Strengths Archives | Be Positive Program

National Reconciliation Week Doesn’t Stop Now

Admin — Fri, 04 Jun 2021 14:05:50 +0000

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

‘I acknowledge and pay respect to the past, present and future Traditional Custodians and Elders of this nation and the continuation of cultural, spiritual and educational practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.’

MORE THAN A WORD. RECONCILIATION TAKES ACTION

Reconciliation week is over, but it the learning and action doesn’t stop now. It should be ongoing. Here is an easy and practical way to keep the Indigenous perspectives front and centre. I have used these 8 ways of learning symbols, displaying them in the classroom, and mentioning one or more each day. It becomes ‘normal’ that you refer to the symbols. Resources for this and other activities are listed below.

Great to see two weekends of Indigenous AFL jumpers. Listening to the Indigenous players stories, symbols and performances before the games are moving to see and hear.

Resources for 8 Ways of Learning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSetGyCcdSY&ab_channel=GlobalIntellectualGroupGlobalIntellectualGroup Symbols and explanations: https://vickidrozdowski.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/individual-investigation-of-a-learning-theory-aboriginal-pedagogy.pdf

More Resources: 20 Actions for reconciliation– https://nrw.reconciliation.org.au/actions-for-reconciliation/ Schools frameworks https://www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/publications/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-cultural-safety-framework https://www.teachstarter.com/au/teaching-resource-collection/indigenous-australians/ https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/multicultural/Pages/koorieresources.aspx

ePoster Don’t be a Bystander

The post National Reconciliation Week Doesn’t Stop Now appeared first on Be Positive Program.

Getting back to School

Admin — Thu, 21 May 2020 14:15:59 +0000

By Barb Bellesini

How are you feeling about going back to school?

This experience will have been different for every student, teacher and parent. Some will be happy, others traumatised and everything in between. We can’t assume how anyone feels. How do we deal with all of this?

Phychologist Dr Helen Street, chair of Positive Schools, suggests we ask 4 questions similar to these. Make sure EVERY person has a chance to answer each one in their own way- speaking, drawing, one to one or in the group. They must feel they belong and have an equal voice : 1. What felt different for you learning at home? 2. What did you enjoy? 3. What did you miss? 4. What would you like to do differently back at school?

It’s very healthy to TALK about and experience your FEELINGS. Use Circle Time, so everyone has a chance to speak. ALL feelings are good, it’s what we do with them that can make a difference. If we let them CONTROL us, that’s where we can be in trouble! YOU need to CONTROL your feelings so you don’t hurt either yourself or others, and so you can feel happier. We need to all build strategies to control our feelings. (See some helpful posters below)

Controlling your feelings by SELF SOOTHING

What helps YOU clam down? Everyone is different. Modeling Self Soothing gives the best example that it works, do some together: e.g. Deep breathing, drinking water, reading, walking, running, playing outside, painting, cooking, eating (not too much!!), listening to music, singing, dancing, playing sport, watching a movie, mediation, mindfulness, games, jokes, laughing, lying down, resting, sunshine, swimming, a bath, the gym, exercises, yoga, writing, drawing, puzzles, jigsaws, climbing, sitting under or in a tree, the park, a playground, talking to a friend or helper, pets, animals, fishing, lego, IT, robotics, etc.

Mindfulness or Meditation

Always helps to ground and centre us, and has much research to show it works. There are many resources such as Smiling Mind, that can be used.

Routine

PREDICTION = SAFETY Have a schedule up each day so there are no surprises, and if the schedule changes, let the students know in advance if possible. After all the disruptions, routine is comfort.

Gratitude

There are ALWAYS things to be grateful for. Focusing on the things that go right can help to increase mood. Do this in a written, spoken, in your mind or pictorial way. Try and do it every day until the next holidays to get them into the habit. Have a gratitude board in the staff room, tell students to ask their parents what they are grateful for.

Discover Strengths

Use strength cards and discussions, or questionnaires, to discover each others strengths – both physical and emotional. Talk about how you could use your strengths to help others. Make Strength posters, display them. We ALL have strengths we can share to make the world a better place.

Exercise every day

Get the students and yourself moving, both in the classroom, or work area and outside. Dance, sing, do brain gym, PE, a ‘Play is the Way’ game, Simon says, etc. have frequent breaks if students are not settled.

Relationship and Empathy

Get to know your students all over again, things will have changed. Some will have improved, some will have regressed – in either learning and /or behaviour. Relationship is VERY important, every person wants to belong, this goes for staff as well. Empathy is relationship building.

Posters that may help:

Control your Feelings

Mood Map

Catastrophe Scale

The post Getting back to School appeared first on Be Positive Program.

Inspiration- Nick Vujicic

Admin — Fri, 03 Aug 2018 15:00:59 +0000

http://picasion.com/gl/9PR0 by Barb Bellesini

What is inspiration? Middles and Seniors watched the following short video called: –‘NEVER GIVE UP, Nick Vujicic in a School.’ Nick is a motivational speaker who was born a Thalidomide, with no arms or legs. He has a short limb he calls ‘Chicken drumstick’, and has become a VERY independent adult, teaching and challenging himself to do many and varied things that ‘able bodied’ people can achieve. The children were touched by the presentation and have come up with their own ‘Inspirational Statements.’ Watch the video again with your children to see what they saw.

A sample of INSPIRATIONAL STATEMENTS from the students:
Nick has touched me so much. He made me feel important now because I used to think I was a piece of rubbish. These are some of the things I have learnt from him:

Don’t wish for things you know you are not going to get.
Everyone is special no matter what happens to you.
You can always have a go, just keep trying and trying.

NO ARMS NO LEGS NO WORRIES.

If you say you can’t do it you can’t, but if you say you can do it you can!!

Believe in yourself, keep trying to make an attempt.

Don’t waste your life.

Be happy with what you’ve got.

Challenge yourself.

If you help people, they help you back.

You can be happy even if you don’t have everything you want.

Two wrongs don’t make a right.

If you’re embarrassed don’t give up.

It doesn’t matter what you look like you’re the same in the inside.

You can do anything that is possible only if you believe in yourself.

Don’t waste your life wishing for something you know you won’t get.

It’s a lie that you are not important, because everyone is important and special.

Be grateful for what you have and who you are.

You are beautiful, so don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

If you give up on yourself, don’t expect other people to give up on you.

Be grateful for what you have.

To cope with stuff people that say about you, use your humour.

Even if someone is different it doesn’t mean they can’t do things you can do.

Don’t worry if you have a disability your life can still be worthwhile, never give up.

Be confident in who you are.

Don’t judge other people, they can be better at some things than us.

Even though you might be born with a disability, it don’t mean you aren’t as good as others.

It’s alright if you are not the same as others because you’re still special.

It doesn’t matter if you are big or small, fat or skinny, or have no arms or legs, there is always something special to find. There is no such thing as not perfect!

DO SOMETHING INSPIRATIONAL TODAY –SET A GOAL FOR YOURSELF AND WORK TOWARDS ACHIEVING IT! BE GRATEFUL FOR EVERYTHING AROUND YOU.

Gratitude Journal & Setting Goals Journal

The post Inspiration- Nick Vujicic appeared first on Be Positive Program.

Opening Sale on Products

Admin — Sun, 27 May 2018 09:53:57 +0000

YAY! The SHOP is OPEN!

by Barb Bellesini

After 5 months of toiling and trying, never giving up and making little and big bits of progress, following my own advice, positive thinking and Growth Mindset, I engaged a professional to help me finish setting up my BE POSITIVE PROGRAM Website and Shop. A BIG shout out and THANK YOU to Brad Swartz the director of ‘Seven 18 IT’ for a fabulous job. Please look him up if you need anything ‘IT’ done!!

So now it is SALE time! Go to the products page, order anything over $20 and receive a 10% discount on your CART TOTAL. Use the COUPON OPENINGSALE to get your 10% Discount. That is on top of discounts when ordering 10+ of the same Poster, 20+ Workbooks or the Gratitude & Setting Goals Journals, 4+ Lesson Plans and there are also other value ‘Packages.’

All items come in both hard copy and eBook or ePoster.

Hard copies are available in Australia only with a Flat Rate of $9.95 postage and handling and any order over $200 has free postage.

ePosters and eBooks are the option for any other country at the moment.

Have fun browsing, and while you are there you might want to read a few of the Posts. The last one was on SELF TALK or Fixed Mindset /Growth Mindset. With many more to come.

Posters are suitable for ages 2-102 and already being used in many classrooms from Prep /Pre-Primary to Year 12 in Australia, in a Psychologist and Osteopath’s waiting rooms, (one in England), and in individual homes. Any country that speaks English can use them!!

Tell teachers, psychologists, doctors, friends, families about this Be Positive Education Program that has been developed, tried and tested in Australian schools for over 8 years so far.

The currently available Lesson Plans are most suitable for to 4-8 year olds, but by late 2018 other Lesson Plans for up to 14 years will be ready, with Blackline Masters as well. Check some samples on the Lesson Plans page.

With RESILIENCE, HARD WORK, a GROWTH MINDSET / POSITIVE SELF TALK, GOAL SETTING, TAKING LITTLE STEPS, CONTROLLING MY EMOTIONS, MINDFULNESS etc. I have made it this far! There is more to come!

Control your Feelings

Junior Workbook

ePoster Set

Package 2

The post Opening Sale on Products appeared first on Be Positive Program.

Acts Of Kindness

Admin — Wed, 21 Feb 2018 11:31:15 +0000

http://picasion.com/gl/8VSh/ by Barb Bellesini

It was Random Acts of Kindness Day on Feb 17th. What did you do??

Have YOU performed an Act of Kindness today? Have YOU shown kindness to someone else today??

Each child from grade one to six, chose an Act of Kindness to carry out over FOUR weeks. They were expected to do it at least once a day. Some have chosen actions that can be performed more than once a day.

The idea is to make them more aware of how they are treating others and how they are being treated. We read a book about ‘Filling’ each other’s ‘Invisible Buckets’ and how doing acts of kindness to others, actually helps to fill our own bucket as well. When our bucket is full, we are happy, when it is empty, we are sad.

Some of the Acts of Kindness, how the children FELT doing the action and how the recipients felt are listed below. Some of my favourites are: Act: give a hug a day even when I feel angry How they felt: I felt like I am good! Recipients feelings: ‘Phew, I don’t have to nag her!’ (This child did her homework without being asked and imagined what her mum was thinking!)

The grade 6 children made some posters to put around the school to remind people to be kind to others.

http://picasion.com/gl/8VSi/

Some of the ACTIONS
Make my bed; smile more; help people; help set the table; help cook dinner; get up when the alarm goes; go to bed when I’m told; get ready on time; give a compliment; do the dishes; empty the dishwasher; clean my room without being told; play with my brothers and sisters, don’t fight with them; clean my room; spend more time with my family; put my clothes in their place; give a fruit salad massage; listen; fold the socks; help tidy the house; do my chores without being asked; fed the dog or cat; or clean up after the dog; play with people; help people with problems; pray for people; give a hug a day even when I feel angry; help parents around the house.

How does it FEEL?

Juniors: Happy; bored (they didn’t like making their bed!!); great; OK; I enjoyed it; helpful; terrible (When they forgot and fought with their sibling!); normal; good about this activity because people liked it!; like I am good!; nice and helpful; it was really easy but it was hard!; I was happy when I did it; disappointed because I didn’t do it much (I forgot); very happy; really tired but happy; it was fun; I was a bit busy; really great; tired and very, very good; I liked this activity because I like doing chores sometimes; this activity made me less tired (I went to bed when mum said!); I felt like helping everyone; I felt like I loved everyone; good doing this activity because I helped my mum and it helped her a lot; good because I’m used to it (Now gets out of bed with the alarm!); I felt happy and I care about people; really happy and it was easy; I loved it; it made me feel good; it was fun

Middles: My bucket filled up every time; good because my mum praised me; happy because I saw everyone smile; good because I got to help my family; that I should listen; I felt weird; good and happy playing with my cat; playing with my brother was hard; happy when I got to talk to them again; fantastic; really happy to make people feel nice and happy; confident to do what I chose; weird and helpful; better and I also felt like I was making my family happier; mine could have been better; I forgot to do it; caring happy; happy to know my sister and brother were happy; terrible because I didn’t do it much; dumb; very, very, very, very, VERY happy!

Seniors: Very pleased with myself; I feel better; I wasn’t late for school; really helpful; sometimes I didn’t want to help but I did; a bit confused; I don’t see the point; really good to help others; I felt I could do a more meaningful action; happy for the challenge ahead of me; good because I was helping mum; like I was making mum work not as hard; it was hard at some stages; I was kinder to my brother; better and happier and I got along with people better; pretty good sometimes I didn’t want to do it but I pushed myself; happier because my mum was happy; good because I’m making someone happy; cheerful; A little proud I felt like I filled someone’s bucket; happy because I am encouraging my peers and family; tidy and organized; good when I was complimenting others; like I was helping instead of doing my own thing; proud of myself; good because I did it for the family; easier because you get used to it; I thought it made other people feel good; happy to help my parents; very happy when my bucket got full; not very well I think I could have done better.

How did your family / others feel?

Good because they don’t have to do it for me; Happy because they all gave a laugh and a smile; I think my family felt happy; happy because I’m going to bed; my brother is thankful and so is my cat; I think they tried to keep up the good work which was making them happy; good that I made my bed in the morning and say goodnight.

“Phew; I don’t have to nag her!’ shocked; they felt happy because I was doing it; OK; pleased; happy and shocked.

Happy because they felt encouraged; relieved, less stressed; good because it took off the amount of work mum had to do; good because my parents didn’t have to tell me to do it every day; I think everyone was very excited; like they didn’t have to do much; good because they could relax; happy because other people get compliments; relaxed more; 100% good inside! I think when I was quiet they enjoyed it; good because she was getting a hug from me every day.

They smiled when I helped them; Good because they didn’t have to wake me up and my brother and I wouldn’t be late for school; they felt relaxed; not as rushed and thankful!!!; helped happy and not stressed as much; grateful; confused like me; Good because I don’t usually play with her; I’m sure they liked my little idea; the other person felt brilliant; like they had more time to rest; pleased with me; I think other people would enjoy being with me more;

Fill someone’s bucket today!!

The post Acts Of Kindness appeared first on Be Positive Program.

Acts of Kindness

Admin — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 10:00:46 +0000

Acts of Kindness – using our Strengths and Talents to make us better Citizens

A couple of weeks ago our Positive ED teacher gave us a task to do: ‘Random Acts of Kindness’ using the talents and strengths we have: some people have space and vision talents; some have maths and logic; others have word; were a naturalist; or have people or body strengths.

Some of the actions we did were:
writing a story to give to neighbours to read, cleaning up neighbours’ yards, helping to clean the pigeon’s cage,
selling lemonade and lollies to raise money for St Vinneys, washing cars, giving skills clinics, helping Mrs Kaye,
making up a play and entertaining neighbours, singing and dancing for kids at school, teaching maths to other students, doing surveys visiting a nursing home, making an environmental magazine, a bird feeder, walking dogs, making and giving
away handmade pictures and book marks, cleaning parks and school yards, anti-bullying presentations, designing new playground areas, helping teachers, personal questionnaires, maths lessons

Some comments:

Chloe-Our action was to give away art pieces to make people happy. I felt happy to see the smiles on peoples faces when the received the art and it was really fun making the art.

AMBER – My action was to write a story to then share with my neighbours to encourage reading so that everyone loves it. I got feedback both positive and constructive to help my writing. I created a presentation which I then shared with my class and the story is on my personal blog “Amber the Enchanter”.

Tessa and Jamie- Our action was to make lolly bags and lemonade to sell out on the street. We made little cards saying have a nice day or enjoy the rest of your day, and gave them out to people when they bought something.

Katherine and Corinne- Our action was to make corner bookmarks to give as a present to our classmates and expecting nothing in return, just to put a smile on their faces. This made us feel awesome!

Mia-my action was walking people’s dogs with a friend and I really enjoyed putting smiles on people’s faces

Nick- my action is to be nicer to people and make a poster about bullying, I believe that when people receive compliments it makes them happy and feel good about themselves.

Rylee and Raquel – our action was to care for our families dogs. We went to the park walked around the block and had a good time.

Jonathan and Ivan- Our action was to teach the students of St Luke’s maths. If the students needed help to catch up on their work, or if they just wanted to get ahead of their class, they would come to us.

Make someone happy today by doing a Random Act of Kindness

Compliments Fill our Bucket

ePoster Positive Thought of the Week

The post Acts of Kindness appeared first on Be Positive Program.