N e w s l e t t e r

上海市浦东新区浦东南路1570弄25-26号, 200120

T: (86) 21 5068 9695 / (86) 189 3003 9325 E: enquiry-sh-pudong@etonhouse.com.cn

sh.etonhouse.com.cn

VISION

Shaping the future through education

Mission

Developing confident and capable

global citizens

Image of Child

Curious, Communicative, Capable,

Confident, Respected

Image of Educator

Collaborative, Open-minded, Life-Long

Learner, Respectful and Passionate

23rd November,2018

Important Date

Halloween/Harvest Festival Celebration

Thursday 31st October

Dear Parents,The Christmas festive season is quickly coming and many preparations

are presently taking place, to ensure your child experiences a memorable 2018 Christmas season here at EtonHouse. This event is enormous in our IB Calendar, as it highlights community spirit as we all come together from different cultures to celebrate a global tradition/festivity. Throughout this season we are introducing our students to the PYP attitudes of appreciation, cooperation, respect and tolerance for each other, and the IB Learner Profile of being inquirers, knowledgeable, thinkers communicators, open-minded and caring. It also aligns with the present PYP Transdisciplinary Theme of How We Express Ourselves. Please try and immerse yourself in this festivity as much as possible, as it is a wonderful opportunity to talk and celebrate it with your child.

Parent IB Representative Meeting

On Monday we held the inaugural Parent IB Representative Meetingwhere four parents representing each year level, came together with MsAdika ( PYP Coordinator), and myself, to discuss various matters acrossthe school. This is to allow parents across the school to have a ‘voice’, sothat we can all work together as a united community to achieve goalstowards ongoing school improvement. Thank you to Amarita, Yi Yi,Jenny and Ouyang. Matters discussed were as follows:

• Year 1 parents decided they would like homework and recently whenthey received homework, they were very pleased. For Kindergarten,homework is not a concern but more of a reading exercise at home.

• A new parent waiting room was discussed and proposed to be set upin the previous Music Room next to the guards. Then K and Year 1classes will be delivered to this area after school. This new procedurewill only be a trial, but will alleviate congestion in the Reception areaafter school. N1 and N2 parents will remain to collect children fromtheir designated areas as this is efficiently operating.

• Christmas /Winter Celebration was discussed with parentrepresentatives volunteering their time to assist with serving lightrefreshments and helping to decorate various areas in the school.

Christmas /Winter Celebration

On Friday 7th December the students will be performing in our Christmas Production. Due to the traffic and parking problems, we will have four separate production, one for each Year Level. Therefore, please note the times for each Year level and place it in your diaries:

N1 Parent Refreshments from 9:00 amN1 Production 9:30 am -9:50 am

N2 Parent Refreshments from 10:00 amN2 Production 10:30 am-10:50 am

Kindergarten Parent Refreshments from. 1:00 pmKindergarten Production 1:30 pm -1:50pm

Year 1 Parent Refreshments from 2:00pmYear 1 Production 2:30pm-2:45pm

Please care fully note these times above, as it will be a large operation moving large volumes of families in and out of the venue. It would be appreciated if you did not arrive before the scheduled Light Refreshments for your child’s Year level.

Please also note the following processes for the event:

Photos and video cameras. I am asking our parent community if they know of anyone ( or vendor), that may be able to take professional photos/video of our impending Christmas production. If so, it would be greatly appreciated and please let Abby know at the front reception or please phone reception or our Marketing departments. This would be an enormous advantage, as parents taking individual photos and video, has been problematic with our previous concerts, often blocking the view of other parents. Thank you.

Traffic: we urge you to use alternative transport to the productions, as our car park does not have the capacity to take large volumes. This is protocol of our school for all whole school events, so I would appreciate this to be honored-Thank you.Families are requested to only invite maximum of two – three family members to attend the production. This is due to minimal space and having to quickly organize arrivals and departures of each group.

THANK YOU

3Newsletter · EtonHouse Shanghai

Self-RegulationThe age group of our students at EtonHouse necessitates a very strong focus on a particular area of their development. This is their ability to self-regulate.

As many parents have inquired about this fundamental area of a child’s development, in order to assist you and your families, I have compiled a few important points for you below:

What is self-regulation?

Self-regulation is the ability to understand and manage your behavior and your reactions to feelings and the things happening around you.It includes being able to:

regulate reactions to emotions like frustration or excitementcalm down after something exciting or upsettingfocus on a taskrefocus attention on a new taskcontrol impulseslearn behavior that helps you get along with other people.

Why self-regulation is important

As your child grows, self-regulation will help them learn at school – for example, because self-regulation gives them the ability to sit still and listen in the classroom, they behave in socially acceptable ways

Controlling impulses –self-regulation gives them the ability to control impulses and not make loud comments around people who look different from them and to be able to make friendships. Self-regulation also gives them the ability to take turns in games, share toys and express emotions, like joy and anger in appropriate ways.

Fostering independence –Self-regulation gives them the ability to make good decisions about their behaviour and learn how to behave in new situations with less guidance from you.

Manage stress Self-regulation helps them to learn that they can cope with strong feelings and gives them the ability to calm themselves down after getting angry.

How self-regulation develops

Babies are not born with the ability to control their own reactions and behaviour. Self-regulation develops most in the toddler and preschool years, but it also keeps developing right into adulthood.

Babies

Your baby is too young to learn self-regulation, but with your help he/she will start developing ways of handling their emotions.

When you respond quickly to your baby when he/she is upset, and you cuddle and comfort them, they will calm down. This experience helps your baby learn about how to soothe themselves – for example, he/she might suck their thumb to comfort themself. Being able to self-soothe is the first step towards learning self-regulation.

Toddlers

As your baby becomes a toddler they will start to develop some basic self-regulation skills. For example, they will learn how long they usually need to wait for things like food or their turn to play.

From around two years your child will probably be able to follow simple instructions or rules like ‘Please put your hat on’ and ‘Don’t hit’.

And as he/she develops, your child will start to follow simple rules even when you are not there. But at this age you can still expect that she might break rules in tricky situations. For example, if another child has a toy your child really wants, he/she might snatch rather than wait for their turn.

Preschoolers

From around 3-4 years, your child will start to know what you expect of his/her behavior. They will probably be able to control their behavior with some supervision and help from you. For example, he/she might try to speak in a soft voice if you are at the movies.

5Newsletter · EtonHouse Shanghai

School-age children

By school age your child is likely to be better at planning – that is, imagining the consequences of his/her behavior and deciding how to respond. For example, your child might start being able to disagree with other people without having an argument.

At this age, your child is learning to see ‘both sides’ of a situation. When he can imagine how somebody else sees and feels about a situation, he/she is more likely to control how they expresses his/her own wants and needs.

Every child is different and some children find self-regulation easier than others. Even older children and teenagers sometimes struggle with self-regulation. Your child’s ability to self-regulate will depend on the strength and intensity of his/her emotions. Children who typically feel things strongly and intensely find it harder to self-regulate. It is not as hard for children who are more easy going, but if you feel that something isn’t quite right, see your child and family health nurse or GP.

Helping your child learn self-regulation

Here are some tips for helping your child learn self-regulation:

Try to model self-regulation for your child – for example, show your child how you can do a frustrating task without getting upset. You could say something like, ‘Wow that was hard. I’m glad I didn’t get angry because I might not have been able to do it’.

Talk about emotions with your child – for example, ‘Did you throw your toy because you were frustrated that it wasn’t working? What else could you have done?’. When your child struggles with a difficult feeling, encourage him to name the feeling and what caused it. Wait until the emotion has passed if that’s easier.

Help your child find appropriate ways to react to difficult emotions – for example, teach her to put her hands in her pockets when she wants to touch, snatch or strike out. Say things like ‘Let’s relax’ and ‘I can help you if you like’.

Have clear rules that help your child understand what behavior you expect – for example, ‘Use your words to show your feelings’.

Talk with your child about the behavior you expect – for example, ‘The shop we’re going to has lots of things that can break. It’s OK to look, but please don’t touch’. Give your child a gentle reminder as you enter the shop. For example, ‘Remember –just looking, OK?’

Praise your child when he/she shows self-control and follows the rules. Descriptive praise will tell him what he has done well. For example, ‘You were great at waiting for your turn’, or ‘I liked the way that you shared with Sam when he asked’.Be patient with your child – it can be very hard for young children to follow rules when they have strong feelings. Matching your expectations to your child’s age and stage of development can also help.

Problems with self-regulation

From time to time, different things can affect your child’s ability to self-regulate. For example – tiredness, illness and changes to your child’s routine can all affect her ability to regulate her reactions and behavior. Also, some children have great self-regulation at child care or school but find it hard at home. Other children struggle in busy, noisy places like shopping centres.

Although these problems with self-regulation are pretty normal, it is a good idea to speak with a professional if you are worried about your child’s behavior or you are having trouble managing his behavior as he/she gets older. For example, you could talk to your GP, your child and family health nurse, or your child’s child care educator or teacher.

Consider seeking professional help if:

your child seems to have more tantrums or difficult behavior than other children of the same ageyour child is behaving in difficult or out-of-control ways more often as she gets olderyour child’s behavior is a danger to herself or othersyour child is difficult to discipline and your strategies for managing her behavior don’t seem to be workingyour child is very withdrawn and has a lot of trouble interacting with othersyour child doesn’t seem to have as many communication and social skills compared with other children of the same age.