Happy New Year. We can't believe that 2021 is underway and that February break is just around the corner. We hope that our newsletter will provide you with safe staycation ideas to enjoy with your families.

If you have questions or concerns, you can always reach out to your building counselor.

Daly School: Casey Horowitz, chorowitz@portnet.org

Daly Pre-K: Jessica Shawver, jshawver@portnet.org

Guggenheim School: Gina Kelly, gkelly@portnet.org

Manorhaven School: Barbara O’Donnell, bodonnell@portnet.org

Salem School: Arzu Alkan, aalkan@portnet.org

Sousa School: Jen Biblowitz, jbiblowitz@portnet.org

District Director: Kitty R. Klein, kklein@portnet.org

Part of what makes conflicts difficult to navigate is the way they bring out big, intense emotions that children may not have the tools to process. Before they can address the problem that caused the conflict — whether it was a fight over a toy or betrayal by friend — kids need to be able to get to a place emotionally where they can think before they act (or lash out and make things worse).

Parents can start by helping kids identify the emotions they’re having. Are they feeling anger? Frustration? Hurt? Embarrassment? Stephanie Lee, PsyD, a child psychologist at the Child Mind Institute, and Carey Werley, LCSW, a clinical social worker at the Child Mind Institute, recommend using visual tools to help little kids identify what they’re feeling.

• The stoplight: A visual red, yellow and green stoplight is especially helpful for little kids. “If a little kid looks at the stoplight and points to the red zone, then the feelings are so big that they’re probably not going to be able to act in a way that’s going to resolve the conflict yet,” says Werley. “Yellow means the intensity of the emotion is beginning to subside and by the time they get to green, they’re going to be able to engage in actual conflict resolution skills. It’s about helping kids to not act in a way that’s going to make the situation bigger or worse.”
• The emotion thermometer: Easily Googleable, the emotion thermometer is simply a picture of a thermometer with numbers. When conflicts come up, kids can look at the emotion thermometer to assess where they are on it. Based on the number, the child can decide whether they need to calm down before proceeding. Tweens and teens who’ve learned these techniques can simply visualize the stoplight or thermometer in their minds in order to assess their emotional state.

February Vacation Week

Here are a few of the scheduled activities. Please visit their website for dates, times and more information. Please click HERE for their Winter 2021 Calendar of Events.

● GREAT BACKYARD BIRD COUNT ● FOR THE LOVE OF NATURE WALK ● VALENTINE ●

● WATERCOLOR & WAX PAINTING ● WINTER NATURE WEEK ● WATER, SNOW & ICE WALK ●

● SNOWFLAKE CRAFT ● ANIMAL SIGNS/TRACKS WALK ● TREES/PLANTS IN WINTER WALK ●

Children ages four and up are welcome to join SMLI on their days off from school to enjoy hours of fun, hand-on science activities! Children will participate in experiments, create crafts, and observe demonstrations.

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• Workshops to choose from include Strange Science, Adventures in Space, Detectives on the Case, Maple Sugaring and more.

• All workshops run from 10:00 am until 3:00 pm
  

• Masks are required inside the Science Museum of Long Island.

• Workshops are drop-off programs and class sizes will be limited to 10 children per class.

Please click HERE for their website and additional information.