Hiking With Kids

The past two years I have offered a hiking club for Fayston and Moretown students. At Fayston, we had a guest join us from the Green Mountain Club (GMC). Lorne Currier, GMC Volunteer & Education Coordinator, taught us how to prepare for a hike, trail etiquette, and about the history of the GMC. He also helped us with our nature trail, making improvements and relocating a section of the trail. 

Today (5/27) at 4 PM the GMC is offering a workshop for families, Hiking With Children. The instructors are the parents of young children and have led a variety of outdoor education and hiking programs for all ages. They will guide you through planning a hike that will work for you and your kids, talk about what you should wear, and what you should pack for a day of fun and adventure. The event is free or by donation. 

Recordings of previous GMC workshops can be found here: Virtual Workshops & Event Recordings. For example, check out the workshop on outdoor adventures with babies, toddlers and preschoolers! Also check out their Facebook group, HikeVT w/ Kids.

In preparing for our hikes, I came across this resource from AllTrails.com: Best Kid Friendly Trails in Vermont. Happy trails!

International Museum Day (May 18)

Hello! I hope you had a great weekend! I will say mine was quite productive, completing several outdoor projects on my to-do list. If you did not know it already, today is International Museum Day! To celebrate, I thought I would share what museums have online, virtual tours. Here are a few of my favorites:

• Louvre - Paris, France
• Museum of Natural History - Washington, DC
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art - New York, NY
• NASA Research Center - Langley, VA
• The Solomon R Guggenheim Museum - New York, NY
• National Women's History Museum - Alexandria, VA

Google Arts & Culture has compiled a comprehensive list, which includes The J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles, CA), the Galleria d'Arte Moderna (Rome, Italy), the Royal College of Music (London, United Kingdom) and many others. You can check it out here - International Museum Day 2020. 

This is just a sample of all of the museums offering virtual tours throughout the world. 

Safe (virtual) travels!

Boy Builds Huge Lego Titanic

As you know, I am a Lego fan and frequently use them with working with students, individually, in small groups and in the classroom. I have been meaning to share this video with some students for awhile and opted to post it to my blog (click image above to view). In this stop-motion video, a boy uses Lego bricks to build a model of the Titanic. Pretty cool, right!?! 

Inspired, I did a bit of googling and was able to learn a little about this builder and his work. Fifteen-year-old Icelandic Karl Brynjar is on the autism spectrum and developed a passion for learning about the Titanic at a young age. When he turned 10, he decided to combined his passion for the Titanic with his other love: Lego. Karl worked on the model over an 11-month span, with 700 hours of build time and using 56,000 Lego bricks.

Karl's accomplishment has gone viral online. He hosted a Ted Talk to explain how a boy with autism overcame obstacles to complete his dream project and he is writing a book, My Autistic X Factor. For more information about Karl, check out the links below. I hope this inspires your child to build some amazing Lego creations! 

CBS News

CBS Local: Dallas-Fort Worth

How the Titanic Became My Lifeboat

Teaching Kids How to Control Their Anger

I came across this article, How Inuit Parents Teach Kids to Control Their Anger, from KQED awhile ago, saved it to my list of parenting resources, and I am just now getting around to reading it. I was impressed by Inuit families' approach to teaching anger management. Here are my takeaways:

1. Teaching children how to control their anger begins with parents learning and practicing these skills. Parents serve as models; kids learn emotion regulation from us. "When we yell at a child - or even threaten with something like 'I'am starting to get angry,' we're training the child to yell. We're training them to yell when they get upset and that yelling solves problems."
2. Use storytelling to teach discipline. We learn best through things that are interesting to us. And stories, by their nature, can have lots of things in them that are much more interesting in a way that bare statements don't. I frequently use picture books to teach important social skills, such as resolving interpersonal conflicts and managing strong emotions.
3. Use drama to provide children with an opportunity to practice controlling their anger. It is important that this take place when they are not actually angry. By practicing having a different response or a different emotion, children have a better chance of managing their anger during hot-button moments. "That practice is essentially helping to rewire your brain to be able to make a different emotion [besides anger] much more easily." In wellness classes, I often have student role play scenarios where they are faced with a "trigger" - something that would make them angry, frustrated, etc. - and practice self control and problem solving strategies. 

For more information, check out the article linked above. And do not hesitate to reach out if I can be of help: jstevenson@huusd.org. 

Weekly Check Ins

I have been working with teachers to develop regular check ins with students. As you can imagine, doing this from a far has been challenging. One idea is a check-in Google Form (see below). Starting today and continuing each week, the form will be posted on each classroom's Seesaw page. We are asking that families support children in answering the eight, mostly multiple-choice questions. After, we will reach out to families, if warranted.

At this point we are limiting the roll out to specific classrooms with the hope of utilizing it further at a later date.

Parent Support Group

We are continually exploring ways to support families from afar during these challenging times. One idea we have is to develop a way for parents to come together, talk about your experiences with distance learning and parenting and brainstorm possible solutions. At this point we are considering two options, either a weekly Google Meet or Zoom and/or an always-open discussion board. Please take a moment to complete the Parent Support Form. This will help us access interest and decide what whether to pursue the Meet, discussion board or both.

COVID-19: Resources for Young Children

I want to share some resources from Defending the Early Years, a non-profit organization promoting early childhood education. The first is a video, Dr. Susan Linn & Audrey Duck Talking About the Cornavirus. Through parent-child conversation, the video explains the virus using kid-friendly language. It talk about why children cannot have playdates, why social distancing is important and how it is okay to be physically close to the people they live with by not with others outside the home. Other topics include the need for children to be independent and play alone at times while parents are working from home, coping with feelings such as fear and loneliness, and connecting with others through video.

The second is a comprehensive guide for parents, Guidance for Supporting Young Children Through COVID-19. It covers how to establish routines, ways to encouraging meaningful play at home, using this opportunity to teach important life skills, managing screen time and talking about the virus.

Check out these resources and let me know what you think. And please do not hesitate to reach out if I can help - jstevenson@huusd.org.

Inside Out

In a prior post I referenced the Pixar film Inside Out. The story is told primarily from the perspective of feelings - joy, sadness, fear, anger and disgust - inside the mind of an 11-year old girl named Riley. Uprooted from her midwest life, Riley is faced with the challenges and emotions of adjusting to a new town, San Francisco, and a new school. For more information, check out the review on Common Sense Media, a great resource!

I have used Inside Out as a teaching tool across the grades in my wellness classes. In the 5th and 6th grades, students created "islands" to represent their interests and values. In the primary grades, I used the film to explore emotions and what makes us feel happy, sad, angry, etc. As you are cooped up inside, this could be a great way to do something fun as a family while using it as an opportunity to do some social-emotional learning! For some ideas, check out 5 Teaching Ideas Connected to Inside Out. Lessons cover identifying, talking about our feelings and "self talk."

Paper Cities

Are your kids starting to get restless, cooped up inside during the rainy spring? (Side note: rain won't hurt them! Have them throw on a raincoat and send them out!) If so, the British architecture studio Foster + Partners have released a series of paper templates that kids can print out, color and fold to build their own paper cities! Options include skyscrapers, houses and a tutorial on how to draw trees.

The complete resource can be found here: #architecturefromhome. The studio encourages families to share their creations on social media using the #architecturefromhome hashtag. I look forward to seeing their work! Cheerio!

Thriving at Home

The Thriving at Home workbook was shared with me by another HUUSD school counselor. I think it is a great resource. Families can pick and choose from the provided activities, such as setting up a play space, using a rock and Play-Doh analogy to talk about what we can and cannot control, identifying comforts to help us manage stress, and checking our emotions using the Zones of Regulation and the characters from Inside Out. From the author, a parent and play therapist:

Although this time is challenging, it can also be a time for fulfillment. This workbook is intended to provide you with activities to address and explain hard feelings while working together to connect, regulate and play. May this book serve as a positive memory for you and your family as you look back on this time

Inspirational, right?!? Please let me know if you would like a paper copy and I will mail one to you. And do not hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns - jstevenson@huusd.org. I am here to help!