Dear Meerkats, Since my last newsletter, we have received the update that we will not be together at all for the month of April. As of now, we hope to return to school mid-May. I imagine that this news is exciting for some and disheartening for others. I am in the second group. I miss the students, staff, and families that I've grown accustomed to seeing everyday. I will try to keep my website current with the most up-to-date information provided by the state and the district. We are in a state of transition and things seem to change daily. This month, my goal is to provide online tools and ideas for use with your students. Many of these are activities that I have used and found great benefit in, or recommendations I have received from colleagues. It is overwhelming how many resources there are, so please don't feel that you have to use all of them. Find resources that seem most beneficial for you and your student(s). Please reach out to me with any specific needs. If I don't know the answer, then I can find someone who does. I am available by email: [email protected] or via phone: (919) 886-6799 My office hours are 8 - 9 AM Monday through Friday, but I will continue to respond to voicemails, text messages, and emails throughout the workday. I am missing you all. Thank you, Ms. Jeannine Harrell PerseveranceDurham Public Schools has a way of picking the perfect character trait for each month. This month's character trait is perseverance. At this point in a typical school year, we would all be persevering our very best, trying to make it through to spring break. This year is unique, because we have already persevered through a great deal of transition and challenges, and we will likely have more before we are reunited. DPS uses the definition: "Pursuing objectives with great determination and patience". Merriam Webster also defines perseverance as "continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition". Right now, our objective is to finish out the school year. It is my hope that this time can be meaningful, full of learning, moments of joy, and new meanings of connectedness. As a school counselor, I want to support families and students in their efforts to persevere through the end of the school year. Even from afar, I want students to know that I care about them and I think about them daily. This experience is unlike anything most educators have ever experienced, and I am amazed that it is all happening within my first year at Morehead. Although this year has been quite odd, I hope that we will have many more years together, persevering through our everyday challenges. My recommendations this month are tools and activities that will help us to enjoy this unusual time. In the Home: Activities and Online ResourcesAs I mentioned in my last newsletter, I am also stressed, scared and overwhelmed by this situation. I have found that in order to persevere through this time, it has been important for me to work Creativity, Activity, and Rest into each day. These activities help me feel grounded, inspired, and connected. Some of the ways I do that include: Creativity- Cooking, creating earrings or bracelets, making and writing cards to send to family and friends whom I am missing Activity- Going for a walk, doing an at-home workout or yoga, and playing family games Rest- Reading (usually books related to work), meditation, yoga, and journaling Here are more activity recommendations for your students. Remember that it is also important to take care of yourself during this time. Maybe try to find ways to include these in your day as well. While many of these activities overlap multiple categories, I have tried to separate them into my three recommendations: Rest, Activity, and Creativity. Please share any other ideas you have, so I can add them to my list. Rest (Taking a break for mindfulness or yoga) -
Activity (Actively engaging in something non-academic that gets your body moving) -
Creativity (Allowing a time to think out of the box and try something new) -
Books and Movie RecommendationsBooks:
If there are any books from previous newsletters which you have not yet read, please feel free to read them this month. Many of the books and movies I've recommended in the past have paired resilience and perseverance with other character traits, especially some of the career and courage books. I highly recommend these three new (to my newsletters) titles - click on the titles for a YouTube read-aloud version of each story. After the Fall, by Dan Santat: I love this story! This book takes place after the traditional Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme. Spoiler alert: a fall like that is pretty traumatic. It surprised me that a book based on a popular nursery rhyme could feel so relatable. Maybe Tomorrow, by Charlotte Agell: I've found this book to be applicable to a large number of experiences and mental health concerns. During traumatic experiences, like the COVID-19 crisis, we might have feelings of anxiety, depression, grief, and loss. This book is relevant for all of these, and it emphasizes how important our community and close connections are. Salt in His Shoes, by Deloris Jordan and Roslyn Jordan: Our young basketball fans will love this book. This is a story about young Michael Jordan. He thinks that he is not good at basketball due to his height, but he learns that height isn't the only thing that matters. Even older students can benefit from these three picture books. They have a lot more depth than many stories you might traditionally use in a read-aloud. However, if your student is looking for novels to read during this time, then I would recommend just about any action/adventure series. I've found that these genres have characters pushing through a great deal of obstacles and challenges, before they reach their main objective, otherwise, they wouldn't have quite as many books. Movies: Most action and adventure movies highlight some character(s) exhibiting perseverance. You know your students best, and some of these movies may not be appropriate for them. For most students, I recommend:
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AuthorMs. Jeannine Harrell, School Counselor at Morehead Montessori in Durham, NC Archives
August 2020
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