types of kind acts: offering to help someone and inviting someone to join.

You Can Try This at Home
Help your child think of a kind act they can do for someone involving offering to help or inviting them to join. Support your child in carrying out the kind act.

Lesson: Practicing Kind Acts
In this lesson, students will role-play doing kinds acts in response to different scenarios.

You Can Try This at Home
Ask your child to tell you about the kind acts they and their classmates have been learning about at school this week.

This unit will be taught in the third quarter. This unit is made up of 4 lessons. 

Click here to download a PDF of an overview of this unit. This handout includes what your child is learning and ways you can practice at home.

Lesson: Time to Pay Attention
In this lesson, students will learn that paying attention can look different depending on the situation, for example, listening to the teacher during a lesson, or looking both ways before crossing the street.

You Can Try This at Home
Ask your child to show you how they can pay attention, for example, when you are reading a story with them, explaining a task, or crossing the street.

Lesson: Everyone Gets Distracted
In this lesson, students will learn that a distraction is something that takes their attention away from something else. They’ll learn different ways to manage distractions, such as reminding themselves to focus, turning away from the distraction, changing places, or politely asking someone to stop a distracting behavior.

You Can Try This at Home
When you need to pay attention or focus on a task at home, ask your child to suggest some ways you can manage distractions.

Lesson: You Did It!
In this lesson, students will reflect on different skills they’ve learned and talk about how practice and continued effort helped them get better.

You Can Try This at Home
Talk with your child about different tasks and skills they have learned to do by themselves at home, for example, making their bed, getting themselves dressed, etc. Remind them that it took time and practice to get better at these things.

Lesson: Helpful Thoughts
In this lesson, students will practice using helpful thoughts to encourage themselves and keep going while learning a dance with their classmates.

You Can Try This at Home
Ask your child to suggest some helpful thoughts to encourage you or another family member to complete a challenging task (for example, a school/home/work project, or an exercise routine).

This unit will be taught in the third quarter. This unit is made up of 5 lessons. 

Click here to download a PDF of an overview of this unit.This handout includes what your child is learning and ways you can practice at home.

Lesson: How to Say the Problem
In this lesson, students will learn how to state a problem in a respectful way, without blame or name calling. They’ll practice identifying problems and then state the problem respectfully.

You Can Try This at Home
Children may be tempted to blame others when they’re upset about something. Encourage your child to avoid blame by describing what happened without focusing on who is at fault.

Lesson: Was it an Accident?
In this lesson, students will learn helpful ways to respond to a problem caused by accident. They’ll practice phrases for apologizing: "I’m sorry. It was an accident. Are you okay? How can I help?"

You Can Try This at Home
When accidents occur at home, take time to apologize and encourage your child to do the same, using the new phrases they learned at school this week.

Lesson: Ask for What You Need
In this lesson, students will learn the importance of asking for what they want or need in order to solve a problem. They’ll practice making polite requests with the phrases, “Can I, please . . . ?” and “Could you, please . . .?”

You Can Try This at Home
Ask your child to sing the problem-solving song they learned this week. Have your child teach you the tune and sing it together. Here are the lyrics:
Can I, can I, can I? Could I, could I, could?
When I have a problem, these words help me feel good.
Can I, can I, can I? Could I, could I, could?
I can ask for what I want to help me feel good.
I know what I want right now, I want to play with you.
Can I please, could I please, play that game too?
Can you, can you, can you? Could you, could you, could?
When I have a problem, these words help me feel good.
Can you, can you, can you? Could you, could you, could?
I can ask for what I need to help me feel good.
I know what I need right now, I’m feeling really sad.
Could you please talk with me about that fight we had?
Can I, can I, can I? Could I, could I, could?
I can ask for what I want to help me feel good.
Can you, can you, can you? Could you, could you, could?
I can ask for what I need to help me feel good.
When I have a problem, these words help me feel good.

Lesson: We Can Make It Better
In this lesson, students will learn and practice ways to make amends to start to solve a problem.

You Can Try This at Home
If disagreements or hurt feelings occur at home between siblings or family members, help your child think of a way to make amends, help others feel good, and start to solve the problem.

Lesson: Solving Problems
In this lesson, students will show what they’ve learned about solving problems and suggest ways characters in a comic can apologize, ask for what they need to solve the problem, and make amends.

You Can Try This at Home
Help your child practice their problem-solving skills at home. Reinforce the importance of apologizing, asking for what they want or need, and finding a way to make amends when they encounter a problem.

This unit will be taught in the first and fourth quarter. This unit is made up of 4 lessons. 

Lesson: Recognizing Bullying

Your child is learning how to recognize bullying

Practice at Home 

Help your child recognize bullying. First, ask your child: Can you tell me about a time something happened to you or to someone else that you think was bullying? Then ask these questions to help your child recognize if it really was bullying: 

• Was someone being mean on purpose?

If yes, ask the next question. 

If no, then it probably wasn’t bullying. 

• Did it happen again and again? 

If yes, ask the next question. 

If no, then it probably wasn’t bullying. 

• Was the person being bullied able to get it to stop? 

If yes, ask: What did you or someone else do to get it to stop?

Lesson: Reporting Bullying

Your child is learning how to report bullying to a caring adult.

Practice at Home 

Help your child practice reporting to you what happened at school each day. This will give your child practice in remembering details of what happened during the day, an important skill when it comes to reporting bullying. Have your child face you, keep his or her head up and shoulders back, and say in a strong, respectful voice, “I need to report my day.” 

Ask your child: 

• What happened? 

• Who else was there? 

• When did this happen? 

• Where did it happen? 

• Has it happened before?

Lesson: Refusing Bullying

Your child is learning how to refuse bullying when it happens.

Practice at Home

Help your child practice how to say no to refuse bullying. Pretend you are the child who is bullying. Have your child face you, keep his or her head up and shoulders back, and say in strong, respectful voice, “Stop it. That’s bullying.” Repeat this practice throughout the week.

Lesson: Bystander Power

Your child is learning ways bystanders can help stop bullying. 

Practice at Home 

Tell your child that including others can be a way to keep bullying from happening. Remind your child to include others by inviting them to join in: I see that your sister is interested in what you and your friend are making with that clay. Can you invite her to help you make it?