Counseling & Wellness at CCE

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of staff, Coyote Creek Elementary has been named one of the healthiest schools in America!

The Alliance for a Healthier Generation made the recent announcement, with 879 schools in 30 states recognized for their efforts in supporting the health and well-being of students, staff and families. Coyote Creek was recognized in the award category: “Cultivating Staff Well-Being,” presented by Kaiser Permanente.

This annual recognition honors schools for implementing best practices to support wellness. The Alliance for a Healthier Generation is a leading children's health organization that advances equitable whole child health.

Here are two recent articles related to the importance of free play for healthy child development. Free play helps kids learn problem solving, socialization, and so much more. In turn, it also helps create well adjusted, academically successful students. Read on!

• How Risky Play Fights Childhood Anxiety
• Want Your Kids to Play More? Some Tips from Peter Gray! Since the video about the decline of play, which is referenced in this article is so good, I have posted it here for you too! Be sure to check it out!

In the book "The Anxious Generation", author Jonathan Haidt, outlines ways we can protect the mental health of our children.

1. No smartphones before High School
   
2. No social media before age 16
   
3. Phone-free schools
   
4. More unsupervised play and childhood independence

Many parents have reached out to us to ask how they can find other like-minded parents in our school to support them in setting and holding similar boundaries. If you want to share your contact information with other parents, fill out this form (made accessible this time) and Mrs. Edwards will help you connect.

Throughout the month of September, classroom lessons focused on the importance of developing and practicing healthy coping and calming skills.

The Self-Control Stoplight Lesson taught students that it's important to Stop, Slow Down and Calm Down, so they are better able to make good choices before they Go. Students had opportunity to identify their best strategies for getting and staying calm in a variety of situations. Ask your student to play Red Light Green Light as a way of practicing self-control.

With the help of this video and class discussion, students learned what's going on in the brain when we lose control of our emotions, or "flip our lid". They also identified some of the calming skills they can use to get back in control in order to solve problems. Ask your student which calming strategy they find most helpful and consider practicing this and other strategies together at home. Research shows that we are much more likely to utilize a coping or calming skill in a time of need when we have practiced that skill while still feeling calm and in control.

In our lesson about Adapting to Change, 6th grade students gained a greater understanding of how they can manage the stress that sometimes comes with change. Whether it is a change happening around them or to them students learned to think about what is Inside and Outside of their circle of control. There will always be things that happen that we have no control over but how we respond to change and stress IS within our control. In addition to this strategy, students were able to list other coping and calming strategies they can use to manage stress in

During the month of September, all students got settled into the routines of the Wellness classroom. The content focus for September was to learn or review the parts of the brain and their function. Our knowledge of the brain helps us to understand our social emotional learning needs.

Our youngest students had their first introduction to parts of the brain: the “guard dog” or amygdala, “elephant” or hippocampus, and “wise owl” or prefrontal cortex. After teaching them what each part was and its function, students applied this knowledge by naming the part of the brain in charge during different scenarios. We then moved to a basic introduction to the idea of growth mindset. Students listened to “A Walk In The Rain With a Brain” by Edward Hallowell. The message of this story is to do what you love and that no brain is “best” or “smartest”, we all have our unique abilities.

Because second and third graders had learned about the brain parts last year, we did a quick review and then moved into learning about using a growth mindset. Students had to think of a challenge they were facing currently or in the past and tell how a fixed and growth mindset would sound and look with their challenge. Then second graders had to read statements and determine if these were good/not good things to tell their brain. The third graders had to turn fixed mindset statements into growth mindset statements. Lastly, both grade levels chose which growth mindset statement they would use when they faced a challenge in the future. Students had a lot of great things to say!

In addition to reviewing the parts of the brain they knew previously, our older students learned about additional parts of the brain: the cerebrum and the cerebellum. They discovered that these play a big part in activities we do in Wellness class! The cerebrum is in charge of thinking and speaking, and the cerebellum is responsible for our movement, including balance. We then moved into learning about using a growth mindset through reading about people with different mindsets and their outcomes. We compared their experiences by looking at their obstacles and people who had an impact on their lives. Finally, like the younger students, our older kiddos chose a growth mindset statement that spoke to them, and would be helpful for their next challenge.

Ask your child what part of their brain is being used when they are trying to remember something, (hippocampus or elephant), doing some higher level thinking, (prefrontal cortex or wise owl), or having a strong reaction, (amygdala or guard dog). This will help them remember the parts of their brain and be more aware of their thinking. We will be diving into ways to deal with strong emotions as the year goes on.

Students will need practice using a growth mindset. We talked about how it is normal to have a fixed mindset, but our goal is to move to a growth mindset as quickly as we can. Here are some examples of what students heard:

Fixed mindset

I can’t do this!

This is too hard!

I give up!

Growth mindset

I can’t do this yet.

This will take time and hard work.

I will try a different strategy.

Try to encourage your child to change their words when they face an obstacle or challenge. I let all students know that this is great work for adults as well! Model for your child how your words change to a growth mindset when the opportunity arises. They will appreciate seeing that we all need this work!

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to reach out to me! I am happy to help in any way I can.

ADHD EMPOWERMENT MONTH WEBINAR

We Define ADHD! Empowering Ways to Frame Our Awesome Brains

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing and Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt

ADHD is Awesome: A Guide To (Mostly) Thriving With ADHD by Penn & Kim Holderness.

Debbie Edwards, School Counselor dedwards2@dcsdk12.org

Stephanie Star, Wellness Teacher sstar@dcsdk12.org