Hello Wolves! Welcome to the second edition of the School Counseling Newsletter for the 2021-22 school year. October has been full of activities for our students and families, and we would like to thank you for all your support. From the fun Halloween Festival to the very important conversations happening around Red Ribbon Week, your collaboration is incredibly important to promote the wellness and continued learning of each one of our students.

In this issue you will find:

• Bullying Prevention
• Red Ribbon Week
• SEL Family Night: Modeling Emotional Regulation!
• Save the Date(s)!
• Community Resources
• Contact Information

October is bullying prevention month. Bullying is defined as unwanted aggressive behavior between kids, however not all aggressive behavior is considered bullying. Bullying has four important components: the aggressive behavior is intentional, repeated, one-sided, and has a perceived or real power imbalance. If you want to learn more about bullying, you can go to the following link to access resources: www.StopBullying.gov

Bullying Prevention in School

Families, school staff, and other adults in the community can help prevent bullying by talking about it, building a safe school environment, and creating a community-wide bullying prevention strategy. At LMA, our strategies to prevent bullying are very diverse. From having schoolwide expectations and engaging our students in the creation of classroom agreements to facilitating classroom lessons specific to building positive friendships and having empathy for others, each one of our staff members works to create a culture of respect and care.

In addition, during this month the School Counseling Team facilitated a bullying prevention lesson for all 6th graders were we discussed the definition and components of bullying, the different types of bullying in real life scenarios, and the importance of being upstanders and taking action against bullying in our community.

Finally, when issues related to bullying are brought up to our attention, we address them immediately according to our policies. If you want to learn more about our bullying/harassment policy, please click on the following links:

LMA Parent/Student Handbook

SMUSD Bullying Information

Bullying Prevention at Home

Families can help prevent bullying by teaching and modeling to our children how to:

• be caring of others
• get along
• deal with anger or other big feelings
• be assertive in standing up for themselves

Children also need to understand how important it is to report bullying. If your student reports bullying to you, please encourage them to talk to adults in school, and make sure you inform a school administrator to stop the problem. Many of our students are worried or reluctant about reporting these issues because they think they might suffer retaliation, the adults will make things worse, or their peers might think they are tattlers. It is important to teach our students the difference between telling and tattling:

• Tattling is reporting to an adult about someone else’s behaviour in order to get them in trouble.
• Telling is reporting to a responsible adult about someone else’s behaviour in order to help someone – themselves or someone else.

Aside from representing your children, your role will be to help them build the skills to act on their own behalf. When something goes wrong at school, they need to know where they can turn for guidance and support, and what action to expect. Parents and families can help children understand the importance of reporting harassment and guide them through the complaint and investigation process.

When bullying is present in a school everyone plays a part in it! Let's encourage our children to speak up and get support to address and stop this. Together we can make our school community a safe and welcoming place for all.

Supporting our Students in Making Healthy Choices and Staying Away from Drugs!

Hello Wolves! Wow, what an exciting week we had for Red Ribbon Week! Thank you families for joining us this past week in taking a stand to celebrate Red Ribbon Week and La Mirada Academy’s commitment to a drug-free lifestyle. The mission of the Red Ribbon Campaign® is to present a unified and visible commitment towards the creation of a drug-free America by providing drug prevention education to our youth. This past week students engaged in activities that promote a drug free and healthy lifestyle by talking about healthy habits and choices they make every day.

Tips for Caregivers

Please partner with us and continue to discuss this message at home, at the dinner table, at family outings, and with friends and extended family. Talk to your children about drug safety and let them know that alcohol and drug use will not be tolerated. For younger children, talk about only taking medicine with adult supervision and from a trusted adult. A parent, doctor, school health aide/nurse and never from a stranger or another child. Focus on ways to maintain a healthy lifestyle such as getting a good night's rest, nutrition, and exercise etc.

For older children, recommended for 4th grade and up, you can watch Natural High’s free celebrity drug prevention videos with your child and use their discussion questions to have a conversation with them about drugs and alcohol(In english only). Using this guide from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, have conversations with your teens about alcohol and other drugs and how they can “say no” or make better choices. English and Spanish

Get to know the parents of your children’s friends and work together to set boundaries and monitor behavior.

Did you know?

Children of parents who talk to their teens regularly about drugs are 42% less likely to use drugs than those who don’t; yet, only a quarter of teens report having these conversations.

Resources:

Naturalhigh.org

Redribbon.org

SAMHSA.gov-Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

English - https://www.samhsa.gov/talk-they-hear-you/parent-resources

Spanish - https://www.samhsa.gov/hable-ellos-escuchan/recursos-para-padres

Join us November 2, 2021 at 5:30 to 6:30 pm for our second Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Family Night.

Thank you to all the families that joined us in September to talk about communication and work on having healthy conversations with one another. Our littles and older students did such a great job of interviewing their caregivers and vice versa!

For our next session we would like to focus on managing stress as we continue into the school year and with the holidays just around the corner. As a family, we can create a safe space and model for one another different coping strategies to improve our overall well-being. This event can earn you a signature on your Family Learning Passport Card!

Please click on the following links for a comprehensive list of resources:

• Student Wellness
• Mental Health and Counseling Resources
• Emergency Psych Evaluation Centers
• Community Resources (Housing, Food, Etc.)
• Technology Resources and Support
• North San Diego County Food Resources

Email: marthaanahi.amador@smusd.org
Website: https://lamiradaacademy.smusd.org/
Location: Room A-128
Phone: (760) 290-2006

Email: gloria.ortiz@smusd.org
Website: https://lamiradaacademy.smusd.org/
Location: Room A-127
Phone: (760) 290-2444