Parent Newsletter for South Seneca’S Second Step School R Fall 2020

Parent Newsletter for South Seneca’s Second Step School R Fall 2020

Teaching Empathy at Home

Here are 10 activities that families can easily do at home or in their daily routine:

Draw “Feeling Faces” together and create a special family 1 feeling poster to frame and hang up as a visual reminder. Search magazines together for pictures of different feeling 2 faces and make a collage. Then hypothesize why someone may feel a certain way. Make photo books with children, and label the photos with emotions so your child can flip through and identify 3 how his friends and family members are feeling in each situation. Play board games that are designed to help children learn about empathy in ways that are fun for the whole 4 family. I like Guess How I Feel? from Fun and Function. I’ve played it with girls and boys of different ages, and the groups had meaningful reflections on the situation cards, guessing why a person may have a certain expression or response. Encourage your child to see things from another person’s perspective. “You’re really good at soccer. How do you 5 think the new player feels, sitting out, watching the team play? What can you do?”, “How do you think your sister felt when she didn’t get the singing part in the play?”, “How do you think this person feels by looking at her face?” Help your child recognize that people have different interests and preferences. See if your child can list the 6 favorite ice cream flavors of family members or friends. Or ask what different people do for fun: Who plays baseball? Who builds with Legos? Who plays cards? Who plays video games? This sounds simple, but even older children can benefit from a habit of reminding themselves of their friends’ likes and dislikes before they get together. Have a discussion prior to a sleepover or play date: “Let’s discuss what you and Michael may like to do when he comes over this weekend.” Taking time to discuss an event in advance shows your child that you care, and you are considering another person’s feelings and needs in the plan. While reading stories to children, stop and ask children to identify the characters’ feelings in the story. Discuss 7 how the characters’ behaviors reveal their feelings. Do simple role-playing such as show me how your body and face would look if someone yelled at you, or knocked 8 down your Lego building. Or what if you found a puppy on the playground, or received a surprise visit from Grandma and Grandpa Help children recognize that people may have different feelings about the same thing: ”Cole likes to climb high 9 on the jungle gym, but Wyatt doesn’t.” Help children recognize that their feelings about a situation may change. “Jesse, you are feeling sad now and 10 want to sit by yourself, but later you may feel differently and may want to join the group at circle time.”

Source: https://funandfunction.com/blog/need-empathy-10-fun-activities-for-home-or-school

Last Stop on Market Street (Author) (Illustrator) By Matt de la Peña , Christian Robinson Every Sunday CJ and his grandma ride the bus across town. But today, CJ wonders why they don’t own a car like his friend Colby. Why doesn’t he have an iPod like the boys on the bus? How come they always have to get off in the dirty part of town? Each question is met with an encouraging answer from grandma, who helps him see the beauty and fun in their routine and the world around them. This energetic ride through a bustling city highlights the wonderful perspective only grandparent and grandchild can share. Access book read aloud on YouTube: https://youtu.be/zk6CWvW_5-s

Be Kind by Pat Zietlow Miller (Author), Jen Hill (Illustrator) What does it mean to be kind? When Tanisha spills grape juice all over her new dress, her classmate contemplates how to make her feel better and what it means to be kind. From asking the new girl to play to standing up for someone being bullied, this moving and thoughtful story explores what a child can do to be kind. Access book read aloud on YouTube: https://youtu.be/t6NUJ2JZz50

A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead (Author), Erin E. Stead (Illustrator) Friends come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. In Amos McGee’s case, all sorts of species, too! Every day he spends a little bit of time with each of his friends at the zoo, running races with the tortoise, keeping the shy penguin company, and even reading bedtime stories to the owl. But when Amos is too sick to make it to the zoo, his animal friends decide it’s time they returned the favor. Access book read aloud on YouTube: https://youtu.be/iCmRGK5bnCc

SECOND STEP YOUTH DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM, Second Step is a program rooted in social- SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT SERVICES emotional learning (SEL) that helps transform 555 Warren Road Source: Committee For Children Ithaca, NY 14850 schools into supportive, successful learning (607) 257-1551 environments uniquely equipped to help Contact: Alicia Grey, children thrive. Certified SECOND STEP Trainer www.secondstep.org© Copyright 2020 TST BOCES [email protected] 2