Social Emotional Learning During the Summer 8/10/2020

Suggested activities can be repeated and you can choose what to enjoy at any time during the week.

I hope you enjoy them!

Activities to Choose From For All Grades

Book Club

Listen and Learn by Cheri J. Meiners is a Social Group favorite! How do we listen? And, why do we listen? In this story, Ms. Meiners spells it out for us with child friendly text and pictures. Feel free to dialog with your child about the times it is most important to listen at home and in the community.

Recreational SEL

Summer Memories! Here is a fun way for your child to write and/ or draw about the summer's most memorable moments. Add photograph or a cutout from a brochure of one of the places your family visited. Your child can complete multiple sheets or add pages to make a "Summer of 2020" memory or scrap book. Feel free to personalize the project and, most importantly, make it fun! (And, remembering our favorite times with our favorite people is one of the best strategies to stay connected with one another when people are apart.)

Field Trip!

Monterey Bay Aquarium - Is it Alive? "Is a rock alive? What about a bird? Young children are just learning about what things are living and nonliving. Follow this progression to help your child understand more about living and nonliving things, how living things survive, and what we can do to help wild animals."

As an extension, consider talking with your child about differentiating between what is real and what is pretend and how do we know? (Feel free to explore how pretend activities can help us better navigate real situations, such as role play; fictional books or movies or even pretend play!

Optional Fun Activities

Mindfulness On Friday August 7, we learned "Feel Your Feet" from "Growing Mindful: Mindfulness Practices for All Ages." This is another way to enjoy breathing exercises. In Social Group, I explain that Mindfulness exercises help us keep our brains and bodies calm and focused and ready for learning. We can also use these strategies to help us navigate rough patches with friends or when we feel frustrated by something. To Feel Your Feet: Take in a deep breath. Imagine the air going all the way down to your feet. Feel the sensations of your feet against the floor. Wiggle your toes and let the air out. Repeat two more times.

Getting Back to School with Adam Parker, Home School Psychologist Here's a fun song about returning to school including my favorite topic of caring for one another in the process. Turn on transcripts, learn the lyrics, enjoy the music and try not to dance!