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We Celebrated Earth Day on April 22 but You Can Take Care of the Planet Every Day!
We Celebrated Earth Day on April 22 but You Can Take Care of the Planet Every Day!
In honor of Earth Day, here are 51 ways you can help take care of Earth, every day of the year.
2021 Race for Hope DSM Coming on May 8th
2021 Race for Hope DSM Coming on May 8th
The 9th annual Race for Hope DSM on May 8, 2021, will bring together over 1,000 runners, walkers, children, families, businesses and supporters to Water Works Park in Des Moines for Iowa’s largest brain tumor research community fundraiser. The race is close to the heart of Martha Condon (Director of Professional Learning/JO) and her son, Joey, who is living with a rare brain tumor.
Race for Hope DSM is held every May in conjunction with Brain Tumor Awareness Month to increase awareness and bring the community together to celebrate our brain tumor heroes who have fought and those who are still fighting, and raise funds for a number of organizations.
Find out more and register on the Race for Hope DSM website.
Self-Care Coloring & Activity Books Available for Students
Self-Care Coloring & Activity Books Available for Students
Iowa’s AEA Well-being Team has created calming coloring books for middle school-aged children. This effort is part of a campaign to promote a new well-being and mental health website for Iowans created by the AEAs at www.IowaAEAMentalHealth.org.
If you would like to order some for your school or classroom, click on the links below.
IMPORTANT ORDER INFORMATION:
Before adding these items to your cart, you must log in using the same username and password you use to login to the AEA Learning System (system for Mandatory Reporter and Bloodborne Pathogens training).
Enter the school name in the PO field.
Self-Care Coloring & Activity Book
Iowa AEA Mental Health Bookmark
The website came from a request by the state legislature to help educators, parents, and students navigate resources related to mental health and well-being in Iowa. In addition to AEA mental health contacts for the schools, the site provides contacts for the home setting from Iowa’s Mental Health and Disability Services (MHDS).
The website features vetted sources to educate visitors about addiction and substance abuse; anxiety and stress disorders; attention deficit disorder; depression; eating disorders; and self-harm.
February = The Month to Celebrate Your Heart
February = The Month to Celebrate Your Heart
February is American Heart Month and the perfect time to adopt healthy habits that prevent heart disease. Take care of your heart with tips from our board-certified providers at Doctor on Demand.
Homework Helpers Hotline
Homework Helpers Hotline
The United Way Homework Helpers Hotline was launched last week. United Way Homework Helpers Hotline is a volunteer-based hotline aiming to support students with homework questions outside of the school day during this time of ever-changing learning models.
Operating hours are from 3:00 – 8:00 p.m., Sunday through Thursday.
Call 211 for FREE Homework Help for students K - 12
Select #7 to speak with a Homework Hotline Helper
Interpreters also available
Please share with students, teachers and families that could benefit from this resource.
Yale Offering Another Free Course on Managing Emotions in Times of Uncertainty
Yale Offering Another Free Course on Managing Emotions in Times of Uncertainty
Yale is offering another course FREE to educators and school staff across the globe on Coursera.
Developed by the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, Managing Emotions in Times of Uncertainty & Stress will provide participants with the knowledge, skills, and strategies to understand and manage their emotions and those of their students. The 10-hour online course is designed for school staff, including teachers, paraprofessionals, counselors, principals, and non-teaching staff in preK-12 schools.
Down Dog Fitness App
Down Dog Fitness App
Down Dog has extended its free period for educators through July 1, 2021. Use your Heartland AEA email to register.
Down Dog is a website with fitness apps to allow users to engage in great fitness anywhere.
Continuing the Conversation: Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace
Continuing the Conversation: Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace
Join the LifeWorks Heartbeat Webinar Series in November as they discuss the tight link between mental health, diversity and inclusion. We’ll explore how to be an inclusive leader in the new normal of virtual workspaces, how to have difficult conversations, and discuss key strategies that leading organizations have successfully implemented to ensure employee engagement and retention.
Headspace
Headspace
In this app, enjoy guided meditations, animations, articles and videos. Headspace has one mission: to improve the health and happiness of the world.
You can try Headspace for yourself and learn the essentials of meditation and mindfulness with their free Basics course or choose to subscribe, gaining access to bite-sized minis for when you’re short on time, exercises to add extra mindfulness to your day and hundreds of meditations on everything from stress to sleep.
Be Kind to Your Mind - Headspace
(Heartland AEA does not endorse the apps presented in Wellness Inspiration; they are provided to you for informational purposes. Please note that apps should be downloaded to your personal devices and that there may be fees for "free" trials.)
Five Things You Can Do to Prepare For Cold & Flu Season
Five Things You Can Do to Prepare For Cold & Flu Season
With COVID-19 still spreading across the country, it's more important than ever to be prepared for cold and flu season. Here are five simple things the doctors at Doctor On Demand® recommend to make sure you and your family are ready.
Hot Cider Hustle
Hot Cider Hustle
The West Des Moines Hot Cider Hustle is a beloved fall tradition. This year the tradition continues as a virtual event. Instead of having a mass gathering event, runners can race the course on their own or run virtually anywhere on a date of their choosing between September 18th – November 8th.
8 Best Hikes to Experience in Iowa
8 Best Hikes to Experience in Iowa
Social distancing has probably pushed us all to have a new appreciation for the outdoors and Iowa has a wonderful amount of parks and trails to explore. This article lists a few. The beauty you will find along each of these trails is Instagram and Christmas card worthy. Fill your backpack with your smartphone, water, sunscreen, bug spray, and sunglasses. Your hiking experiences in Iowa will be memorable and ones you talk about for years to come.
How to Tame Stress and Eliminate Reactivity in Less Than 8 Weeks
How to Tame Stress and Eliminate Reactivity in Less Than 8 Weeks
This is a FREE online event to give you the tools you need to control the stress you experience in all areas of your life!
During this free event, you'll discover:
A deep understanding of the stress response in your body and what causes it to happen.
How stress operates and how it impacts our emotions and our thought process and hijacks our day.
4 SIMPLE practices you can use immediately to reduce your stress and reactivity.
A full Q & A session before the end of the presentation until ALL questions are answered will give you the most value possible.
Six Ways to Strengthen Your Health Circle
Six Ways to Strengthen Your Health Circle
When health goals are personally relevant, they can provide direction, meaning and a marker of progress. Write down the goals you’d like to accomplish, then how many times per week you actually do. See how many of these six goals you can achieve.
100 Staycation Ideas for this Summer
100 Staycation Ideas for this Summer
Summer isn’t canceled. If we’ve learned anything about life from the past few months of staying in, it’s that we can adapt to new ways of working, playing, parenting and now … vacationing! If you've been self-isolating, take the chance to break free from your quar-routine and don’t let being mostly housebound get you down.
7 Self-Care Apps to Help You Stay Balanced
7 Self-Care Apps to Help You Stay Balanced
Self-care apps can be a fruitful and helpful way to bring emotional regulation and self-care to the forefront of your consciousness.
This list was put together in 2019, but the apps are very much still relevant in 2020.
Hopscotch Learning!
Hopscotch Learning!
The Urbandale School District preschool teachers suggested a fun and easy idea of repetition learning for some of our youngest learners. Drawing hopscotch boards filled with numbers and letters is a great way for your young one to identify basic fundamentals while hopping around outside! What preschooler wouldn't enjoy this activity?!
Burst Your Thirst Challenge
Burst Your Thirst Challenge
This challenge hosted by Live Healthy Iowa provides Iowans an opportunity to improve their health while engaging in fun, friendly competition. Over the course of 6 weeks, teams (2-10 people) track activity minutes and water consumption through the Live Healthy Iowa website.
The Positive Psychology Podcast - Bringing the Science of Happiness to Your Earbuds with Kristen Truempy
The Positive Psychology Podcast - Bringing the Science of Happiness to Your Earbuds with Kristen Truempy
This podcast discusses things we all love, including appreciation of beauty, gratitude, positive emotions, relationships, and well, love. The podcasts are FREE, no signup, are not super long and there are several available.
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction™ 8-Week Course
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction™ 8-Week Course
MBSR™ is an 8-week intensive course proven to reduce the symptoms of stress and anxiety. Utilizing curriculum developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D. at UMASS Center for Mindfulness, this non-clinical (i.e., not group therapy) course is designed to teach mind-body awareness, recognize and put to use our inner psychological resources to respond to toxic stress, increase stress hardiness, focus, creativity, regulate emotions and allow a greater sense of self-care and well-being.
Equal to one license renewal credit or 20 CEUs.
Down Dog Fitness App
Down Dog Fitness App
Down Dog apps are free for educators and students through July 1, 2020. After ensuring your school's domain is in the system, register using your school email address.
Down Dog is a website with fitness apps to allow users to engage in great fitness anywhere.
FREE Yale Course: The Science of Well-Being
FREE Yale Course: The Science of Well-Being
Yale's most popular class ever is available free online....and the topic is How to be Happier in Your Daily Life!
In this course, you will engage in a series of challenges designed to increase your own happiness and build more productive habits. As preparation for these tasks, Professor Laurie Santos reveals misconceptions about happiness, annoying features of the mind that lead us to think the way we do and the research that can help us change. You will ultimately be prepared to successfully incorporate a specific wellness activity into your life.
The Impact of COVID-19 on Global Sleep Patterns
The Impact of COVID-19 on Global Sleep Patterns
Getting a good night's rest is an essential part of the journey to good health. This article looks at how sleep patterns have shifted since the onset of COVID-19. It also describes why it is important to maintain bedtime consistency and suggests ways to obtain a more restful sleep.
Strut Your Pup Challenge
Strut Your Pup Challenge
Live Healthy Iowa has created a challenge to get you out and active with your pet during Iowa's cool, spring weather. Studies have shown that people who regularly walk dogs may benefit from lower blood pressure, have a trimmer waistline and suffer from fewer chronic diseases. Dogs are a great accountability partner; keeping you active and on schedule.
Check out this challenge for you and your fur baby!
Talking to Your Child About COVID-19
Talking to Your Child About COVID-19
Having a Difficult Conversation
Where To Start?
Aspects to Consider
The Tough Questions
Create a Solution Focus
View this webinar to find answers to these questions.
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