SEL in Action at Home

These continue to be challenging times, but incorporating a few simple mindfulness strategies into your daily routine can help calm anxiety and support healthy coping skills. Practicing mindfulness has been shown to improve relationships, the ability to focus, manage stress, as well as overall physical and mental health for both children and adults.

In this edition of SEL at Home, learn different mindfulness practices that you can use in a variety of settings and scenarios. You can practice mindfulness when sitting, standing, lying down, drawing, walking, driving, even while brushing your teeth! Mindfulness is not the absence of thought, but instead connecting to the present moment in a kind and compassionate manner. Many Dallas ISD students are already practicing some of these mindfulness moments in their classroom, ask your child to share their knowledge with you!

As part of the SEL Dallas partnership, join Dallas ISD’s SEL Department for a series of 1-hour family-focused virtual sessions to learn about social and emotional learning (SEL) and important SEL skills. Parents and caregivers are welcome to join any session or the entire series. Click here for the session schedule and register below to secure your registration in the series. (Upcoming: Session 7: Fighting Fair, May 19, 4:30-5:30 PM)

The ability to manage one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively in different situations and to achieve goals and aspirations. This includes the capacities to delay gratification, manage stress, and feel motivation and agency to accomplish personal and collective goals. Such as:

• Managing one’s emotions
• Identifying and using stress management strategies
• Exhibiting self-discipline and self-motivation
• Setting personal and collective goals
• Using planning and organizational skills
• Showing the courage to take initiative
• Demonstrating personal and collective agency

How does the brain work when we are angry or anxious and how we can re-wire it to relax, reflect and make more mindful choices? (ABCMe - 04:35 min)

The MHS team has collaborated with several departments within Dallas ISD, in an effort to raise awareness of the importance of mental health as a component of overall health and wellbeing, and share resources about the services available to students and families in the district. The SEL department will present two sessions: "10 Ways to Bring Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Home" and "La Conciencia Plena para Los Padres y Cuidadores" (Mindfulness for Parents and Caregivers/Spanish). Click this link to register.

Being a teen presents many challenges and stress. Listen to youth and young adults discuss their experiences practicing mindfulness, and how mindfulness has benefited different aspects of their lives. As well as free, and downloadable guided meditations. (KeltyMentalHealth - 02:58 min)

Try engaging all your senses and paying full attention when you eat something delicious. Let these students share their experiences with eating an orange (The Science of Happiness - 01:34 min). Then, visit the following link for a guide to The Last Orange On Earth - a mindfulness activity you can share with your family. (uwyo.edu)

• Mindfulness for Racial Justice (University of Minnesota)

• How To Make Stress Your Friend (Ted Talk - Kelly McGonigal - 14:16 min)
• How To Deepen Your Relationships With Mindful Listening (SmilingMind.org.au)

• Podcast: The Power of Mindfulness - Meditation for Families During COVID-19 (Weill Cornell Medicine - 10:25 min)

• Can Mindfulness Help Parents and Preteens Have Better Relationships? (Greater Good Magazine)

• Three Amazing Ways Mindfulness Can Impact Special Needs Parenting (Autism Parenting Magazine)

• Ready to Give Meditation a Try? (AARP)

Join SEL Dallas and Dallas ISD Library and Media Services for our weekly online book club series for students. Books are listed by week and are made available digitally via Dallas ISD Library and Media Services. Learners grades kindergarten through second grade will reach a new book each week with a discussion at the end of the book. Learners grades third through fifth will work on chapter books, with discussions each week. Click on the following links for additional information and registration.

The Social and Emotional Learning department is interested in your feedback as we develop an SEL discussion series for parents and caregivers. The series will help families become more familiar with SEL and actively engage in personal growth and supporting children's SEL practices. Each session will be approximately 45-60 minutes in length and will be presented virtually. Click the button above to participate in this quick survey. Thank you!

Did you try one of these Social and Emotional Learning strategies at home? Send us your story, picture, or video! selfamilies@dallasisd.org

Email: selfamilies@dallasisd.org
Website: www.dallasisd.org/selfamilies
Location: 9400 North Central Expressway, Dallas, TX, USA
Phone: 972-794-3612