Social-Emotional Health Archives - Page 6 of 16

Nov 10 2020

Simplified COVID-19 Daily Life

Since school closed in March, my life is much fuller and demanding as I help my grandson, Kenji, with his online learning each day. I have made the following changes with my family to simplify life and expand my time to support my grandson:

My new schedule for online learning is now 8:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. on Monday through Friday. My daughter and I alternate supervision of my grandson’s learning based on the demands of her job.
Kenji’s mother is the primary tutor for my grandson while I provide added supervision.
Although my household chores remain the same, I am far more flexible when coordinating our cooking and cleaning needs.
My work is now scheduled in my office after 2:30 p.m. and can be challenging to complete on busy days.
Our family still limits outside shopping and outdoor play. I used to take my grandson to the farmer’s market but we no longer enjoy those play dates. Our daily walks are now in neighborhoods instead of downtown. We enjoy looking at people’s gardens instead of participating in the hustle and bustle of our downtown shopping area. With the recent California wildfires, we must now monitor air quality to ensure that we only go outside when the air is relatively healthy.
Mental health continues to be a focus for our family as we keep our spirits up with lots of play and reading.

[Read more…]

Joyce Iwasaki, Early Parenting

Joyce Iwasaki has over thirty years of educational experience working with diverse students in grades from preschool through high school. Joyce’s extensive background includes teaching elementary school, serving on early childhood advisory boards, and advocating for educational initiatives as a legislative aide. During her tenure as a legislative aide, she helped create legislation that allowed incarcerated mothers to keep their newborn babies with them while in prison. Additional legislation was enacted to allow incarcerated pregnant mothers to remain unshackled during labor and delivery. Ms. Iwasaki established and served as the president of an educational scholarship foundation for fifteen years. Her foundation awarded college scholarships to emerging student leaders who provided service to their schools and communities. Joyce is active in performing arts and cultural organizations. She also provides ongoing support to her daughter and family by raising her grandson in her home.

Oct 20 2020

Recreating COVID-19 Holidays

October is an important month in our household. My grandson, Kenji, will have a birthday in a few days. Then we have Halloween at the end of the month. My grandson typically enjoys a birthday party with friends and celebrates Halloween at a school celebration. With COVID-19, we are redefining how we will celebrate the following holidays:

We will celebrate Kenji’s birthday with a small family party. He has already received a new larger bicycle for this event. Kenji will celebrate his birthday with his aunt and uncle and a special bike ride. We will then enjoy cake and ice cream as my grandson plays with his other gifts.
Kenji will wear his Halloween costume while attending his remote classroom on Halloween. Some schools will celebrate Halloween with a car parade at the school site while students wear their costumes. Other families will celebrate with their neighborhood pod of two to three families. Several families are decorating their homes and will host a Halloween party with their children. They may also Zoom with other school families and friends.
Thanksgiving will be a challenge as we may need to leave our home for a long-awaited construction project. We are looking forward to eating a take-out Thanksgiving dinner in our hotel room.
Christmas will be celebrated with a Christmas tree, gifts, and a visit with a couple of family members.

[Read more…]

Joyce Iwasaki, Early Parenting

Sep 01 2020

Your Child’s Goal Setting for Academic Successes

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

During the last two weeks, we have considered what motivates a child’s classroom behaviors. This chart was developed with a behavioral specialist to help students and their parents support growth milestones and academic success. It is just an example. I encourage you to modify the targets with your child’s teacher to meet your child’s needs and individual situation. The philosophy behind the chart is student engagement, monitoring behavior, providing space for conversations about what is expected versus what is really happening, and leveraging agreed upon incentives. The point system neutralizes conflict between the student and educator and/ or a parent. Consistency is the key to success. [Read more…]

Danielle Gentry

Danielle’s first step in education did not begin with education at all. It began with her first love for science. She received a B.S. in Biological Science, with a concentration in Molecular Biology. Her five years of experience as a chemist in the biotech industry at SYVA and Dade Behring Diagnostics include both areas of quality control and research and development. Her contributions were qualifying products for release to sell to the diagnostic market as well as developing new diagnostic technology for immunoassay detection. Danielle’s subtle transition to discovering her passion for education was through the birth of her daughter. She became a stay at home mom. Her uber volunteerism at her daughter’s elementary school gained her access to her path of education. She now holds a multiple subject teaching credential and M.A. in Education from National University. She has over ten years of experience at Sakamoto Elementary School as an educator in kindergarten, sixth grade, second grade, and a 2/3 combination class. Her teaching is rooted in a constructivist model while fostering independence and accountability in the classroom.

Jul 07 2020

Preparing for High School and Beyond

This summer, my oldest is preparing to enter her 8^th grade year of school. While it is certainly a milestone year and we will celebrate the end of the middle school years, we don’t want high school to arrive and then be caught off guard that we weren’t prepared! So, even while one stage in life ends, we are looking forward to the next. This summer, we are getting her prepared to know what to expect for high school and beyond.

Remediation

Our first step is to look back and think about her weaknesses. Looking at her educational path, are there areas that may need more review or support? Will she need more repetition in an academic area so she doesn’t lose skills over the summer and be a victim of the “summer slide”? [Read more…]

Jaime Koo, Encouraging Literacy

Discovering the joy of teaching while in high school, Jaime pursued her B.A. in English at Santa Clara University. She also received a teaching credential and a M.A. in Education Administration from Santa Clara University. Jaime taught English Language Arts at Rancho Middle School, motivating and inspiring young people to become effective communicators and contributors in their community. From being a Middle School English Language Arts/English Language Development teacher to becoming a stay-at home mom, Jaime is an education consultant who presents literacy workshops. Her workshops focus on a combination of her ten years of teaching expertise with tried-and-true experiences that she uses with her own children. Jaime is also a Teacher Consultant with the San Jose Area Writing Project. Jaime’s mission is to share effective reading and writing strategies with families to encourage literacy.

Jun 23 2020

Education and COVID-19: Pressing the “Pause Button”

As I write this blog entry, we are about a couple months into shelter in place due to the pandemic caused by COVID-19. Even as we are ending the school year and planning what our family’s summer will look like, there are still many uncertainties and undecided factors surrounding what the re-opening of schools will look like in the fall. I wish there could be a “pause button” so we could evaluate some of the issues and consider the best way to move forward. On top of the obvious health risks with opening up schools and increasing exposure, here are some of the issues that I have been thinking about, and maybe you have, too. [Read more…]

Jaime Koo, Encouraging Literacy

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