Resiliency: The ability to adapt to sources of stress. What good does the constant change & fatigue of COVID bring? Practice in resiliency! Kids who develop resiliency can better handle anxiety (Resiliency Guide for Parents & Teachers). Bounce Back is a great song from “Sesame Street in Communities” an AWESOME resource with many other hot topics and up-to-date pandemic resources.
Back-to-school safety in the pandemic:
- Mask Etiquette
- Why do people wear masks? You can be like a superhero when you wear a mask; help keep people safe. Masked Heroes (1 min)
- Masks catch droplets in the air Masked Helpers (1 min). I explain that normally it is ok to be exposed to germs, but the COVID germ is more dangerous for some people.
- Back-to-school with masks song (for in-person) Mask chant song (3 min).
- Mask video for kids with special needs Sesame Street: Julia (3.5 min).
- Handwashing- Glitter is nearly impossible to clean off your hands. I tell my kids “wash your hands as if everything you touched has glitter on it.”
- How to wash hands (2 min) This shows some great techniques including fingertips to fill that 20 seconds that our bathroom timers allow.
- “About Covid” for kids- PJ learns about covid (5.5 min). This shows PJ the puppet interviewing a healthcare worker with common pandemic questions.
- Brainpop (4.5 min) Explains covid for older kids.
Journaling-From an SEL standpoint, I encourage everyone to do some type of COVID journaling (for kids and adults). I’ve been journaling with kids to “hold space” to process all of this going on. Here are some journal prompts to adapt to your child's age. Or visit my Schoology page for "COVID Feeling First Aid Kit" for journaling.