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School Newsletters
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Hickory Point News- RULER and Halloween YouTube Costume Walk Link
Team Shine: RULER and Mood Meter
Dear Families and Students,
As part of our commitment to nurturing the whole child—not just academically, but socially and emotionally—we’re excited to share with you an essential part of our programming: the RULER Approach and specifically the Mood Meter tool, designed for use even with our youngest learners in Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 2. This week, the Hickory Point Staff worked on developing an awareness of the Mood Meter from RULER.
What is RULER?
RULER is an evidence‑based framework developed by the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence for teaching emotional intelligence skills across PreK–12. The name “RULER” stands for:
- Recognizing emotions in ourselves and others
- Understanding the causes and consequences of emotions
- Labeling emotions with a rich vocabulary
- Expressing emotions appropriately in context
- Regulating emotions effectively
The approach utilizes four key tools: the Charter (a community agreement outlining how we want to feel and treat one another), the Mood Meter, the Meta-Moment (a pause to determine how to respond), and the Blueprint (a framework for conflict reflection and resolution).
What is the Mood Meter?
The Mood Meter is a simple, visual tool that helps children (and adults) recognize and label their emotions, understand how their feelings influence their actions, and develop strategies to move toward the emotions they want to experience. It’s built around two dimensions: pleasantness (how good the feeling is) and energy/arousal (how much energy the feeling has).
These two dimensions form four color‑coded quadrants, which we will refer to as areas:
- Red: High energy, unpleasant feelings (e.g., frustrated, anxious)
- Yellow: High energy, pleasant feelings (e.g., excited, enthusiastic)
- Green: Low energy, pleasant feelings (e.g., calm, content)
- Blue: Low energy, unpleasant feelings (e.g., sad, tired)
For young learners in K–2, the Mood Meter offers a friendly and age-appropriate way to start building emotional awareness. For example: “How am I feeling right now? What color would that be? What word describes it?”
Emotional intelligence education is a shared endeavor: home and school working together. It would be helpful if both families and schools use consistent language (such as feelings and colors). It’s important to recognize that all emotions matter and are useful in certain situations. We appreciate your partnership as we embark on this journey of emotional learning with our youngest learners. Together, we can give them not just academic skills—but the emotional literacy and regulation skills that support success in school, relationships, and life.
Source: Yale School of Medicine+2YaleNews+2
Warm regards,
Maureen Deely and Lauren Weingarten
Halloween
Halloween is always a fun day at Hickory Point. Students should wear their costumes to school on October 31 when they arrive in the morning. Please make sure that the costumes are simple. Students should be able to put on and remove their costumes for bathroom needs during the day. Also, please help your child make safe choices about their costume: no rollerblades, weapons, scooters, inappropriate dress, or theme/group costumes. Please choose a costume that is sensitive to our students' needs and preferences.
We will have a costume walk live-streamed at 8:45 a.m. at Hickory Point. The costume walk will be available on YouTube. The link will be active on 10-31 at 8:45 am.
Our room parents will host a Halloween party at 2 pm for all our students. Additionally, the PTA has purchased two crafts for each child. We prohibit children from bringing candy, treats, or goodie bags to the event. Thank you for helping us with a successful Halloween celebration!
Digital Citizenship Lessons
This week, Hickory Point students learned about Digital Citizenship during library class. Kindergarten students participated in a lesson about media balance. We discussed both online and offline activities and why it’s essential to maintain a balance.
First grade students learned to Pause and Think online. We discussed the importance of pausing and thinking before searching, clicking, or sharing. We also practiced being kind online.
In second grade, we discussed the importance of being a responsible digital citizen. We learned how to set limits on the time we spend online and to keep our personal information private.
For more information and parent resources, visit the Common Sense website at www.commonsense.org. We will continue to have Digital Citizenship lessons throughout the school year.
Picture Retake Day is Wednesday, November 5, 2025
Please send the entire picture envelope back with your child if you wish to have their photo retaken. Any students who were absent on Picture Day will also be photographed on Retake Day.
Important Dates
Friday, October 31
- 8:45 am YouTube Costume Walk (link will be live on 10-31 at 8:45 am)
- 2:00 pm Halloween Parties
Wednesday November 5
- Picture Retakes
Friday, November 7
- School is Not in Session- Professional Learning Day
For your children,
Dr. Maureen Deely, Principal
Mrs. Lauren Weingarten, Assistant Principal