Family Newsletter November 18, 2022

All Cameron families are invited to shop for gently used clothing, knick-knacks, and decorations from 4:30-7:30pm in the gym on Friday, Nov 18. Please bring bags! 

Family Liaison Corner

by Susana Trupo

"To handle yourself, use your head; to take others, use your heart.”

Dear Families,

Let’s talk about Self-Control. It has been defined in many ways, such as willpower, self-discipline, or conscientiousness. However, self-control is about being able to regulate yourself. Here you have some strategies and ideas to use with your children:

Practice self-control with games. Many different games help students work on their self-control skills! Jenga, Freeze, and Simon Says are just a few of them. Click here for Executive Functioning Games & Play Activities if you want more!

Create a shared journal. If your child likes to share much extra information, give them a unique journal. They can write their questions, thoughts, and connections in the journal. Once a day, sit down with your child to review the journal and hear what they want to tell you.

Use literature. Picture books are a great way to introduce and discuss self-regulation skills at all levels. Some great options to target self-regulation skills include: My Mouth is a Volcano by Julia Cook, I’m in Charge of Me! by David Parker, and What Were You Thinking? by Brian Smith.

Give them breaks. Kids and young adults who struggle with self-regulation often need extra physical activity built into their day. Promote outdoor time and games. Being creative is important because additional physical activity can make a huge difference.

Practice mindfulness. So often, in our busy world, kids and young adults do not know how to “just be.” Mindfulness can be a perfect solution for that. While it’s not an instant fix, being more mindful can help kids and young adults stay present, feel calmer, improve focus, and better manage emotions. There are many different strategies for practicing mindfulness. You can start with simple breathing exercises with these free mindfulness breathing boards. Another great activity is practicing mindful coloring, which involves painting and not talking to anyone else. Here is a set of Mindfulness Activities to help learners improve these skills over time.

Use guided meditation videos. Guided meditation is just a script that shows people through relaxing practice. YouTube is a great free resource for many recommended meditation videos for kids and young adults. Another way to practice mindfulness and to be still is guided meditation helps kids learn to be in control of their bodies, thoughts, and emotions now.

Create a calm-down space. Design an area in your home for your child to go to when they need a few minutes to themselves. It’s important to teach that the calm-down is a space to self-regulate and control emotions so we can return to our regular days.

Teach how to gauge emotions.  Using an emotional scale helps your child measure the level of their feelings. So often, kids who struggle with self-regulation skills miss this internal meter that lets us know how intense our emotions are. This helps them to learn to be more self-aware about their feelings and body, and once kids are more self-aware, they can be more open to finding solutions for their struggles.

Encourage positive habits. A healthy diet and sleep pattern can contribute to how self-regulated someone is. Please make sure they are well-rested at night to achieve success the next day.

50 States Challenge

Mr. Johnson, our principal, will be hosting a 50 States Challenge for students in grades 2nd through 6th on December 14. Students will need to return the signed permission form back to school to participate. Join in the fun and practice with your children. Study material will be provided and posted on our website. All students that get the states correct will get to tape Mr. Johnson to the wall. Let's have some fun! 

Family Literacy Program

Virtual Adult English Classes for our Cameron families.

English for beginners/conversational

Tuesdays and Thursdays

From 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm

For more information, please contact

Esperanza Ruiz at 703-718-8023 or Natalia Sosa at 703-423-4647

Lightspeed Parent Report Request

Are you interested in seeing what your child is doing on their school-issued laptop? There is a new online service that is free to FCPS parents who are interested in knowing more about their child’s internet activity on an FCPS device. Parents can sign up to receive a weekly Parent Report from Lightspeed, our internet content filtering service, which will provide a list of the top sites the child visited that week. 

Read more information about the service.

To request a report directly, click the link and choose Screen Activity Report.