Kindness is a common topic in Life Skills lessons (as well as in the classrooms). Most recently, I have grown an even stronger interest in the positive benefits of children helping others. I discovered an article on Why Teaching Kindness in School is Essential. This article discusses how showing acts of kindness can physically alter a child's brain, for the better! Allow your child to help out at home or organize a day (or even an hour) where the whole family volunteers their time (such as at the humane society). Benefits of helping include: greater sense of belonging, increased self-esteem, improved health, less stress, increased feelings of gratitude, better concentration, and the list continues. Often when students get into trouble at school, we can see that their leadership qualities are strong, but just need to be redirected in a more positive direction. Any human is capable of helping another. For ideas on how your child can help click here for a list of 40 Ways Kids Can Volunteer. If your child is allowed to use the internet, PBS kids has a neat webpage with ideas on how they can help out as well.
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Good afternoon! I hope you are all enjoying this wonderfully sunny day. Below are eight short guided relaxation scripts to read to your child. The first, called "Peaceful Butterfly" is an example and the scripts below it are in similar formats, but different themes. Most of them suggest that they are most beneficial when used right before bedtime since they are intended to relax the body and mind. According to the creator, Mellisa Dormoy of Shambala Kids, "The more the scripts are used, the easier your child will relax and be able to concentrate." Younger children may struggle with some of the scripts at first due to limited attention span, but with practice, most children (or adults) can benefit from these scripts:
Check out the documents below for updated Life Skills lessons in your child's class:
Good Morning! I hope everyone had a long, relaxing Holiday season. I have uploaded lesson updates from the weeks leading up to our Winter Break. I was having some technical issues and was unable to upload them earlier. Please select your child's grade level below for lesson details. Kindergarteners periodically receive letters home that go along with the content learned in class, please refer to these for additional information. Grades 3rd and 4th receive HomeLink activities. These are always OPTIONAL but also encouraged. They are an excellent way for students to practice topics learned in Life Skills lessons and allows parents/guardians to further see what their child is learning about. Grades 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 6th more often than not are sent home with an activity or informational sheet that the student has worked on. Please let me know if you have any questions/comments.
There is a long break ahead of us. While some children love these long breaks at home with family, others struggle with the change in routine and possibly expectations. The stories below can be fun activities to do together over break. Try reading the story below to your child to help them practice mindfulness, a technique that can help children (and adults!) with a multitude of skills such as concentration, self-awareness, emotion regulation, and more. It is meant to be a very relaxed activity and read with an even tone of voice. (For guided audio activities: Mindfulness for Children). The two stories below should be read to a child by an adult while the child is in a relaxed position (sitting comfortably in a chair or lying on the floor). Research on teaching mindfulness to children can be found here and the document below describes Mindful Parenting. Have a wonderful Winter Break!
Yoga for Kids!: A ton of research has been done surrounding the positive impact Yoga can have on people of all ages and especially children. Click on "Yoga for Kids!" for a fun yoga video. Many other yoga videos exist at the same location. Some of the benefits of yoga include:
-provides students healthy ways to express and balance their emotions -promotes a more relaxed state of being -fosters being present and in the moment -decreases anxiety and tension -increases focus, concentration and memory -supports social and emotional learning -improves listening skills -enhances motor skills and balance -improves confidence and self-esteem -and more For research on Yoga for children feel free to look at: Yoga4Classrooms Kaplan University Yoga Benefits Yoga Calm Please select your child's grade level below for lesson updates (Look for writing in light blue for ideas to try at home!):
Sixth graders will be working on Executive Functioning skills. According to Joyce Cooper-Kahn and Laurie Dietzel (Late, Lost and Unprepared), executive function can be defined as “a set of processes that all have to do with managing oneself and one’s resources in order to achieve a goal. It is an umbrella term for the neurologically-based skills involving mental control and self-regulation.” Skills and abilities that make up executive function include self-monitoring, planning, organization, emotional control, initiation, shifting, and working memory.
Our brains use Executive Functioning skills to help us get started on tasks, stay focused, and respond appropriately. Such skills also help us organize a task, follow through, and finish it to the end. Please view the very short video clips below for more information: Video 1: 2 1/2 min long Video 2: 2 min long Parent article on executive functioning. Sixth grade students will be viewing part of the video below for more kid-friendly information: Student video |
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March 2016
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