Teacher Resources
ARTICLES
Below you will find articles that provide you with information and resources to best support your students during the COVID crisis.
To access the articles, click on only the picture box. Then, select the arrow in the top left corner. This will open the full article in a new browser tab.
Returning to School Risk Matrix-formatted.pdfCOVID School Adjustment Risk Matrix
National Association of School Psychologists (NASP)
Three page article on identifying students most at-risk for adjusting to school during COVID.
SEL-ROADMAP.pdfSocial Emotional Roadmap or Reopening School
CASEL
53 page article on social emotional learning for students upon the reopening of schools.
Supporting positive parenting during crisis-final.pdf
Strengthening Positive Parenting Practices During a Health Crisis
National Association of School Psychologists (NASP)
"In most cases, parents are able to maintain safe parenting practices, even during difficult times. A lot of parents are feeling overwhelmed and emotionally exhausted. In fact, many feel like they are not being the kind of parents they want to be or typically are. One of the first steps we can take in building partnerships is to validate and normalize parents’ reactions and experiences."
This article lists steps for increasing protective parenting factors. The article provides a lot of useful information for supporting parents, as well as ways teachers and psychologists can work together to support parents.
The picture to the left was taken from the article. It is a quick tool that can be used to assess needs and teach parents to:
Stop
Think
Act
Reflect
How to Improve Distance Learning for Students with IEPs
This article on Edutopia provides teachers with strategies for parental involvement, and synchronous and asynchronous activities that can help students with individualized education programs.
Link to article: Distance Learning and IEPs
Individualize Instruction, Remove Barriers, Track Student Progress: Some Tips for Making Distance Learning Special Ed Work
NWEA Accessibility Scientist Elizabeth Barker points to four ingredients for effective special education during in-person schooling that should guide educators as they look for ways to engage students with disabilities in distance learning.
B2S Toolkit - Print Ready.pdfBack to School After COVID: Supporting Student and Staff Mental Health
Mental Health Technology Transfer Center Network
"This toolkit is designed to help guide conversations to include a trauma-informed, equitable, and compassionate lens to providing mental health supports to every member of the school community. Because we will all return to school as different people than when we left, caring leaders are seeking to support each other in turning our tragedies into growth, recognizing the joys amongst the ongoing and profound difficulties, and re-establishing school communities to serve everyone, with greater justice and equity."
Top 20 Principles for Pre-K-12 Teaching and Learning
APA - Coalition for Psychology in Schools and Education
Psychological science has much to contribute to enhancing teaching and learning in the classroom. Teaching and learning are intricately linked to social and behavioral factors of human development, including cognition, motivation, social interaction, and communication. Psychological science can also provide key insights on effective instruction, classroom environments that promote learning, and appropriate use of assessment, including data, tests, and measurement, as well as research methods that inform practice. We present here the most important principles from psychology—the “Top 20”—that would be of greatest use in the context of preK–12 classroom teaching and learning
Keeping Kids Motivated in Online Learning
"For most students, getting stuff done in the online learning world is extremely challenging. However, motivation is actually a set of skills. And if we’re talking about skills, that means adults can teach it, and students can learn it! "
This article helps teachers figure out what is getting in the way of student motivation and productivity. It breaks problems down into 5 potential obstacles, and gives tips or addressing each:
Too Much
Too Hard
Too Boring
Too Distracted
Too Pointless
Article: Keeping Kids Motivated
CLASSROOM RESOURCES
E-Learning Engagement Checklist
This document is just one example of a way to monitor and access student engagement while participating in online instruction. Other documents can be created as needed, based on the situation, just reach out to us for assistance.
My COVID "ER" Plan
A trigger survey for emotional regulation in a time of distance learning during the pandemic.
This is a questionnaire teachers or other support personnel can give to students to complete. The survey helps identify concerns about online learning, triggers for feeling stressed and overwhelmed, signs of feeling such way, and supports for students. It also develops an "Action Plan" for when the student feels stressed and overwhelmed.
Assess the full plan here: COVID Plan
Social Distancing Greetings
This poster gives a creative spin on ways to greet and engage (from a distance) while in the classroom and school setting. You could get creative with your classroom and create your own list, or use this one.
Using Hand Signals for More Equitable Discussions
classroom-sensory-strategy-toolkit.pdfClassroom Sensory Toolkit
This toolkit from The OT Toolbox.com provides a list of sensory strategies broken into areas such as, Self-Regulation, Fidgeting Tools, Alternative Seating, and much more.
Always reach out to your Occupational Therapist (OT) as well, should you have any specific questions or concerns.
Storyline Online
This website is free. Books are read aloud by authors and famous people. A video of the book accompanies the reading.
Click here to go to the website Storyline Online
Here is a reading of Catching the Moon, read by Kevin Costner and Jillian Estell - Catching the Moon
Easy-to-use tools to set up, assign books and track reading progress . Encourage your students to read all year long with Epic’s customizable classroom Readerpillar (shown above). Celebrate progress with badges and digital prizes emailed to you as your class reaches new milestones.
Epic
This online reading library is free for educators through June 2021. Teachers can access it Monday-Friday 6am-3pm. There are thousands of books for grades K-6th. There are books for students to read, plus Read to Me books (audio). There's also a Dictionary Look Up tool that allows students to select a word to learn the definition and hear it read aloud.
This site can be used for read-alouds, literacy centers, research projects, creating custom collections, and more. Students can take already prepared quizzes, or teachers can create their own.
PARENT RESOURCES
Checklist for Calling Parents
This would be a good resource to print and have next to your phone. We're sure you're aware of these points, but sometimes a visual reminder is nice - especially during these ever-changing times. Remember we're all dealing with the same uncertainty, and we're all on the same team.
Homework Choice Board
This easy tool can be adapted for your students and classroom. The tool can also be incorporated into a game with rewards. Provide parents with this tool to promote "homework" in a fun manner. This tool works on academic, functional, and emotional skills all in one. It's a great way to promote learning various skills!
TEACHER SELF-CARE
Online Resources
Below, you will find websites with great resources for meeting your needs during these trying times.
Mindfulness/Meditation Apps
Self-Care for Helping Professionals
Presentation on stress in the work place - ways to assess it and ways to cope/manage.
Take_Time_for_You-_Self-Care_Survey.pdfSelf-Care Survey
Click in the top right corner to open the survey. You then can take the survey to assess your current level of self-care.
SOCIAL EMOTIONAL
Below you will find SEL resources you can implement in your classroom. Also refer to the "COVID Resources" tab at the top of the page, for additional supports that can be implemented at school AND at home.
Elementary
Kindness in the Classroom
Kindergarten-5th Grade
Our new Kindness in the Classroom® curriculum is a Tier 1 evidenced-based social emotional learning curriculum designed to help schools create a culture of kindness. Each unit teaches six core kindness concepts: Respect, Caring, Inclusiveness, Integrity, Responsibility, and Courage.
Resources and materials can be downloaded here:
The images above are created by Elise Gravel, author and illustrator. These can be used to discuss topics (as shown above) with students. Resources came from: http://elisegravel.com/en/livres/free-printable-stuff/
Middle School & High School
Kindness in the Classroom
6th-8th Grade
Our new Kindness in the Classroom® curriculum is a Tier 1 evidenced-based social emotional learning curriculum designed to help schools create a culture of kindness. Each unit teaches six core kindness concepts: Respect, Caring, Inclusiveness, Integrity, Responsibility, and Courage.
Resources and materials can be downloaded here:
High School Curriculum
Our new 16-week High School elective course will give you the opportunity to gather new and deeper insights about respect, caring, integrity, inclusiveness, and courage and to begin to apply them in new and more meaningful ways. Through the development and deployment of a community service project, you will build self-initiative, critical thinking, and community networking skills. Each week gives you new ways to increase your capacity for kindness.
Resources and materials can be downloaded here: