In health classes we are talking about stranger awareness and your child's safety. I use several resources for this unit. One is a video by John Walsh of America's Most Wanted, Stranger Safety. Stranger Safety teaches students to become Smart, Cool and Safe in a fun video which deals with Don't Knows, Kinda Knows and Safe Side Adults.  I also use the video series featuring the Yello-Dyno which deals with Tricky People and their traps, information on this program can be found on their website www.yello-dyno.com.  Please take the time to reinforce this information with your students. The elementary students will also be using a coloring book from Kidpower (www.kidpower.org) which teaches using The Kidpower method which includes many simple People Safety skills young people can use to increase their wellbeing everywhere they go: Our first graders will present a program from Kidpower at our annual Christmas program.

·         Acting aware, calm, and confident;

·         Setting firm respectful boundaries with peers and others they know;

·         Knowing how to walk away from trouble;

·         Knowing how to get help when they need it;

·         Speaking up for themselves and others;

·         Staying in charge of their words and their bodies;

·         Knowing the difference between being passive, aggressive, and assertive in their body language, tone of voice, and choice of words;

·         Protecting themselves emotionally when others are thoughtless, unkind, or even cruel (or when they say hurtful things to themselves); and

We are starting out in health in the elementary level with Character Counts, a character education program centered on universal values called the Six Pillars of Character: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship. To help us work together in strengthening the character of our students we want you to be aware of the values we will be encouraging and learning about as we use Character Counts. If you would like to know more about this program and reinforce the values at home go to their webpage www.CharacterCounts.org. We will end the unit on October 30^th, with a special program, Character-magic. Character magic is the exciting assembly program that captures your students and takes them on a journey of fun and discovery. Loaded with both entertaining and meaningful experiences, Character Magic uses magical effects, music, humor, and audience participation to teach your students powerful lessons on repesct, honesty, responsibility, and other core classroom values. More information on this program can be found on their website. http://www.charactermagic.org/.

 The middle school is starting out this year with a new bullying program Stop bullying now, take a stand, lend an hand, please check out this site at www.stopbullyingnow.org. We will also continue with the Thomas Brown bully prevention series, and several other sites that discuss what bullying is, how to handle being  bullied, are you a bully, and what to do it you see someone being bullied. If you have any questions please email me at pejoy@comcast.net. We will also have No Name Calling Week (http://www.nonamecallingweek.org/cgi-bin/iowa/home.html) Jan. 25-29 2010. Mrs. Cathell will have an art project  aimed at stopping name-calling and verbal bullying in schools. The Creative Expression Contest is an opportunity for students to submit essays, poetry, music, original artwork, or other pieces that convey their experiences and feelings about name-calling, and their ideas for putting a stop to verbal bullying in their schools and communities.

We have been working very hard at St. Francis to make every child feel welcome and safe at our school. Parental involvement, as our mission statement states is vital to our school community for our security and success. We ask you to participate in our survey to help us identify our strengths and any areas of improvement that we may need to address. Thank you as always for your support of St. Francis of Assisi School.

Please print out the parent survey and return to the school by Friday October 2, 2009

 Parent's C.A.R.E. Survey

Parent's Bullying Information

MEDIATION PROGRAM

St. Francis will start our new year off with peer mediation. Peer mediation is a process of resolving disputes and conflicts with the help of student mediators who facilitates the problem. Student mediation allows the student to talk over their difference with student mediators in order to cooperatively work out their differences. Mediation is non-judgmental. The goal is not to determine guilt or innocence, but rather to work out differences constructively. Our school safety patrols will be our student mediators. Peer mediation can be used for conflicts such as kids arguing, pushing, name-calling, and bullying. Mediation allows our students to talk over their problems in a neutral setting and work together to find their own solutions, which results in less student anger and frustration. Students may ask for mediation themselves or be recommended for mediation by a faculty member, all mediations will be done with the students confidentiality being a main priority.  

Heart Attack Warning Signs
Some heart attacks are sudden and intense -- the "movie heart attack," where no one doubts what's happening. But most heart attacks start slowly, with mild pain or discomfort. Often people affected aren't sure what's wrong and wait too long before getting help. Here are signs that can mean a heart attack is happening:

• Chest discomfort. Most heart attacks involve discomfort in the center of the chest that lasts more than a few minutes, or that goes away and comes back. It can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain.   
• Discomfort in other areas of the upper body. Symptoms can include pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.   
• Shortness of breath. May occur with or without chest discomfort.  
• Other signs: These may include breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness 

If you or someone you're with has chest discomfort, especially with one or more of the other signs, don't wait longer than a few minutes (no more than 5) before calling for help. Call 9-1-1... Get to a hospital right away.

Calling 9-1-1 is almost always the fastest way to get lifesaving treatment. Emergency medical services staff can begin treatment when they arrive -- up to an hour sooner than if someone gets to the hospital by car. The staff are also trained to revive someone whose heart has stopped. Patients with chest pain who arrive by ambulance usually receive faster treatment at the hospital, too.

If you can't access the emergency medical services (EMS), have someone drive you to the hospital right away. If you're the one having symptoms, don't drive yourself, unless you have absolutely no other option. 

For more information go to http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/actintime/index.htm, http://www.americanheart.org., and GO RED for HEART DISEASE!

These are the warning signs listed on the American Stroke Association web page.

Stroke is a medical emergency. Know these warning signs of stroke and teach them to others. Every second counts:

• Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
• Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
• Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
• Sudden, severe headache with no known cause

RECOGNIZING A STROKE
 
Read and Learn!

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify.

Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke

victim may suffer brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize

the symptoms of a stroke. Now doctors say a bystander can recognize

a stroke by asking three simple questions:


*Ask the individual to SMILE.

*Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

*Ask the person to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently) (ie. It is

sunny out today)

If he or she has trouble with any of these tasks,

call 9-1-1 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.


After discovering that a group of non-medical volunteers could

identify facial weakness, arm weakness and speech problems,

researchers urged the general public to learn the three questions.