Kris Paulson, our Middle School counsellor, recently visited 5R to speak with the class about being a “Welcome Buddy” for students new to ZIS at the beginning of sixth grade. Many 5R students have benefited from welcome buddies on their own arrival, and many were interested in supporting a newcomer in a similar way.

To participate, students need to be able to attend an orientation session on August 10. For more details, and to apply, families need to follow this link, and be signed into student ZIS email accounts.

Thanks for supporting new ZIS students!

Dear 5R Families,

Next Thursday is the second part of 5R’s bicycle training. Several months ago Herr Salierno, a local police educator, gave us a lesson in bicycle road safety theory. Next week is part two, the practice. Please find below the text of a letter from Herr Salierno that outlines how students, parents and bikes need to be prepared for next Thursday’s session.

Dear Parents,

The traffic and safety education team of the Kantonspolizei Zürich set the goal to educate students in grade 5 with practical assignments regarding biking on Swiss roads. The focus during this exercise will be important and challenging traffic situations, such as left-turn and special situations that might occur.

Practical bike training for G5 runs from 9:00 – 12:30 on the following days:

During this driver training responsibility for your child is up to me. But I can not take responsibility or the trip on the way to school. Not very experienced children should push their bike on the sidewalk to the school.

If your child can not ride a bike or for any other reason cannot attend this driver training course, please kindly inform the class teacher in writing.

We strongly recommend that your child will participate with his/her own bike which must be checked at home beforehand according to the following inspection list:

• two functional breaks
• reflectors: white front, red back
• reflectors on the pedals
• bell (recommended)
• front and back lights (only for the night or during bad visibility)
• tires (good profile, no cracks and pressure checked)
• bike helmet (see information below)
• private liability insurance

Your child will only be able to participate if the checklist is completed.

Be aware that driving a bike on the sidewalk is prohibited by Swiss law.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate and contact me (in German), phone 044-247 37 10 or email Sali@kapo.zh.ch

Kind regards,

Ciriaco Salierno
Traffic Instructor

On Friday was the final Child Protection lesson.

In this session, Ms Jill revisited the Body Safety Rules:

-Your body is your own and you choose who can touch you and when they may touch you – hugs, kisses, shaking hands etc

– You should have a Safety Network – 5 adults in your life who you can trust and you can tell anything to.

– You should recognise early warning signs – feeling sick, heart beating fast, breathing too fast – that are signals that things are not right. Trust your instincts.

– You should never keep secrets that make you feel bad or uncomfortable. Tell a trusted adult, though it can be a very difficult thing to do.

– Private parts are private. You should call them by the correct scientific names. You must tell a trusted adult if anyone asks you to touch their private parts or asks to see yours.

We read the book ‘Some Secrets Should Never Be Kept”

We talked about what the word ‘abuse’ means – trying to hurt someone over a period of time and not respecting boundaries.

Physical abuse – hitting, kicking, biting

Sexual abuse – involves private parts (the parts usually covered by swim suits).

This session concludes this series of lessons.

In today’s session we discussed boundaries. What does the word mean?

With personal space it is the invisible line or limit beyond which, if people cross the line, you feel uncomfortable. It is different for different people, for different relationships and depending on your mood. Boundaries can be the boarders between countries. A boundary can be the door to your home. We discussed doors. Which doors in school do you feel ok going through? Which do you never go through? Which doors do you need to knock at and which can you go straight through? Which doors at home do you need to knock at? When do you need to be invited in? We talked about boundaries for behaviour and showing respect for boundaries set by other people. We discussed the boundaries set for children by their parents and how it feels when different parents set different boundaries. We talked about how it feels if someone else crosses a boundary set by you.

Today we had our first Child Protection lesson with Ms. Jill.  The topic of today’s lesson was communication. The students discussed three types of communication:  aggressive, passive, and assertive.

These are notes the students made with Ms. Jill:

• Aggressive Communication:
  • Threatening
  • Disrespectful (words, tone)
  • Rude (words, tone)
  • Ignoring
  • Physical (punching, hitting, kicking, shoving, choking)
  • Takes care of ME (not taking care of other people)

• Passive Communication:
  • Avoid communicating
  • Ignoring (so that you don’t have to deal with something)
  • Letting people get their way
  • Takes care of OTHERS

• Assertive Communication:
  • Involves both what you say AND how you say it.  Tone of voice matters. Body language matters.
  • Uses “I” messages in order to communicate what you feel, think or need.  Ex: “I feel sad when I hear rude words because they hurt my feelings. I like playing with people who use nice words”, or, “I feel upset when you do not take care of my things because I then need to replace them. I need you to take care of my things like I do if you are going to borrow them.”
  • Includes active listening (listening with your whole self).  This means using good eye contact (not staring or glaring), speaking in a calm, even tone of voice, paraphrasing what you heard the other person say, clarifying anything that is not clear, and asking non-judgmental questions.
  • Can communicate a firm message in a way that gets the point across but helps everyone feel respected.
  • Takes care of EVERYONE

At the end of the lesson, we discussed ideas such as these:

• In these discussions, everyone has the right to say “no”.
• “I” messages work best when you’ve had a chance to calm down, rather than in an angry moment.  The breathing technique we learned at the beginning of the session is one way students can help themselves calm down to a level where they can use “I” messages effectively.
• When working to solve a conflict, don’t say “always” or “never” , i.e. “You ALWAYS say you’re going to give me a turn and then you NEVER do!”

Our next session with Ms. Jill will be Thursday.  I will blog again then so that parents stay informed of what we discussed in class.