Mental Health Information

Our staff meeting will be led by Frasier on Mental Health and Suicide. This will fulfill licensure requirements. We will sign up later for all professional learning.

Pre-assessment                       How well do you know your Mental Health Facts?


Check out some information below to frontload your learning.

Mental Health
Tips for Teachers and School Staff from Students with Mental Health and Behavioral Challenges

Elementary School Teachers Can Improve Students' Mental Health, Study Finds

Children's Mental Health Mental Health In Schools: A Hidden Crisis Affecting Millions Of Students

Child Depression
Child Depression Ages 6-12

Suicide

SUICIDE AWARENESS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: SENSE OR NONSENSE?

Anxiety

Classroom Accommodations to Help the Anxious Child at School

Anxiety in the Classroom

Trauma

Trauma-Informed Practices Benefit All Students

“Students who have been impacted by trauma carry a very heavy load and operate at a continual high level of stress.  For most, their trauma wasn’t a one time incident...it didn’t happen overnight. It happened and continues to happen on a perpetual and long-term basis.  Many of our students experienced years of toxic stress in toxic home environments that shifted them into living every moment of everyday in survival mode.  Their new “normal” is fear, reactivity and failure. This is how they have survived. It is all they know. The result is that their brains are wired for fear...their brains are not “bad” and their reactivity isn’t necessarily “wrong”.  They are products of their environments. They have survival brains and that’s how they enter their classroom every day.

Tantrums, Tears, and Tempers: Behavior Is Communication

What do you wonder about?
Please post in the comments on the blog.

Concord Personalized Learning Playlists

Concord  Personalized Learning Playlist

Learner Profile & Goals             Balanced Literacy and Personalization with seminar choices

Date	Seminars offered in the Media Center	My Plan	Reflection Show- What do you know? Slow- How did it go? Grow- What are my next steps?
Aug. 27	Concord Welcome Back with PL What is Personalized Learning? -Susie Prather and PL Team	All participate
Oct. 16	Seminars on Personalized Learning
Nov. 20	What is a learner profile? How can I use it?   Customize for your students.
Dec. 18	Seminars on Learner Profile
Jan. 22	What is Proficiency based practice?   Learning Target, Criteria for success, Rubrics, and more
Feb. 5	Seminars on Proficiency Based Practice
March 26	What are customized learning paths? Choice and Voice - Jamie Hawkinson & Kristen Powell
April 2	Seminars on Customized Learning Paths
May 7	Seminars on Customized Learning Paths

Thank you

We often spend time in November to share our gratitude.  I want to thank all of you for oving our 740 amazing children everyday.  It is a privilege to work with adults who show deep care for our students and support them in growing as learners and people.  I am grateful to be a part of a school staff that does whatever it takes to support each individual. I am grateful to be working in a community that values education and which families who partner with us in supporting our students. Please add your responses on our school gratitude survey.  Please go to https://www.menti.com/ef8924c1 to share your gratitude.

Here are some ways to show gratitude with your students:

Read Books or share Videos

• Gratitude Photos. Have each student write what he or she is thankful for on a large piece of paper and then take a picture of the child holding up his or her paper. Frame the photo and send it home as a holiday gift.
• Gratitude Letters for the Community. Write letters of gratitude and deliver them to people in the greater school community, e.g., janitor, food staff, school administration. Expand this exercise to include the local community, such as police, fire station, bank, grocery store, hospital, electricians, etc.
• Gratitude Quotes. Give students their own gratitude quote (here’s a great list of quotes) and have them reflect upon and write about what their quote means to them
• Make a mentimeter like we did above.
• Have students videotape on Seesaw their gratitude.
• Make a gratitude Flipgrid for your class.

Exploring the truth about Thanksgiving

Articles

Teaching A People’s History: Zinn Education Project

https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/news/the-wampanoag-side-of-the-first-thanksgiving-story/

Why Do Schools Still Teach an Oversimplified Thanksgiving Story?

https://www.good.is/articles/why-do-schools-continue-to-teach-an-oversimplified-thanksgiving-story

The Real Story of Thanksgiving

https://www.manataka.org/page269.html

Thanksgiving truth

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-schiffman/the-thanksgiving-truth_b_1105181.html

Responsive Reads

With Thanksgiving coming up, what types of books or activities do you use to talk about this holiday?  How responsive is your Thanksgiving literature and discussions? Check out Responsive Reads latest Blog Post for some great ideas and book recommendations.

 

7 Thanksgiving books for kids written from the Native perspective Great books and idea blog

Videos:

PROUD https://youtu.be/mR-tbOxlhvE

ONe Word: THANKSGIVING From Native Americans https://youtu.be/jGc34FeFqH0

America's native prisoners of war: Aaron Huey at TEDxDU https://youtu.be/Nv7n5jhrHGQ (10 min. About what our country has done to the Black hills and the native people who inhabit this land. Really well done and powerful in the truth of what has happened and what continues to happen)

The Real History behind Thanksgiving Video

Training

Guided Reading

F & P

Veteran's Day

We celebrate Veteran's day today.

On November 11, we honor the wartime service and sacrifice of men and women in the armed forces. Originally proclaimed Armistice Day in 1919 to commemorate the end of World War I, it was renamed Veterans Day in 1954 to include American veterans of all wars.
While those who died are also remembered on Veterans Day, which is observed on November 11, Veterans Day is intended to thank and honor all those who served honorably in the military - in wartime or peacetime. In fact, Veterans Day is largely intended to thank living Veterans for their service, to acknowledge that their contributions to our national security are appreciated, and to underscore the fact that all those who served - not only those who died - have sacrificed and done their duty.

On October 7, 2016, President Obama signed the Veterans Day Moment of Silence Act, The new law requires that the President issue a proclamation calling on the people of the United States to observe a two-minute national moment of silence on Veterans Day at 1:11 p.m. central standard time.


MN State Statue for 2018 ensure we recognize this day in public schools.

120A.42 CONDUCT OF SCHOOL ON CERTAIN HOLIDAYS.

(a) The governing body of any district may contract with any of the teachers of the district for the conduct of schools, and may conduct schools, on either, or any, of the following holidays, provided that a clause to this effect is inserted in the teacher's contract: Martin Luther King's birthday, Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays, Columbus Day and Veterans' Day. On Martin Luther King's birthday, Washington's birthday, Lincoln's birthday, and Veterans' Day at least one hour of the school program must be devoted to a patriotic observance of the day.

(b) A district may conduct a school program to honor Constitution Day and Citizenship Day by providing opportunities for students to learn about the principles of American democracy, the American system of government, American citizens' rights and responsibilities, American history, and American geography, symbols, and holidays. Among other activities under this paragraph, districts may administer to students the test questions United States Citizenship and Immigration Services officers pose to applicants for naturalization.

Here are some resources you may wish to use:

Videos

Activities

Write to a Hero or Thank you Card- We will mail them to Mrs. Dunning's nephew and Mr. Davidson's son's troop.

http://www.nea.org//tools/lessons/veterans-day-activities-gradesk-5.html
Crossword
Article with Character Traits
Please add more resources in the comments.

Welcoming Students With a Smile

Greeting each student at the door with a positive message brings benefits for both students and teacher, according to a study.

By Youki Terada

September 11, 2018

©Edutopia

A widely cited 2007 study claimed that teachers greeting students at the classroom door led to a 27 percentage point increase in academic engagement. The problem? It included just three students.

Now a new, much larger and more credible study—comprising 203 students in 10 classrooms—validates that claim: Greeting students at the door sets a positive tone and can increase engagement and reduce disruptive behavior. Spending a few moments welcoming students promotes a sense of belonging, giving them social and emotional support that helps them feel invested in their learning.

The first few minutes of class are often the most chaotic, as students transition from busy areas such as the hallway or playground. Left unchecked, disruptions can become difficult to manage, but a proactive approach to classroom management can help students get focused and ready to learn. Rather than address disruptive behavior as it happens, proactive techniques—like greeting students at the door and modeling good behavior—reduce the occurrence of such behavior as teachers and students build a positive classroom culture together.

In the study, when teachers started class by welcoming students at the door, academic engagement increased by 20 percentage points and disruptive behavior decreased by 9 percentage points—potentially adding “an additional hour of engagement over the course of a five-hour instructional day,” according to the researchers.

Ten middle school teachers were randomly assigned by the researchers to one of two groups. The first group started class by greeting their students at the door, saying each student’s name while using a nonverbal greeting such as a handshake or nod. The teachers also used precorrective statements—reminders of what to do at the start of class like, “Spend the next few minutes reviewing what we covered yesterday.” If a student had struggled with their behavior the previous day, the teachers often gave a positive message to encourage them to improve.

Teachers in the second group attended classroom management training sessions offered by their schools, but they weren’t given any specific instructions on how to start class.

Researchers observed classrooms in the fall and spring, looking at academic engagement—how attentive students were to their teacher or classwork—and disruptive behavior, including speaking out of turn, leaving one’s seat, and distracting classmates. Both measures improved in classrooms where teachers greeted their students, confirming what many teachers already know: Meeting students’ emotional needs is just as important as meeting their academic needs.

“The results from this study suggest that teachers who spend time on the front end to implement strategies such as the PGD [positive greetings at the door] will eventually save more time on the back end by spending less time reacting to problem behavior and more time on instruction,” the study authors write.

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BUILDING COMMUNITY

Why do positive greetings work? When teachers use strategies like this, they help “establish a positive classroom climate in which students feel a sense of connection and belonging,” the study authors write. “This is particularly important considering the research demonstrating that achievement motivation is often a by-product of social belonging.” In other words, when students feel welcome in the classroom, they’re more willing to put time and effort into learning.

Nonverbal interpersonal interactions, such as a friendly handshake or a thumbs-up, can help make greetings feel authentic and build trust—as long as students feel comfortable with physical contact.

When greeting students at your door:

• Say the student’s name
• Make eye contact
• Use a friendly nonverbal greeting, such as a handshake, high five, or thumbs-up
• Give a few words of encouragement
• Ask how their day is going

ADDRESSING UNDERLYING CAUSES OF MISBEHAVIOR

Disruptive behavior is contagious—if one student misbehaves, it can quickly spread to other students. And while most teachers try to respond immediately, punishment often backfires. Research shows that trying to fix student misbehavior may be futile because doing so can spur resistance and more misbehavior instead of compliance.

“Despite overwhelming evidence that such strategies are ineffective, many teachers rely on reactive methods for classroom behavior management,” explain the study authors.

So instead of asking, “How can I fix misbehavior?” teachers could ask, “How can I create a classroom environment that discourages misbehavior in the first place?” In many cases, low-level disruptions and disengagement have less to do with the student and more to do with factors that the teacher can control, such as teaching style and use of stimulating activities. For example, a study found that when teachers encouraged students to participate in classroom activities rather than lecturing to them, students were more likely to stay on task.

Another recent study provides additional insights: When teachers focused their attention on students’ positive conduct and avoided rushing to correct minor disruptions, students had better behavior, and their mental health and ability to concentrate also improved.

BENEFITS FOR TEACHERS, TOO

A welcoming classroom environment doesn’t benefit students alone—it can improve the teacher’s mental health as well. Slightly more than half of teachers—53 percent—feel stressed by student disengagement or disruptions. The consequences can be serious: A 2014 study found that “teachers report classroom management to be one of the greatest concerns in their teaching, often leading to burnout, job dissatisfaction, and early exit from the profession.”

All too often, teachers spend time and energy responding to misbehavior with corrective discipline, such as telling students to stop talking or giving them a time-out. These may work in the short term, but they can damage teacher-student relationships while doing little to prevent future misbehavior. Research shows that it can be beneficial for student and teacher well-being to instead focus on creating a positive classroom environment.

The takeaway: Starting class by greeting your students at the door helps set a positive tone for the rest of the day, promoting their sense of belonging, boosting their academic engagement, and reducing disruptive behavior.

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https://www.edutopia.org/article/welcoming-students-smile