Career Cruising

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Ms. Rowe and I have had SO much fun working with 4th and 5th grade students on our Career Education unit. We have had a 3-week unit on careers for the month of March.  The first week we went over the difference between a job and a career, the various career clusters, how to identify your interests, skills and abilities, what employers are looking for, and why being able to work as a team is so important.  The second week we went on the website Career Cruising.  Students were able to take an interest inventory.  From that quiz 40 potential careers were generated, they then researched these and any other career they were interested in.  The final week the students narrowed down their career to one.  They researched it depth, learning the job description, working conditions, salary, how many jobs are anticipated in 2020 and the educational requirements necessary for that career.

The students really had fun and it was so great to see their enthusiasm.  Ask them about it and help them get on real estate, car and other real world websites to teach them about their potential earnings in the REAL WORLD.

Talking to Your Child(ren) About Abuse

Talking about Touching

I don't know anyone that enjoys talking to their kids about safe and unsafe touching.  The unfortunate part of my job is that I do have to have these uncomfortable conversations.  During March I have been working with K-3rd on this topic, I will be addressing it with 4th & 5th in April.  I wanted to give you some information on what is being covered so that we will have common language when dealing with this topic.

Types of Touches:

Safe Touches:  These are touches that make you feel safe and are good for your body.  They make you feel cared for, loved and important.  Safe touches can include hugging, holding, hands, pats on the back, and an arm around the shoulder, a shot from the doctor, high fives, and shaking hands.   Any safe touch can be an unwanted touch if the child does not like it.

Unsafe Touches:  These are touches that are not good for your body and hurt your body or feelings.  Examples are:  hitting, punching, pinching, kicking, pulling hair, shoving and touching private parts of your body.

Unwanted Touches:  These may be safe touches, yet the child does not want to be touched in that way, bu that person, in that moment.  It is okay for a child to say "NO" to an unwanted touch.  Children can say "NO" to any unwanted touch; even if the person touching them is someone they know.  Help your child practice saying "NO" in a strong but polite way.  This will help children set personal boundaries for keeping themselves safe.

K-1st-  We introduce this topic with the video "Joey Learns the Touching Rule".  This video is a very simple way of explaining that older people, including teenagers should not touch your private body parts (parts covered by your bathing suit) unless its to keep you clean or healthy.  We also read the book "Do You Have a Secret?" which discusses the differences in good and bad secrets.

2nd-3rd-We discuss different types of abuse; physical, emotional, neglect and sexual.  The students watch a McGruff video called "McGruff Self Protection".  We also talk about telling a trusted adult, saying no and not keeping bad screts.

4th-5th-We discuss different types of touching (safe, unsafe, and unwanted).  We watch the video "When You Should Tell About Abuse", where a girl is being inappropriately touched by her older cousin.  We talk about safety when going out with a group, we go over various scenarios, and coping strategies to deal with harassment.