Wellness Center
April Newsletter
The Wellness Center and The Mental Health Team
Happy Spring to everyone! The birds are chirping, the trees are starting to flower and the light is coming back. I've enjoyed the days of rain, snow-rain, sleet, hail, sun and the occasional rainbow. It must be spring in Oregon! We have about 11 weeks left of school (but who's counting?!?) and the relatively short time left shows in our classrooms and hallways. Students know their routine and by and large are able to work through the ups and downs of the day smoothly.
The Wellness Center was busy before spring break working with students as they transitioned away from school and toward the holiday. It can be helpful to remember that students feel these transitions deeply, even when they don't say anything out loud. Some may have been excited, worried, sad, or acting out in other ways. We do our best to provide extra care and support during those transitions.
Now that they're back to school, you may notice a few bumps as they "normalize" into the routine of being up early and having a differently structured day. Patience, support, and understanding can go a long way as your student(s) get back into their groove. As parents, compassion for ourselves can be helpful as well, since getting back to school means that our schedules likely change as well.
Prior to break, Social Emotional Learning classes focused on introducing Kelso's Choices to Upper and Lower El classes. An expanded definition as well as attachments is given below.
We encourage you to reach out if you feel your child could use our support. We welcome your feedback. If you have comments, questions or suggestions please visit the "Comment Box" link below.
If this is an urgent matter regarding student safety, please contact SafeOregon by call or text at 844-472-3367
Links to some of the K-6 SEL curriculums we use:
Kelso’s choice docs: Parent Page
Second step: Information for Families
Click on the link below to share a comment or suggestion for the Wellness Center:
Email: jon.talebreza-may@ridgeline.org
Phone: 541-681-9662
Social Emotional Learning (SELs)
I stated above, SEL lessons in Lower El are focusing on Kelso's Choices. This framework provide students with seven or eight specific ways to handle different situations that come up throughout their day. It can be very helpful in giving them tools to learn how to begin to handle problems as they come up throughout the day.
Kelso's framework helps students differentiate small problems, that get worked out between students, and big problems, which require an adult. The dividing line is that big problems are when a student may feel unsafe because they want to act out physically or they are afraid someone around them is going to hurt them physically. They are being reminded to use two Kelso's Choices for small problems prior to asking a teacher for help. We have seen students feeling empowered when they are able to solve their own problems throughout the day. A great way to back this up at home is to print the Kelso's Choices Wheel (attached) and put it on the refrigerator while occasionally prompting about what Choice your child has used as they work through problems in daily life.
Here is a fun song about Kelso's Choices: https://youtu.be/SrpG8Tk9f8o
We've included attachments below to help your student follow-up on the skills we've been trying out in school. As noted, these skills, like riding a bike, take practice in order to really work well, so trying them out at home will help!
Coming Up Next!
For the next few weeks in Lower EL, we will be working on Second Step problem solving steps using the STEP method (attached). In Upper El, we are watching the movie Inside Out and will do an activity to help student integrate the lessons in the movie (getting to know different feelings such as joy, sadness, disgust, anger, and fear as well as how to be aware of, balance, and regulate them).