We have an abundance of helpful links and posts swirling online to support families and school systems as we adjust to our new normal of learning while self-isolating at home. Thousands of free academic resources from the NYT student writing prompts, to the Anti-Racist, Anti-Oppressive Homeschool Resource list, to this excellent collection from BuzzFeed, and the ever-growing crowd-sourced collection aptly named Amazing Educational Resources are being shared.
Our schools do so much more than support our children’s academic growth, something I am sure we are acutely aware of now, if we weren’t before. Our school communities support many of our families’ basic needs. During this time of unprecedented school closings, many districts around the country are working together with their communities to figure out how to feed families and support them in any way they can.
School mental health is a vital component of this network of support for children and families. How can we support the mental health of children and families in this new reality? I reached out to colleagues, scoured the Internet, and began compiling a list. This is not meant to be all-inclusive; it’s simply a conversation starter.
Thank you to my colleague, Leora Wolf-Prusan at CARS, for the following:
- From the CDC: Interim Guidance for Administrators of US Childcare Programs and K-12 Schools
- From the National Educator’s Association: Schools & Coronavirus: What you should know
- From NPR: Just For Kids: A Comic Exploring The New Coronavirus
- From the National School Board Association: COVID-19: Preparing For Widespread Illness in Your School Community
- From the National Association of School Psychologists: Talking to Children About COVID-19 (Coronavirus): A Parent Resource
- From the Child Mind Institute: Talking to Kids About the Coronavirus
- From Teaching Tolerance: Speaking Up Against Racism Around the New Coronavirus
- For lesson planning & engaging students in learning about the virus and related issues:
- Supporting English Language Learners: What is Coronavirus?
- Share My Lesson: Coronavirus Student Guide: Explanations , News & Updates
- BrainPop Educators: Coronavirus Lesson Plan
Here are a few others:
- Tips and a free webinar from RULER (an approach to social and emotional learning) about managing anxiety around COVID-19
- A list of resources from CASEL (The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning)
- ‘Self-Care, Mindfulness, and Social Emotional Learning for Teachers and Parents’— A free online course from 1-2-3 Wellness
- Go Noodle
- Yoga with Adrienne, short, extremely accessible YouTube sessions (my teenage boys will do it!)
- Blog post Parenting in a Pandemic
- Mental Health America tips
- SAMHSA: Coping With Stress During Infectious Disease Outbreaks and Taking Care of Your Behavioral Health: Tips for Social Distancing, Quarantine, and Isolation During an Infectious Disease Outbreak
- A Coronavirus Sanity Guide from Ten Percent Happier
- Tips from CNN on how to support your mental health
We’ll be adding more resources as time goes on. If you have any that you like, please leave them in the comments, below. We’ll compile them with these in a resource list that we’ll continue to update as long as necessary.
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