HOME CONNECTION RESILIENCE GRADE 6 

Dear Families/Caregivers, 

Resilience is the ability to adapt and grow in the face of challenging situations. Students can apply resilience to life’s challenges by focusing on what they can  control and how to respond.  

We have been learning about building our resilience. Building resilience can help us manage life’s challenges. Here are some strategies for building resilience: 

• Recognize Your Control 

• Focus on the Bigger Picture 

• Connect With Your Values 

• Find Opportunities to Grow 

• Connect With Your Support System 

Here are some ways you can help your teen build their resilience: 

• Support your teen in identifying what they can control when faced with a challenge. 

• Have your teen reflect on what the bigger picture to help them work through a challenging situation. 

• Share your own strategies for building resilience with your teen.

• Encourage and support your teen through challenges they may face. 

HOME CONNECTION VALUES  GRADE 6 

Dear Families/Caregivers, 

Values are a person’s principles and standards of behavior. They are what a person  believes to be important. Studies indicate that people are happier when they act  according to their values. As students become more independent, they begin to shape  their values based on new information gathered from peers, the media, and their own  experiences. 

Students have been identifying their own values and how they may differ from their  peers. Values are first learned at home. We discussed strategies for understanding  others with different values. These strategies include: 

- Accept that different people have different values. 

- Look for similar values. 

- Ask questions and listen. 

                             - Give others the same respect for their values as you would like given 

to yours. 

Here are a few discussion questions to engage your teen in a conversation about your  family’s values and how he or she feels about your values: 

• What does our family value? Which one of our family values is most important to you? Which value is the least important to you? 

• Do you have values that are different from our family values? 

• How do our family’s values differ from your friends’ or classmates’ values? 

Each family forms their values based on their own beliefs. Our values are influenced by our culture, religion, environment, experience, and the values of our extended family. It is important that your teen have a clear sense of your family’s values while having some freedom to begin to evaluate and own or reject values based on his or her own wants and needs.

HOME CONNECTION HEALTHY BOUNDARIES GRADE 6 

Dear Families/Caregivers,  

Healthy boundaries are essential for self-care. Boundaries are the limits we set to keep ourselves and others safe and happy. Setting healthy boundaries can support caring for physical and mental wellness, developing healthy relationships, and building self-esteem. 

In this lesson, students practice strategies for setting and respecting social boundaries.  The strategies include: 

• Identify Your Values 

• Prioritize Your Needs 

• Set the Boundary 

                    • Respect the Boundaries of Others 

Here are some ways you can help your teen set and respect social boundaries:  

• Encourage your teen to prioritize their needs and consider what makes them feel safe and happy when setting their social boundaries. 

• Support your teen by respecting the social boundaries they set for their interactions with others. 

• Encourage your teen to identify what their values are as they set their social boundaries. 

• Model ways to firmly and clearly communicate boundaries for your teen. 

• Remind your teen that their social boundaries can shift and change over time. 

• Talk about your own social boundaries with your teen and discuss how you respond when those boundaries are crossed.

HOME CONNECTION MINDSET GRADE 6

Opportunities arise during the school day to introduce and practice skills that support students with their learning and well-being. Here are some of the ways you can help your students apply a developmental mindset:  

• Teach your students to view difficulties with a developmental mindset rather than a fixed mindset. 

• Show students how you apply the developmental mindset to difficult situations. 

• Ask students to create a folder with their assignments and encourage them to reflect on their progress throughout the year. 

• Share stories of people who went from a fixed mindset to a developmental mindset. Consider providing age-appropriate books and articles that demonstrate a developmental mindset. 

• Invite students to reflect on the skills they practiced during the school year and identify their progress. 

• When students face challenges, recognize the effort they make and encourage them to apply a developmental mindset to those difficult situations. 

• Encourage students to overcome difficulties in the learning process.

HOME CONNECTION FOCUS GRADE 6

Dear Families/Caregivers, 

Focus is the ability to direct one’s attention to something for a period of time. Focus is an  essential skill for learning and achieving goals. With so many distractions competing for a  teen’s attention, it is important for them to learn strategies to help them focus. 

We have been learning how to identify distractions we experience at home and practice strategies to support our focus. The following are strategies for supporting focus at home: 

• Know your distractions. 

• Get organized. 

         • Break large tasks into smaller ones. 

• Take breaks. 

Learning how to address distractions at home can make a difference in your teen’s ability to focus to get a task done. Here are some ways that you can help your teen focus at home. 

• Help your teen find a quiet place to complete homework or studying. 

• Support your teen in caring for themselves by sleeping well, moving their body, eating nourishing food, and doing activities they enjoy. 

• Provide your teen time and space when they are focusing on a task. 

• Encourage your teen to identify distractions and find ways to reduce the distractions. 

HOME CONNECTION ONLINE SAFETY Grade 6 

Dear Families/Caregivers, 

The internet provides access to information and people around the world. While the internet can be a  helpful tool for learning and connection, it also has potential risks. As teenagers spend more time on the internet, their likelihood of witnessing explicit content increases. In addition, predators, scams, malware,  and cyberbullying may pose additional risks. The Rethink Ed Online Safety lessons provide information for students to protect themselves and others online. Some of the safety guidelines students learn include: 

• connect only with friends and family online and be wary of strangers who approach them  online, 

• think before sharing anything online, 

• secure accounts and devices with strong passwords and privacy settings, and 

• tell a safe adult and revise their privacy settings if they feel unsafe online. 

Students also learn how to balance their screen time, be kind and respectful online, evaluate the validity  and accuracy of digital information, and use the internet to connect with others and make a positive  difference. 

Suggestions for Promoting Online Safety 

• Ensure that all of your teen’s accounts and devices are secure. 

• Talk with your teen about their online use and remind them to communicate only with friends and  family and avoid downloading anything from an unknown source.  

• Promote a healthy balance of time spent online and off by encouraging your teen to engage in activities that do not involve digital devices. Be aware ofsigns that indicate they may be spending too much time  online. 

• Reinforce the importance of being kind and respectful online. Encourage your teen to avoid spreading  gossip or rumors and instead use the internet to encourage and inspire others. 

• Support your teen in using the internet to learn new information, support others, solve problems, and  make positive changes in their communities. 

• Remind your teen that not everything posted online is true. Encourage them to evaluate digital  information by noting the source of information, the date it was published, its accuracy, the reason it  was published, and the evidence used to support it.  

Thank you for the opportunity to partner with you to promote your teen’s online safety.