Pathways to Peace at Lafayette 2013-2014

We have been hard at work this summer getting ready for a new and exciting year at Lafayette. As you know, we have had the Peace Education program for the upper grade students in years past. This year, however, we will be expanding that program to all grade levels (including Pre-K!) Of course, some age-level differences will exist, but we are very excited to have this program be school-wide. We are using a variety of resources, including Linda Ryden's own Peace Education curriculum, the MindUP curriculum, The Incredible, Flexible You curriculum, and other activities we've designed ourselves. We have combined the major tenets of these resources into one comprehensive school-guidance program, which we are calling Pathways to Peace. For more information, including a short video on mindfulness education,click on the link that will take you to the presentation we gave to all staff during our professional development week. Please let us know if you have any questions, and we look forward to a great year as we dive into this together!

-Jillian, Rashida, and Linda

A Summer of Sibling Rivalry

Hello and welcome back to another great year at Lafayette! I hope you all had a wonderful summer and enjoyed having more time with your kids. As for me, I spent a good part of the vacation dealing with the dreaded sibling rivalry, which has not appeared in our house before. My two boys are spread out in age, 7 and 2, and I thought by doing that I had avoided having major problems between them as they grow up. Boy was I wrong! This summer, the two year old was finally able to assert himself, grab toys, shout "it's mine!" and just generally be an adorable/terrible two-year-old. My 7-year old could not handle it, and a lot of screaming/yelling/fighting and general chaos ensued. Thus I spent the summer refereeing between the two. I had to actually dust off my counselor's hat and develop behavior plans for them both, complete with positive and negative reinforcers as well as punishments. Yes, it was that bad. I'm happy to say that things got a lot better after that, but there were only about three weeks left to the summer by that point. Suffice it to say, I am THRILLED to be back at work this fall! I'm sure many other parents have dealt with sibling rivalry in your house, and would love to hear strategies that worked for you. Please feel free to either comment on this blog or email me at jillian.diesner@dc.gov
-Jillian