Ever feel like you have so many different hats you wear that they are about to topple over? How tall is that stack getting these days? Let's all take a collective deep breath and help ourselves and our school communities become more mindful. This is likely the best SEL support we can offer them.

In the past month, at CCASL we have been reviewing tons of SEL resources for young people and educators. Not all resources are created equal-- some mindfulness books and apps are simply too didactic to feel authentic and others are too dry to feel fun. Finding a balance of playfulness and novelty is what I found is best when curating these resources.

We found some really useful and fun resources that we recommend highly for your schools. They are all incorporated into our CCASL Mindfulness and SEL Padlet and our upcoming NJASL Spring Virtual MiniCon poster session. We will also share the entire SEL resource collection in our new CCASL MEMBERS ONLY PORTAL on the website. They can be used for guided meditation programming, in-class activities, read-alouds and more. Please let us know your how you incroporate SEL and Mindfulness to help yourself, your teachers and your students by messaging us at ccasllibrarians@gmail.com!

Mindfulness doesn't mean getting rid of thoughts and forcing ourselves to "calm down". Rather, it helps us to experience the present WHILE it is happening, instead of ruminating on the past or planning out an uncertain future. For anyone dealing with any level of stress, mindfulness offers solace.

Enjoy the journey!

-Skye Silverstein, M. A., M.Ed.