May 15, 2022 · national month
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. I almost didn’t start writing this post because I don’t know what to say or recommend. While these ideas from a previous post still stand, none of them can combat the serious issues teachers and students (and families) especially are facing after over two years of intense challenges and tragedy. So many families are struggling with grief , teacher stress and burnout is rampant, and new guidelines recommend that all children 8 and older should be screened for anxiety due to pandemic effects. None of my suggestions or ideas can “fix” this situation. So many factors are outside of our control, but what you can try to do is take care of yourself as much as possible. If that means taking a break from teaching or looking at a new school or new role, so be it. During the worst part of the pandemic for me, I found taking short walks outside could help me
Mental Health Awareness Monthmental healthbook recommendationsendwriting
January 5, 2022 · curriculum
A message of encouragement from a former 3rd grade student! Sending love to teachers and families as we tackle yet another round of uncertainty and anxiety! I’m trying to take things one day at a time and remember that I’ve done this before when my students and I were not vaccinated. It seems like I will be in school in person with increased mitigation and vigilance. However, it also seems likely that some students and staff will need to stay home due to infection, so we may be teaching some students on Zoom and some in person at the same time. I experienced this set up for most of last year and found it to be the most difficult and least effective set up as it makes teaching and learning harder for everyone, but at least this time around it will be temporary and I have all my experience from last year to draw upon! For those of you who are finding yourselves unexpectedly teaching
virtual toolsvirtual learningonline learninghybrid learningCOVID
July 15, 2021 · curriculum
A student wrote this letter to Erin Estrada Kelly after we finished reading Hello Universe! I wanted to write this post in May for Mental Health Awareness Month, but clearly time has gotten away from me (yet again). Here is a post Gabby managed to write in a more timely fashion for Mental Health Awareness Month in the past! As we look toward the next school year with lots of uncertainty and anxiety inducing unknowns looming for most kids and teachers, here are some ways to support kids in managing their disappointment or anxiety about our unknown future. Please keep in mind that these are strategies to deal with uncertainty and anxiety, but NOT ways to handle grief or trauma. Some things I tried that seemed to support my students this year: Talk about what you miss or would have done in more typical circumstances periodically. It’s okay to acknowledge disappointment and important to
mental healthMental Health Awareness Monthemotionsocial emotional learning
May 29, 2018 · curriculum
Art by Justin Hubbell at: http://www.justinhubbell.com/wonderful/ We feel so strongly about taking care of onself, putting your oxygen mask on first etc. We love the artists above and hope you check out their work as being supportive and encouraging of gentle and loving mental health. We hope this month you are (especially educators!!) taking some moments to take extra care of your mental health. Here are a few things that we do to support and facilitate taking care of ourselves in our little classroom community! 1. We do our best to model good habits with our students always. One afternoon during pick up time a father said he would send me an email later. His daughter turned to him and said, "Oh, Dad, she doesn't answer emails after 4pm, she has a life!" And although the dad had a surprised reaction, it was refreshing to see a student who had understood boundaries and was happily
mental healthMental Health Awareness Monthemotional learning