Tips & Tools Archives - Page 2 of 23

Four Ideas for Stressed Parents

We are parenting more hours a day than ever before. In-person school, in-person play dates and visits with family and friends are things we hope to resume in the near future, but they aren’t providing much relief for parents at the moment.

Have you noticed any of these issues coming up for your kids?

stressing out over seemingly small things, like tech issues during on-line school or having to ask the teacher a question
more disorganized than usual and having difficult time keeping up with assignments
less physically active
less social and more isolated
on screens much more than usual

…

Tips for Teaching Online

Here are some ideas that have been proven to make a positive difference for teachers and students doing online learning.

Brain breaks and self-regulation breaks – For both adults and children, research finds that taking breaks every 20 or 30 minutes rejuvenates working memory and calms our nervous systems. Embed regular self-regulation activities to get students to stand up, stretch and move, into the flow of your online days. 5-minute brain breaks can be led by students, allowing them to feel both more engaged and more of an integral part of the classroom community.Here are a few brain-break and self-regulation …

Contributions Kids Can Make to Support their Community during Challenging Times

Ideas for Children to Contribute During Protests

Make posters and signs to put in the yard or to give to protesters

Organize their own demonstration or protest

Make food or provide drinks and snacks for people who are protesting

Write letters to community, city, regional or state officials and elected officials

Research organizations that do work in a field of their interest. Create a plan to share out to friends and family. Fundraise and/or donate to those organizations.

Stage a toy protest, chalk your walk, and other ideas – 5 ways for kids and families to peacefully protest from home…

21May 2020 by Pase Garrett

7 Ideas for Learning About Feelings

Feelings and emotions, Tips & Tools

Learning to understand, name and express feelings is important for self-regulation. Developing this skill helps children feel better about themselves, form healthy relationships, and navigate life’s challenges with more resiliency.

When we name our feelings, we’re accessing the thinking part of the brain. This act of labeling the feeling gives us that little bit of space from the feeling itself, which helps calm down the emotional center of the brain. This integration in the brain helps us makes sense of our experiences so that we can respond rather than react. Dan Siegel explains this integration, Name it to Tame it, …

18Apr 2020 by Pase Garrett

La reparación es una poderosa herramienta para el aprendizaje y la conexión

Conflict, Connection and love, Mutual Respect, Tips & Tools

Como padres podemos sentir mucha presión para hacer las cosas “bien” y hacer que nuestros hijos sean ‘felices’ todo el tiempo. Eso simplemente no es posible, y hay ciencia del cerebro que demuestra que los errores son una poderosa oportunidad de aprendizaje tanto para adultos como para niños. El Dr. Daniel Siegel y la Dra. Tina Faye Bryson, en su nuevo libro El poder de aparecer, nos animan a aceptar los errores que cometemos. El proceso de estar presentes con nuestros hijos, resolver problemas y hacer una reparación, puede acercarnos.

Los padres pueden pensar que no debemos …

02Apr 2020 by Pase Garrett

Desarrollar conexión

Connection and love, Feelings and emotions, Tips & Tools

Durante este tiempo de ‘quédese en casa, manténgase seguro’ muchos de nosotros están pasando tiempo con nuestras familias y queridos. Pero con tanto compañerismo, ¿estamos sintiendo más conectados los unos con los otros?

En Sound Discipline ensenamos, apoyamos, y conversamos sobre conexión con los educadores, los lideres de la escuela, y las familias porque ser conectado hace la aula, la aprendizaje, y la vida más enriquecedora y seguro. Cuando un niño falta la conexión, lo puede manifestar como problemas con mal comportamiento: buscando atención, bullying, o rechazo a participar. A veces los adultos puedan experimentar una falta de conexión y …

02Apr 2020 by Pase Garrett

Building Connection

Connection and love, Feelings and emotions, Tips & Tools

During this time of ‘stay home, stay safe,’ many of us are spending lots of time at home with our families and loved ones. But with all this togetherness, are we feeling more connected to one another?

At Sound Discipline, we teach, coach, and talk about connection with educators, school leaders and families because being connected makes the classroom, learning, and life more vital, enriching and safe. When connection is missing for a child, it may manifest as a behavior issue: attention seeking, bullying, or unwillingness to participate. Adults may experience a lack of connection as exhaustion, joylessness, yelling, or …

06Mar 2020 by Pase Garrett

Repair is Powerful in the Classroom

Conflict, Connection and love, Mutual Respect, Tips & Tools

We all have ways of dealing with mistakes based on our life experiences. Some of us can embrace them as a chance to fix and try to do better next time, and others struggle to acknowledge them. The reality is that human beings make mistakes. It is part of learning and being in community together. When we create spaces in schools for students to repair, they learn that mistakes are opportunities. Respectful relationships between students and teachers and students and their peers are stronger and sustainable if we know how to reconnect after making mistakes. When a repair is …

06Mar 2020 by Pase Garrett

Repair is a Powerful Tool for Learning and Connection

Conflict, Connection and love, Mutual Respect, Tips & Tools

As parents we can feel a lot of pressure to do things ‘right’ and have our kids be ‘happy’ all the time. That’s just not possible, and there is brain science proving that mistakes are a powerful learning opportunity for adults as well as children. Dr. Daniel Siegel and Dr. Tina Faye Bryson, in their new book The Power of Showing Up, encourage us to embrace the mistakes we make. The process of being present with our kids, solving problems and making a repair, can bring us closer.

Parents may think that we shouldn’t apologize to children, or …

07Feb 2020 by Pase Garrett

In the Classroom, Kindness = Connection + Caring

Connection and love, Feelings and emotions, Tips & Tools

Many of us entered teaching believing in our abilities to be consistently kind. In reality, vacillating between kindness and being authoritarian is a common cycle, especially when class sizes and challenging students make the job feel overwhelming.

Kindness and compassion from a teacher are a powerful model for our students. Kindness does not have to mean being wishy-washy and letting the classroom descend into chaos or being overly sweet and positive. It means respecting the student AND the routines, expectations, and agreements of the classroom…as well as ourselves.

How can we as teachers do this…maintaining a firmness that allows …