Going Back to School During Wildfires

After a long hot summer and expanded lockdowns in California’s schools, students are excited to return to school. Some are in shock as they learn to navigate through the daily schedule. Many younger students have never been to a public school. Older students may have lost nearly two years of middle school and now must attend a large public high school. Many retired teachers are returning to help these challenged students and their teachers overcome these many obstacles.

Plan for Wildfire Safety

As I return to school this coming week as an elementary substitute teacher, I am prepared to share engaging units of study for children to read, write, and discuss with their classmates. My second graders will learn about how wildfires can be started in California’s wooded fields. Then we will discuss what they can do as a family to protect their homes from wildfires and how they should plan for a fire in their community. Next, we will learn about how to read the Air Quality Index. In our area, many students had to stay inside for two days last week because of the unhealthy air quality in the community. We will learn when to open windows at home and how we can protect our health if we must be outside.

Create a Wildfire Action Plan

Finally, we will write an action plan that we can share with parents on:

How to prepare their home for a wildfire
What supplies should be collected ahead of time for a wildfire that may include important papers, money, medicines, clothes, valuables, photos, and family heirlooms
How the family can escape from their home in an emergency
Where the family will evacuate to in case of an emergency
How the family will communicate with each other during an emergency
What emergency contact information parents should collect for an emergency

Share Fears About Scary Events

As we discuss and create this safety plan, the students will be able to share their fears about other scary events that have occurred in the past year. For example, many students know folks who have survived Covid infections, lost jobs, or are living in poverty this past year. As students discuss current challenges in their community in relation to other scary events, they will feel more confident that they can share their feelings with classmates. Through these activities, students will learn how we overcome many emotionally challenging times in our community by supporting each other with relevant learning activities.

Happy new school year with your children!

Mary Ann

Help Students Express Gratitude and Brainstorm Solutions

Behavior: Do We Really Understand Series? Part 2 of 3

When considering our students’ misbehaviors, let me pause this scene for just a minute and zoom in closely as to what is really going on here. It’s a total conflict of mental desire and physical action. The classic case of knowing what the right thing to do is, but not wanting to do it. So, the real question becomes what is causing the conflict? And perhaps at six or seven years old it’s probably safe to assume that not all students know how to articulate their needs.

Build a Grateful Community for Solving Behavior Challenges

There is so much to unpack here. First, we need them to recognize their feelings so that they are aware of the discomfort and hopefully move to addressing it before it becomes an unmanageable crisis in the classroom. How they are feeling first thing in the morning. Then I connect with a social emotional activity. Keep it simple, I generally use gratitude. What is one thing you are grateful for in the last 12-24 hours? Building a grateful community allows for the practice of compassion. This is how a safe space begins to develop. Students are encouraged to share their vulnerabilities. After all, we are ultimately talking about mistakes being made. We need to offer the opportunity for students to speak about the problem without judgement. Solutions are not resolved at this time. The floor is only open for a candid conversation about their current social emotional state.

We will learn how to create a goal setting behavior checklist next week.

Danielle

Starting Middle School During COVID-19

While my older daughter is finishing up middle school, my younger one is just starting 6^th grade this fall! Even though she has heard all about the middle school experience from my older daughter, my younger still faces her own set of concerns, especially in the context of COVID-19. Here are some of the paradigm shifts we have discussed with her to prepare her for middle school.

Learning Environment

While the transition from elementary school to middle school is already a big one, a transition during the uncertainties of COVID-19 is especially difficult. Since spring, we have had to learn how to manage distance learning which included

scheduling class Zoom meetings and Google Meets
balancing screen time for academic and social activities
navigating online textbooks and resources for learning
having limited access to the teacher (Daily video lessons, an optional 30 min Zoom Q&A session, and a weekly class check-in are just not the same as connecting and learning in-person.)

Returning to school will look very different from what we have ever seen and experienced, but some things still remain true whether in a distance learning or hybrid style school program. My daughter will have to learn how to

actively participate and speak up especially because it is a virtual classroom
take initiative to ask teachers questions when she does not understand because it may be easier to “fall through the cracks”
be resourceful to learn a different school’s or teachers’ online learning management system
find alternate or multiple sources to help her understand content if her teachers aren’t available

Social Environment

In the elementary school setting, students are housed in one classroom and they can also play with friends in the playground. Now, having to move to a virtual or hybrid middle school experience, my daughter will have to learn how to connect and make friends with others in a virtual way. To overcome the socially awkward middle school years, and now to have to overcome the social distance hurdle are no easy tasks! These are the topics of discussions we’ve had, and no doubt, will continue to have as we support her adjustment to the “new normal” of doing school in the COVID era.

Don’t be shy. Take initiative in the virtual class to say “hi” and introduce yourself.
Ask people about themselves and their interests.
Ask if anyone would like to do a virtual lunch together.
Offer to hop on a Google Meet and do homework or class assignments together.

Wishing you the best as school opens up this fall,

Jaime

Responding to Your Kids’ Challenging Behaviors at Home

Our children’s misbehaviors can be addressed through preventive strategies, modifying the environment, and by teaching them alternative behaviors. When trying to resolve a child’s challenging behavior, parents can try the following approach:

Identify the problem and agree on what behavior is going to be addressed.
Brainstorm solutions to understand what function the behavior is serving.
Make a plan involving an acceptable solution that allows the child to achieve the function being served by the challenging behavior. That is, if the function is also acceptable.
Implement the plan consistently and across settings.
Evaluate the outcome to determine next steps.
Develop alternative solutions for various family members or situations.

During the brainstorming session, you can:

Describe what the behavior looks like or sounds like (i.e. frequency, duration, intensity).
Determine when does the behavior occur and what happens right before the behavior. (What sets off the behavior?)
What happens right after the behavior? (What is the child achieving from the behavior?)
Is there a function for the behavior or is the child trying to communicate something, avoid something, get attention, or express anger and frustration?
Work toward developing acceptable alternatives that achieve the function.

Remember, any challenging behavior that persists over time is “working” and rewarding to your child. Relish the serenity you have achieved with quality family play!

Ruth

Coronavirus: Expanding Our Shopping Options

We continue to adjust to a new normal as California slowly returns to more contact with our families, neighbors, and local businesses. Some of the changes impacting family members include:

Stores are becoming more mobile. We are learning how to interact with retailers in new ways through curbside services, more online purchases, and home deliveries.
As this mobility increases, drug stores will expand curbside services.
Online purchases will become more cost effective as staffing is secured for added customer services that support bundling deliveries.
Schools will adjust their fall programs through staggered class schedules to maintain social distancing protocols.
Sporting events will be modified to ensure safety for players and possibly limited spectators.
Communities will struggle on how to teach and train small groups to use face masks when in public.
Child care services will need to be adjusted to smaller groups.
And the overall emotional and social health of a society must continue to be monitored to ensure the healthy development of all.

These next few weeks will continue to impact all of us as we give back to our neighbors in need through networking, community services, ongoing financial support, and by being a good friend. This ensures that we will return to some level of normalcy in our daily lives.

Happy 4^th of July!

Joyce