The Big Cat Courier

It's hard to believe that we are coming to the close or our ninth week of Distance Learning! It's also hard to believe that we are finishing off week two of our shift to Distance Learning through Microsoft Teams! Right off the bat, I have to acknowledge that change is never easy. However, when you add a new digital platform into an already wild mix of social distancing, working from home, helping students with their work, anxiety over what we hear on the news, taking care of our neighbors, extended family members, and friends from afar, and the dozen or more additional hardships we are all living through right now, it's downright exhausting.

If there is a bright side to any of this, I think it can be said that even though we're doing it from separate spaces, we're all living through this crazy time together. Big Cats are Big Cats, regardless of what space we're in! There is some comfort in knowing that we are all in this together.

Collection boxes for library books and for student work from the Distance Learning Packets are located at the front doors of the building. They will remain outside and accessible to families through noontime on Monday. Please note that the boxes will remain outside, day and night, through the collection period to allow families to make a drop off that fits their schedule. All student work should be clearly marked with the student's name and their teacher's name. The work collection boxes are grade specific.

The collection boxes were overflowing by mid-morning today but are now empty and ready for any weekend drop offs.

First, let me reassure you that if your child did not finish every page in the three packets, you are not alone! We understand if your child fell behind in their work during the packet phases of our Distance Learning plan. Please turn in the work that your child has already completed.

Second, we want your child to concentrate on the Distance Learning currently happening. There is no need for you to make your child go back into their packets to complete older work. Allow them to focus all of their energy on the new material being provided. If you are like many others and are thinking that you'd like to hold onto uncompleted packet work to help students continue their learning over the summer, I'd say great minds think alike. I think its a solid idea!

Finally, the completed packet work that you turn in will be used by our staff in multiples ways. First, it will help our teachers decide what material should be covered with students during their small group meetings. Teachers will also use the completed work to inform the narrative section on the modified end of year report cards. Lastly, the packets will be passed on to next year's teachers to help inform them where to start with each student.

In short, pass in what your child was able to complete because the information it will provide our staff will benefit your child in both the long and short run.

Hello Families,

Good news! Our Big Cats are tapping into their emotional intelligence in big ways. Students have been sending me pictures of their homemade Mood Meters, sharing comments about their emotions and telling me about taking Meta Moments. I am thrilled because we know that there are direct connections between social-emotional wellbeing, learning and overall health. What I am sharing in this letter may increase your understanding of what your child has been experiencing using the RULER approach that we, at Barnard, had begun this school year.

RULER, an acronym Recognize, Understand, Label, Express, Regulate, is a social emotional learning program. It was created by Dr. Marc Brackett, founder and director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and Professor in the Child Study Center at Yale University as well as author of the book, Permission to Feel. Dr. Brackett is the inventor of the Mood Meter. If you say Mood Meter to your Barnard Big Cat or show them picture of it, they will recognize it right away.

Please browse the included pages explaining the use of the Mood Meter and the Meta Moment, two components of RULER that can help kids and families increase emotional intelligence. Distance learning is hard on Big Cats and their families. I hope you find these RULER tools helpful.

Please be well,

Jeannie Smith

Community Coach &

PBIS Specialist

Jsmith1@enfieldschools.org

It can take practice to find the right word to describe the feeling you are having. The Mood Meter can help.

Once you have found the feeling that best describes your mood, ask yourself if you want to continue the feeling or change the feeling.

If you want to stay, GREAT! Continue on your way.

Try some deep breathing, meditation, yoga, or any mindfulness activity.

Picture your best self. Talk to someone, exercise, or spending some time with a pet can help to refocus your brain. For kids a stuffed animal can help!

Please remember…

- Any feeling is legitimate and is ok!

- Journaling about your feelings might help you narrow down to a feeling.

- A Meta Moment gives you space, space to slow down, think then respond.

- It’s ok to make mistakes.

- You don’t have to know everything.

- You are doing the best you can.

- Remember positive self-talk.

- Sometimes it takes real strength to take a Meta Moment.

- Give yourself permission to feel.

- Have patience with yourself.

- Your health and wellness is important.

As parents, we've all had worries about the social, emotional, and academic impact the current situation is going to have on our kids. All kinds of questions roll around in our heads as we play out a million different scenarios about all the maybes and what coulds coming down the pike. Is my child falling behind? How can I help that from happening? How long will it take them to catch up? Will this change who they are? And on and on.

Recently, a poem with a different point of view has gone viral on the internet. It offers the possibility of a very different, positive outcome that our kids might realize. I've started trying to think about the ways I can help my three children reap the benefits of being home for such an extended and unanticipated period of time. Take a look and see what you think.

"What if instead of 'behind' this group of kids is advanced because of this? Let's talk about helping our kids during social distancing.

"Hear me out.

"What if they have more empathy, they enjoy family connection, they can be more creative and entertain themselves, they love to read, they love to express themselves in writing.

"What if they enjoy the simple things, like their own backyard and sitting near a window in the quiet.

"What if they notice the birds and the dates the different flowers emerge, and the calming renewal of a gentle rain shower?

"What if this generation is the ones to learn to cook, organize their space, do their laundry, and keep a well-run home?

"What if they learn to stretch a dollar and to live with less? What if they learn to plan shopping trips and meals at home.

"What if they learn the value of eating together as a family and finding the good to share in the small delights of the everyday?

"What if they are the ones to place great value on our teachers and educational professionals, librarians, public servants and the previously invisible essential support workers like truck drivers, grocers, cashiers, custodians, logistics, and health care workers and their supporting staff, just to name a few of the millions taking care of us right now while we are sheltered in place?

"What if among these children, a great leader emerges who had the benefit of a slower pace and a simpler life. What is he or she truly learn what really matters in this life?

"What if they are ahead?"

—Jaime Ragsdale

If you have an incoming kindergartner for the fall or know somebody who does, we want you to know that Kindergarten Registration is open online. Please head to the EPS homepage and follow the instructions in the image below.

www.enfieldschools.org

Email: jgraham@enfieldschools.org
Website: http://henry.sharpschool.com/
Location: 27 Shaker Road, Enfield, CT, USA
Phone: (860) 253-6540
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EnfieldPublicSschools/
Twitter: @EnfieldPS