Tips & Tools Archives - Page 2 of 26

It’s Teacher Appreciation Month and We See You

Teacher Appreciation messages from Sound Discipline Facilitators!

What a school year this has been! By many accounts, this year proved even more challenging than the previous two years, leaving many educators exhausted and discouraged. And yet, you keep showing up. You continue to be present and attentive to the needs of your students. Even though you may feel depleted, you keep dipping into a deep well of patience and commitment.

At Sound Discipline, we see you! We are grateful for all that you do. For Teacher Appreciation Month, we celebrate you for the heroes that you are!

Hopefully, your …

5 Simple Ways to Show Appreciation for Teachers (Anytime, Not Just the First Week of May!)

The first week of May is Teacher Appreciation week. It’s a great reminder to take a moment and show support for educators. They have such a profound impact on our kids and our world!

Ask any teacher and they will tell you that simple, heartfelt gestures go a long way. Here are several ways to show your appreciation, during Teacher Appreciation Week, or anytime:

1) Give them a handwritten a letter. In this difficult year, put your heart-felt thoughts in writing. What about your child’s teacher stands out? What does their work mean to your child and your family? Ask …

An Easy Way to Reduce Stress and Strengthen Relationships in Your Family

Want to play? What? Too busy doing important things to play? It turns out (check out this research), play is extremely important – for just about everyone and everything, but especially for learning and developing children. But why?

Stress: It turns out play reduces stress (and therefore) facilitates learning. We know stress lowers the amount of our brain available for real learning. Play is really the work that kids need to be doing. And not just kids. Adults benefit in the same ways!

Relationship: The National Institute of Play reports that playful communications and interactions, when …

The Surprising Benefits of Play in the Classroom

“Play is a strategy for learning at any age. While older students and their teachers might have more curricular demands than younger students, playful learning still has an important role to play…”

– Project Zero Researcher Mara Krechevsky, Harvard Graduate School of Education

After years of pandemic disruption, are we feeling pressure to catch students up? Are you wrestling with the gap between what you feel you must do, and what you know is best for your students?

Here are some ideas to hopefully lighten that load and remind you of something you probably already know. Learning is …

Developing Firmness Tools for Educators

When we can respond to students in ways that are both connected and firm, both adults and students benefit. But how do we do that?

Children need compassion and boundaries, connection and high expectations – at the same time. But most of us did not grow up with this model or learn it in our teacher training. The good news is that this is something we can learn, practice, and get better at until it’s second nature.

During COVID, we have been refining our course on this topic — our new online workshop Reimagining Resilience 2: Developing Firmness Tools offers …

Developing Firmness Tools for Parents

Kind compassion and grounded firmness are critical to effective parenting. If we can do both, our parenting takes on a strong even keel, so that in stormy times or calm, we know we are getting where we want to go with our children in a way that has direction and purpose. Both parents and kids feel the stability. We call this parenting with connected firmness. How do we do this, when many of us were not brought up with this modeled in our own families?

Ask More Questions: Instead of telling kids what to do all of the …

The Great Reset for Families

Priya Parker, the author of The Art of Gathering, encourages us to enter into 2022 with conscious intention and in community. Recently, she discussed her ideas for a concept called “the great reset” on Brené Brown’s podcast.

Parker calls upon us to recognize the gift of our times: “We are in a moment of creation. And that is something that few generations get at this level…We are entering and building this new world…It is a radical time of makeover, of invention.”

How can we apply this concept of radical reinvention in our own families?

Welcome all …

The Great Reset

Priya Parker, author of The Art of Gathering, encourages us to enter into 2022 with conscious intention and in community. Recently, she discussed what she calls “the great reset” on Brené Brown’s podcast. What is the Great Reset?

Parker describes it this way: “We are in a moment of creation. And that is something that few generations get at this level…We are entering and building this new world…It is a radical time of makeover, of invention.”

What does radical reinvention look like in classrooms?

As overwhelming as that sounds, radical reinvention means small, simple; Like …

Teachers Can Harness the Power of Ritual and Routine

At this time of year, with heightened excitement and a looming break from school, the agreements you co-created with your class at the beginning of the school year and the everyday routines you have been establishing are things to lean on. Depend on that structure now, because it comforts them and helps them feel safe. Refrain from adding too much extra.

Avoid the temptation to add more excitement to the days: Assemblies, special activities, half-days and holidays can be stressful. Especially for those who have been exposed to adverse experiences. Keep the school-day flow as close to normal as …

Routines, Rituals & Traditions in Families

Routines provide consistency and predictability. They help our kids feel safe, and we as adults feel more organized and less chaotic. Specifics of routines tend to be unique to each family. Rituals and tradition provide comfort for kids and more than that, tend to be the foundation of our childhood memories as we grow. They provide markers for our passing years, establishing our identities and values, and a deep sense of belonging within our families.

Many traditions and rituals are religious. December contains twelve religious celebrations from around the world. Each has a set of rituals shared by people who …