Social Emotional Learning
Thanksgiving break is a great opportunity for families to engage in Social Emotional Learning (SEL) activities. These activities can help kids practice empathy, gratitude, self-awareness, and emotional regulation while enjoying the holiday spirit. Here are some engaging and fun SEL activities that you can try during Thanksgiving break:
1. Gratitude Tree
Objective: Practice gratitude and self-expression.
- Materials: Paper, markers, scissors, tape, or string.
- How to: Cut out leaf shapes from colored paper. Each day, encourage your children to write or draw something they’re thankful for on a leaf. Attach the leaves to a "gratitude tree" made from branches or paper taped to the wall. By the end of the break, the tree will be full of gratitude reminders.
2. Family Gratitude Jar
Objective: Strengthen family bonds and focus on positive emotions.
- Materials: A jar, slips of paper, pens.
- How to: Throughout Thanksgiving break, ask family members to write things they are thankful for on slips of paper and put them in the jar. At the end of the break, gather and read them together as a family activity, discussing why gratitude matters.
3. Thankful Journal
Objective: Foster self-awareness and emotional reflection.
- Materials: A small notebook or journal, crayons, or markers.
- How to: Encourage kids to write or draw in a journal every day about something that made them feel happy or grateful. They can also reflect on their feelings during the break and how they handled different emotions (e.g., excitement, frustration).
4. Kindness Chain
Objective: Teach empathy and the impact of kindness.
- Materials: Strips of construction paper, markers, tape or glue.
- How to: Each day, have kids write down a kind act they did or plan to do for someone (family member, friend, neighbor) on a strip of paper. Create a paper chain with the strips, adding to it each day to represent their acts of kindness.
5. Cooking Together: Cooperation and Patience
Objective: Promote cooperation, teamwork, and patience.
- Materials: Simple recipe ingredients, kitchen tools.
- How to: Prepare a simple Thanksgiving recipe together, like baking cookies or making a snack mix. While cooking, talk about the importance of working as a team, following instructions, and waiting patiently for the end result. Discuss how everyone has an important role, just like in other areas of life.
6. Helping Hands Challenge
Objective: Encourage acts of service and community responsibility.
- Materials: Chart or paper to track progress, markers.
- How to: Create a "Helping Hands" challenge where children keep track of the helpful things they do around the house or for others during the break. They can receive a "helping hand" (a paper cutout hand) for each act, and together as a family, you can aim for a certain number of hands by the end of the week.
7. Thanksgiving Storytime and Reflection
Objective: Develop empathy and perspective-taking.
- Materials: Books about gratitude, Thanksgiving, or emotions.
- How to: Read a story together that highlights the themes of Thanksgiving or gratitude (e.g., Bear Says Thanks by Karma Wilson). Afterward, discuss how the characters might have felt in different situations and what your child might have done in their place.
8. Mindfulness Moments
Objective: Teach mindfulness and emotional regulation.
- Materials: A quiet space, possibly calming music.
- How to: Set aside a few minutes each day for a simple mindfulness practice. Encourage kids to close their eyes, take deep breaths, and focus on what they can hear, feel, and smell in the moment. Discuss how this helps them feel calm and present.
9. Thank You Cards for Family and Friends
Objective: Practice gratitude and relationship-building.
- Materials: Blank cards or paper, markers, crayons, stickers.
- How to: Encourage children to make handmade thank you cards for family members, friends, teachers, or community helpers. They can express what they appreciate about the person, strengthening relationships and practicing appreciation.
10. Emotions Bingo
Objective: Build emotional literacy and identification.
- Materials: Bingo cards with pictures or words of different emotions, markers or tokens.
- How to: Create Bingo cards featuring different emotions (e.g., joyful, anxious, curious) and play an emotions-themed Bingo game. You can describe scenarios, and the kids have to match them to the right emotion on their Bingo cards.
11. Family Reflection Circle
Objective: Foster communication and empathy within the family.
- Materials: None.
- How to: Each evening, sit in a circle as a family and reflect on the day. Ask each person to share something that made them happy, something they’re grateful for, and any challenge they faced. This promotes open communication and helps kids reflect on their emotional experiences.
The Life Rule Role Models for the week of November 18th exhibited the life rule of Generosity. Students nominated for Generosity are: Tatum Amsberry, Dahlia Johnson, Jaya McGuire, Vivienne Benell, Alec Lumpkin, Rio Yamauchi, Nora Thom, Charlotte McCreery, Japnoor Singh, Ryan Muellers, Cece Sharp, Lauren Niehoff, Charlotte Thomas, Matthew Servitad, Oliver Matson, Rhys Daniels, Ilya Mokry, Eleanor Luebke, Skylar Smith, Besan Sayed, Zayna Kiswani Coen Shuppert, Everly Ames, Magnolia Ames, Jacob Turner, Miles Ayen, Laila Rawlins, Angeles Villalobos, Sana Venkatesh, and Claire Marini.
HSE Schools have collected broken/unwanted holiday lights for the past several years, and it has been very successful. This event has prevented over 7.5 tons of e-waste from entering landfills. Starting on November 25 and going until January 15, LRE will be collecting unwanted/unusable holiday lights in the lobby area.
PLEASE DO:
- Please place your lights in the recycling box located in the lobby area.
- Ask your friends, neighbors, social groups, and family members if they also have lights that need to be recycled.
- Do your part to be more sustainable this year.
PLEASE DO NOT:
- Please do not include any packing material.
- Please do not include any apparatus used to wind up or store the lights.
- Please do not include lights wrapped in garland.
Breakfast and lunch prices for 2024-2025 are as follows:
- Paid Student Lunch (K-6) $ 2.80
- Paid Student Lunch (7-12) $ 3.00
- Paid Student Breakfast (K-12) $1.50
If you believe your family qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, be sure to fill out the application in Skyward for your student. Families must re-apply for these benefits each year, even if you qualified previously.
Please make sure you have filled out your students' health card alerting of any allergies. If you need to make changes to this please contact Nurse Okuszki at ookuszki@hse.k12.in.us.
If your child would like to purchase additional menu items, you may send cash or check with your child throughout the school year in an envelope with their name and account number, student's teacher, the amount enclosed, and date, OR you can add payments electronically through e-funds. More information on e-fund payment and account set up can be found on the food services website www.schoolnutritionandfitness.com.
If you would like to monitor what your child is buying you CAN put restrictions on their account. Please call or email with those requests to Liliana Robles-Anguiano.
LILIANA ROBLES-ANGUIANO
CAFETERIA MANAGER
317-594-4140 X1988
SERVED DAILY:
ASSORTED FRUIT
ASSORTED VEGETABLES
ASSORTED MILK
PEANUT BUTTER & JELLY SANDWICH
*Menu subject to change based on availability*
Links:
Date: December 14th (12/14/24)
Time: 6pm-9pm (drop off starting at 5:45pm)
Cost: $25 per student
***Donate at least $25 for EACH STUDENT participating to Donor Drive (make sure to comment the student(s) name(s) as this will be checked upon arrival)
Location: HSE high school, drop off at door 18
What is it? Kids night (formerly Science night) is a fun parent’s night out for children (grades K-6) run by HSE’s Riley Dance Marathon club student and teacher volunteers! It’s $25 per kid and 100% of the proceeds go to Riley Children's Hospital! There will be lots of fun & educational games, and pizza will be provided for the students!
Sign Up: A student must be pre-registered up to participate in the activity!!!
Tickets: prepurchase with this link or bring $25 per student in cash upon arrival
Donor Drive link - https://events.dancemarathon.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&participantID=1182988
Updates from Mudsock Youth Athletics:
Intramural Basketball Registration is Open!
Running Sunday nights from January 12th – March 16th, students from Fishers and Hamilton Southeastern High School are invited to form their own teams and hit the courts. With four divisions based on grade and skill level, there’s a spot for everyone, whether competitive or just for fun! Registration is $100 per player, and athletes can sign up with a team (up to 10 players) by indicating their team captain on the online form or as a free agent. Register now through December 22nd. Scholarships are available. Learn more.
The Mudsock Youth Athletics team is growing. We are seeking a passionate individual with a heart for volunteerism to round out our team. Please pass along to anyone who you think would be a great fit to join our staff. We love supporting the Hamilton Southeastern Schools and city of Fisher Community. Learn more.
Mudsock Youth Esports Free Preview Day – December 7th
Open to gamers in grades 3-9, whether you’ve already registered for the winter season or you’re still in the lobby! Sign up here for a timeslot at YES Gaming to test out our equipment and enjoy play before the season begins. Information about the new league will be available as well as giveaways for equipment and gaming-related gift cards. Sign up for the preview day here.
Click below for detailed information on more happenings around the district and community:
