Parent Ideas
Grades K - 2
Week 23 - Growth Mindset
Please watch this book reading with your child and discuss themes of not giving up and trying until you reach your goals.
Week 22- Self Efficacy
Please watch this video with your child and discuss with them some activities they are good at and new things they'd like to try to do.
Week 20: Social Awareness
Please enjoy this video with your child in order to increase social awareness.
Week 19 - Self Management
Please follow along with this video to learn techniques of deep breathing and relaxing yoga moves to help children learn to self-manage.
Week 18: Emotional Regulation
Please watch this fun Sesame Street video to demonstrate emotional regulation with your student. Discuss ways to calm down when you feel scared, angry and anxious.
Week 17: Grit & Resiliency
This week, we are talking grit & resiliency! It is important that children understand that fear and even failure are parts of life, but that they can be overcome. When a child tries something new and does not succeed, try to encourage and praise them for their efforts. No one is perfect and everyone has something they are scared of or struggle with. Watch this video with your child and discuss ways to overcome their fears.
Week 16 - Growth Mindset
Don't Give Up!
This week, we are discussing Growth Mindset. It is important to keep trying and never give up when trying something new. Please watch this video with your child and try to encourage your child to try something new today. It could be a new skill: catching a ball? Playing a song on the piano? Or even a new sport like running track or ice skating. The important thing is to never give up!
Week 15: Self-Efficacy
This week in SEL we will focus on "Self-Efficacy" and a way to build this in young children is an "All About Me" board at home. This activity is similar to a collage, where your child will find magazine clippings (pictures of favorite food, TV show, sport etc), pictures (of family, siblings, vacations) and other items that are meaningful to them (ie: ticket stubs from a favorite movie, or a flower or leaf if they love the outdoors.) Please remember to supervise kiddos as they use scissors and glue. Feel free to help your child make this project and discuss what they add to their board. The board can be hung up in their room or placed in a common area of the home. Enjoy this time being creative with your child!
Week 13: Self-Management
Watch this video with your child and discuss ways to calm down when angry. Maintaining control of our actions when angry or upset is an important aspect of Self Management. Remember, anger is OK, but aggressive behavior is not. CLICK HERE
Week 12: Sense of Belonging
Family Dinner
This week, we will be discussing ways to foster a sense of belonging between your child and their surroundings. A great way to start is to dedicate time each week to a family dinner. A family dinner is one where all members of the family eat together without distraction and engage in discussion about their day. In today's crazy times, a child can feel lost and home is a place that they often crave a sense of normalcy and inclusion.
Start small: To make this a manageable task, start with one night per week of having a family dinner. Try and remind all family members to leave their phones and tablets in another room and turn the TV off. You can involve your preschooler by letting them help prepare the meal (add an ingredient, or stir a pot of pasta with adult supervision.) Alternately, you can make it a simple meal like frozen pizza, there is no need to overwhelm yourself with cooking a large meal. The important part is time spent with family/loved ones.
Pit and Peak: A fun way to involve everyone in the mealtime discussion is by going over "Pits and Peaks." Go around the table and ask everyone to share a part of their day that they did not like, (the pit) and then their favorite part of their day, (the peak.) This conversation helps everyone stay involved and encourages family members to listen and be empathetic.
Build on this time: After dedicating one night per week to a family dinner, work up to two, three or four nights per week if you can. Increasing family time and discussions can help everyone in the family feel like they belong.
Week 11: Emotional Regulation
This week, we will continue to deepen our understanding of Emotional Regulation and goals to control emotions, recognize tough emotions, and ways to cope with them. A great way to explore emotions and tough situations with your child is with finger puppets. You may have a set of finger puppets already at home, or you can purchase this set for $8.99.
Playing with finger puppets with your child or children will promote imagination, and present a great way to help your child explore reactions to situations. As an example: pretend one animal is angry and brainstorm ways that animal can calm down (deep breathes, counting to 10.) The possibilities are endless!
Week 10: Growth Mindset
"Please watch this guided recording of "The Girl Who Never Makes Mistakes" with your child. After watching the video (or reading the book if you have it) discuss things your child has improved in and things they'd like to improve in. For example: your child may have just learned to tie her shoes or maybe she would like to practice to complete this task.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC_8TYUDth8
Week 9: Social Awareness
"Thank you, Omu"
In this beautiful story, Omu cooks a delicious stew for her evening meal. When her friends and neighbors smell it, they stop by Omu's house and she offers them a portion of her meal. After a few hours, her entire stew is gone... It has been shared with members of her community and there is none left for Omu's evening meal. Her friends and neighbors return the favor though... arriving with a feast for Omu to say "thank you" for her kindness and generosity.
Watch this reading of "Thank you, Omu" with your child and discuss what it feels like to share, give to others and receive something special from someone too!
Week 8 : Self-Managememt
Below is a list of self-management games that can be played at home. Many of these are free or low-cost games that will encourage children to process through their feelings of excitement, disappointment and loss. Playing these games will help children recognize and understand when they feel overwhelmed and brainstorm ways to continue to maintain control of their actions.
Jenga
Don't Break The Ice
Freeze Dance
Red Light, Green Light
Simon Says
Week 7: Sense of Belonging
It is important for all children to feel like they belong. Feeling like we belong within our communities is essential to growing up happy and healthy. For our littlest children, this activity is a way to recognize that everyone has similarities and differences, but we all belong. Complete and discuss this worksheet with your child to initiate discussion about the differences and similarities of people in their class, family and/or community.
Week 6: The Way I Feel
"Please consider purchasing this book, titled "The Way I Feel" or borrowing it from your local library. This book helps children understand and recognize different emotions. It also helps children understand that they are not alone in having different feelings and emotions. Feelings are neither good or bad, they just are. Below is a link to purchase the book."
Week 5: Confidence
This week, I will be focusing on confidence. The video to the left is called "The Reflection in Me." This brief video focuses on positive self-talk and the importance of believing in yourself. Watching this video with your child will encourage them to consider how they speak to themselves. Positive self-talk can affect how we think and feel and the choices we make. Self confidence is an important aspect of resilience.
Growth Mindset
To help our littlest ones learn about growth mind-set, we must encourage them to learn freely, without expectation. With a fixed-mindset, children believe "I did well because I am smart" or "I failed because I am dumb" with little room for change or growth. With a growth-mindset, children have room to learn from mistakes, and consider their "failures" to be opportunities for learning.
Week 4: Growth Mindset
Growth Mindset Meal Activity
(You only need to choose a few food items you will likely already have at home!)
To start: think of a meal that does not require heat or sharp knives. A sandwich is a great place to start. Place the ingredients on the counter and allow your child to assemble his/her own sandwich. Mistakes will happen, and that is ok! Instead of fixing things for your child, ask them "how can you fix this?" As a parent/guardian, stand by (with extra paper towels, just in case!) to offer support and praise to your child for the job they are doing. Remember to make space for frustration. Talk about that emotion and try to encourage your child to be motivated by it. Then enjoy a meal with your child!
Week 3: Catch the Complimemt
For this easy and fun game, you'll need a small to medium sized ball to toss. First, you will give your child a compliment (ie: 'you're great at drawing!') and then you'll toss them the ball. Your child will "catch the compliment" and toss the ball to someone else, giving them a compliment along the way. This will help build your child's self-esteem and increase their skills at using kind words with others.
Week 2: Kindness Scavenger Hunt
We have chances to be kind every day at home! Complete this scavenger hunt and discuss how it feels to be kind to friends, family, and the earth.
↣ Say something nice to a family member.
↣ Ask how you can help your grown-up make dinner.
↣ Use your manners every time! Please and thank you!
↣ Draw a nice picture for someone in your family.
↣ Pick up trash and put it where it goes.
In addition to meaningful quality time with your student, identifying and discussing feelings with family will increase your student's emotional awareness of themselves and others.
week 1: Feelings Check-In
Popsicle Stick Feelings Check-In (9/21/20)
(items needed: 5 large popsicle sticks, Sharpie markers)
1: Discuss with your student 5 feelings and what they mean (happy, sad, scared, excited, and angry.)
2: Write 1 feeling on each popsicle stick with the sharpie marker and draw the face that corresponds to that emotion, ie: :) for "happy" (if your student cannot read yet.)
3. Have each family member choose the popsicle stick that describes how they feel today.
4: Open a discussion with your student about why he/she feels the way they do today.