Newsletters

Summer Resources - 2023

Shine Lingenbrink, School Counselor M.Ed., NCC

LingenbrinkR@Issaquah.wednet.edu

Summer Ideas:

·         Local Summer Camps and Programs: Registration is already open for many programs, and spots fill up fast! Here are some ideas for local summer programs: Local Summer Opportunities.

·         Academic Practice:

o   Reading, Writing and Math Resources: Here are some ideas for supporting your student's learning while they are away from school this summer. These ISD supported digital resources can be accessed through student Clever accounts.

o   Reading is a great way to keep kids engaged in learning over the summer.

·         Here are some tips to ignite a love of learning. Learn how

·         If your child does not like reading books or struggles with reading, here are some great audiobooks for kids: All kids need are a set of headphones and a vivid imagination.

·         Is Your Child Bored? One of the many complaints that parents get during the summers and on weekends is that their children are bored. Post this visual or create a “bored jar” to spark creativity!

·         Apps That Inspire Kids to Play Outside:

o   Apps designed for outdoor adventures let kids do everything from studying bugs to identifying constellations. Click here

·         Must-Have Apps for Family Travel: Keep kids entertained and learning during the long hauls.

·         Apps for Road Trips 

·         Apps for Long Flights

·         Tips for Managing Screen Time:

o   Create a Healthy “Play-Diet” for the summer: Play -Diet

·         Examples of family media agreements on the Common Sense Media website: Family Media Agreement or HealthyChildren.org Customize Your Own Family Media Use Agreement.

·         There's also a Tech Tips page that gives some quick changes families can implement right away.

·         Internet Safety: You can learn more about how to support your child with internet safety including digital citizenship here. You can also find an ultimate parent guide to internet safety within various platforms that your child may be using including TikTok, Minecraft and Roblox here.

·         Taking Caution on YouTube

Many of our students spend time on YouTube at home for entertainment. We do our best to keep a close eye out at school when kids have access to the internet. However, this is a reminder that anyone can post videos on YouTube, and kids may be exposed to disturbing and potentially dangerous content.

o   The website below will help you navigate how to manage and monitor your child’s use of YouTube: Common Sense Media:

Parenting Websites:

·         ParentMap: Resources and ideas on health, education, food and home, parenting, family media, and camps. Check out the calendar for fun, local events to enjoy with the family!

·         Parenting Guides: Resources on academics, social emotional well-being, health and wellness, and student growth benchmarks.

·         Healthy Children: Resources for ages and stages, healthy living, safety and prevention, family life, health issues, tips and tools.

Parenting Books:

·         Positive Discipline

·         1-2-3 Magic: Effective Discipline for Children 2-12

·         No Drama Discipline: The Whole-Brain Way to Calm the Chaos and Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind

·         The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind

A Message from Our School Counselor

Hello Challenger Families!

Our school counseling theme for June is Resilience – What is resilience? Resilience is the quality that enables us to adapt to and overcome adverse conditions in our lives. Resilience is a great indicator that will allow our students to be successful in the future. Being open to and moving towards new challenges in our lives is something that all resilient people do. If it’s easy then it’s not a challenge. As we have all learned, some things are just out of our control. Remember, we can’t control everything that happens to us, but we can control how we respond. Sometimes that makes all the difference.

It is impossible to protect your child (or ourselves for that matter) from all of the ups and downs of life. Life can be great and challenging, but by fostering these ideas in your children now, you will help them grow successfully in adolescence and help them better navigate adulthood.

• Allow them to experience disappointment. They will learn that sadness (like any emotion) is temporary.
• Validate their fears. Even if they are afraid of something, help them make plans to do the things that scare them. (Example: A child is afraid of speaking in front of the class. Work with their teacher and have them present in small increments. Eventually they will become more comfortable and confident in themselves).
• Allow them to take reasonable risks and experience the natural consequences of their actions.
• Encourage them to try new things, make mistakes, and learn from those mistakes. We all make mistakes; what matters is how we bounce back from them and learn.
• Give them the opportunities to make their own decisions and problem solve,
• Tell them stories of people who went through hard times but persisted. This can be celebrities, or people in their families, or you as parents!
• Reframe challenges as short-term problems and opportunities to grow. 

See Resources Below!

Resources for Children and Care Givers

Wellness for Children: Resilience (video)

Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity’s Phizz-whizzing Workshops: Resilience (video)

The Hugging Tree: A Story About Resilience (video read aloud)

Becoming Resilient for Kids (video)

Resilience: A Book to Encourage Resilience, Persistence, and to Help Children Bounce Back from Challenges and Adversity (video read aloud)

Building Your Character: Resilience (video)

10 Ways to Build and Develop Resilience (video – for older students or adults)

Resilience Animation (video – for adults)

 

As always, if you have any questions or need more support for your student, please reach out!

Shine Lingenbrink – M.Ed., NCC (She/They)

LingenbrinkR@Issaquah.Wednet.edu

 

A Message from Our School Counselor

 Hello Challenger Families!

Our school counseling theme for May is Empathy and Compassion – As our Second Step lessons have taught us, being empathetic is feeling or understanding what someone else is feeling. Compassion is when we put our empathy into action and think about what we can do to help someone else.

Students can practice these skills by…

Putting themselves in another person’s shoes.  When you see someone, who is feeling a big emotion or having a hard time, you stop to think about what that would be like and what things you might need if you were feeling that way.

Looking out for others.  When someone gets hurt, you help them find help.  When someone is feeling sad, angry, frustrated, or upset, you offer your help and ask them what they need.  Sometimes it could be someone to talk to, or some space, or someone to encourage them to keep trying!

Helping the people around them.  You know what it’s like to have a tricky problem that isn’t easy to solve.  When others ask you for help, you help them brainstorm how to solve friendship and classwork problems!

Being kind to others.  You are kind to the people around you, even those who are not your close friends.  You know that we all have feelings and deserve kindness and show this in how you interact with others!

See Resources Below!

Resources for Children:

All about Empathy for Kids (video)

Books for Children about Empathy (article)

I Choose Empathy by Elizabeth Estrada (read aloud)

Empathy is Your Superpower by Cori Bussolari (read aloud)

A Little Sport of Empathy by Diane Alber (read aloud)

Sesame Street: Mark Ruffalo: Empathy (video)

 

Resources for Caregivers/Adults:

Empathy Activities and Information (article)

Books for Caregivers about Empathy (article)

The Importance of Empathy (video)

How Empathy Works (video)

As always, if you have any questions or need more support for your student, please reach out!

Shine Lingenbrink – M.Ed., NCC (She/They)

LingenbrinkR@Issaquah.Wednet.edu

 

A Message from Our School Counselor

 Hello Challenger Families!

Our school counseling theme for April is Determination – one way to define Determination is, “sticking to something even when it’s challenging or not something you want to do”. One way we teach students about determination, is growth mindset (the opposite of a fixed mindset). Throughout the mind of April, Challenger students will have the opportunity to learn about Determination, growth mindset, and seeing things through. In each classroom, Ms. Lingenbrink will provide students with the opportunity to discuss what it means to be determined, as well as how to practice using and growing their own growth mindset.

Determined Students…

Finish what they start.  Not giving up when something gets hard but continuing to try until you succeed.

Try again.  Even if you weren’t successful the first time, you try it again!

Make the hard choices.  Not getting something right away?  You work to find another way to do it, and spend time to get better at it.

Keep working hard.  Working a little harder or a few minutes longer on a task you don’t like because you know it will help you to get better.

Try new things.  Trying new things can be scary!  What if you’re not good at it?  Determined students know they may not be great at it at first but they try it and work to get better through practice.

Encourage others.  We all have strengths and weaknesses. You recognize that others may have different strengths and weaknesses too and you encourage them to work hard on the things that are difficult and celebrate the things they do well.

Resources for Children:

30 Children’s Books about Resilience

ClassDojo – Growth Mindset for Students (5 Episodes)

Sesame Street: Janelle Monae – Power of Yet

Growth Mindset (2-minute video)

Developing a Growth Mindset! – Dr. Nagler’s Laboratory (5-minute video)

TEDxYouth – The Mindset of a Champion

Growth Mindset Ninja – Read Aloud

 

Resources for Caregivers/Adults:

Fixed vs. Growth: The Two Basic Mindsets That Shape Our Lives (article)

Developing a Growth Mindset with Carol Dweck (video)

How Does the Brain Work? How Does the Nervous System Work? (article)

Recognizing and Overcoming False Growth Mindset (article)

5 Videos to Explore Growth Mindset

Positive Brains Are Smart Brains (article)

Growth Mindset: Not just a Tool (article)

 

A Message from Our School Counselor

Hello Challenger Families!

Our school counseling theme for March is Decision-Making – we will be exploring the reasoning behind different decisions students may have to make at school, and within our community. One way to understand the idea of decision-making is, doing the right in face of difficulty, courage, patience. Challenger students will have the opportunity to learn about doing the right thing, even when it is difficult and how this is part of good decision making. In each classroom, Ms. Lingenbrink will provide students with the opportunity to discuss what it means to be a decision maker, as well as the processes that good decision makers use. As children grow up, the decisions they face change, and it is therefore important for families to discuss the skill of making good choices throughout the childhood years.

As parents and teachers, we can promote our children’s development of decision-making skills by helping them to see that they make choices all the time. We can help our students see that when they make choices and face consequences (both positive and negative), they learn responsibility. Giving your child the opportunity to make decisions is a powerful teaching method because it allows for children to learn from natural consequences. If there are no natural consequences, parents sometimes have to establish a logical one. Make sure that your children have a clear understanding of their actions and the consequences that go with them.

Things to remember:

Model good choices –truth telling, being kind to others, following rules, and choosing healthy friends are all good examples.

Let them make decisions. Give your children plenty of opportunities to make decisions over small issues. Examples include giving your child a small allowance, allowing them to “choose” whether they remember to bring their lunch to school, or letting them decide whether they want to wear their coat or carry it.

Listen to your child’s point of view. Take time to explain your decisions and motives.

Praise your child when he/she makes a good choice. For example: when chores are done without reminders, when good manners are shown, when your child walks away from an argument.

Focus on empathy. When addressing your child’s behavior, focus attention on how other affected people might feel. Let empathy and logical consequences do the teaching. Empathy is the key!

Let them keep trying. Acknowledge that trying and failing is part of learning.

Here are a few suggestions to continue the learning at home:

Books that relate to Decision Making: (Read Aloud Videos) 

My Magical Choices, by Becky Cummings

Howard B. Wigglebottom

Charlie and the Choosing Chair

What Should Danny Do? By Ganit & Adir Levy 

Resources for Caregivers:

Teaching Responsible Decision Making

As always, if you have any questions or need more support for your student, please reach out!

Shine Lingenbrink – M.Ed., NCC (She/They)

LingenbrinkR@Issaquah.Wednet.edu

A Message from Our School Counselor

Hello Challenger Families!

Our school counseling theme for February is Friendship – one way to think about Friendship is “a person you aren’t related to that you know and like, who likes you back and you enjoy spending time together”. Friendship is an important skill to learn because Friendships help children develop emotionally and morally, which can have an influence on their academics as well. Friendships can have a major impact on our health and well-being. 

It's not always easy to build or maintain friendships, at any age.  It is important to teach students the importance of friendships in their lives and how they can develop and nurture them. Throughout February, students will be learning the following concepts: How to identify what characteristics are important in a friend; How to identify what a good friend does; & How to practice skills that help them make friends.

Here are a few suggestions to continue the learning at home:

Books that relate to Friendship: (Read Aloud Videos) 

A Friend is Someone Who - by Marilee Joy Mayfield: https://youtu.be/jhpEetRseXE

Kindness is My Superpower - by Alicia Ortego: https://youtu.be/6P-Y_M9q7RM

How do Dinosaurs Stay Friends - by Jane Yolen: https://youtu.be/jyaXjZFKFHw

List of Friendship Books 

Resources for Caregiver 

The Importance of Friendship

Benefits of Childhood Friendships

As always, if you have any questions or need more support for your student, please reach out!

Shine Lingenbrink – M.Ed., NCC (She/Her)

LingenbrinkR@Issaquah.Wednet.edu

Hello Challenger Families!

Our theme for December is Mindfulness – one way to think about Mindfulness is, “being aware of what’s happening in the present moment”. We use mindfulness to help our brains and bodies calm down, but also to support our learning and focus. Being mindful is the opposite of rushing or multitasking. Throughout January, students will learn about mindfulness, how to listen to our bodies, and different ways to take care of our bodies when needed. We will also be creating a bulletin board about mindfulness in the front atrium as a school.

(For Adults) Books and Resources about Mindfulness

Click Here to Read Why Mindfulness is Important 

• The Whole-Brain Child - by Dan Siegel & Tina Bryson
• Self-Reg: How to Help Your Child (and You) Break the Stress Cycle and Successfully Engage with Life - by Stuart Shanker
• Smart but Scattered: The Revolutionary “Executive Skills” Approach to Helping Kids Reach Their Potential - by Peg Dawson & Richard Guare

(For Kids) Books related to mindful practices (click title for read alouds):

• Thankful, by Elaine Vickers.
• The Boy with Big, Big Feelings, by Britney Winn Lee.
• Be You! by Peter H. Reynolds
• A Little Spot of Flexible Thinking, by Diane Alber
• I Am Human, by Susan Verde

(For Everyone) Mindfulness Activities to Try at Home:

• 51 Mindfulness Activities – Many different types of activities to try.
• Mindfulness YouTube Playlist – Check out a few videos for guided mindfulness

Hello Challenger Families!

As a reminder, this year, the counseling department will be following monthly themes that correspond to different SEL goals and will be reflected through all grade levels. Resources will be sent out each month to teachers and families so that you are aware of what your students are learning, and to support/reinforce the information at home.

Our theme for December is Respect – one way to think about Respect is "seeing value in all people and treating them with care". Different people feel respected in different ways and we hope this month we can inspire discussion with families and students about what Respect means to you and how to practice together! Throughout December, students will learn about differences, perspective taking, and how to be respectful here at school (and at home). We will be creating a bulletin board, as a school, with all of the ways we can show respect.

Here are a few suggestions to continue the learning at home:

Review Respect as a family! Remember that in our lessons we are teaching that Respect means to see value in people and things and treat them with care. Agree as a family to set aside a certain time each day this week to unplug from devices and plug into family time. It shows Respect to practice being present in the moment without the distractions that can come from technology. Debrief and discuss this challenge afterward and commit to this practice at least 1 day each week!

Being Respectful is linked to a student’s identity as well, discussing family traditions and other things that are unique to your family is a great way to link these two.

Books that relate to Respect and Differences: (Read Aloud Videos)

• The Power of One
• The Invisible Boy
• What Does it Mean To Be Kind
• Same, Same but Different
• Doing unto Otters

As always, if you have any questions or need more support for your student, please reach out!

Shine Lingenbrink – M.Ed., NCC (She/Her) LingenbrinkR@Issaquah.Wednet.edu

November: Problem-Solving

Kindergarten through 2^nd Grade:

Hello, as a reminder, this year, the counseling department will be following monthly themes that correspond to different SEL goals and will be reflected through all grade levels. Resources will be sent out each month to teachers and families so that you are aware of what your students are learning, and to support/reinforce the information at home.

Our theme for November is problem-solving – we will be utilizing the Kelso’s Choices Curriculum to highlight how students can solve small problems on their own. Conflict, disagreement, and communication error are all normal and often happen when children are all together. However, hurtful words and physical attacks are unacceptable ways to deal with these disagreements at school. Through the Kelso’s Choices curriculum, we assist students in understanding the difference between BIG and small problems. Once the students have identified what type of problem it is, we move on to solving it.

Our goal is to teach students several positive ways to deal with difficult situations (or small problems). To do this, we ask students who have small problems to try at least two of the following:

1. Go to another game or activity.
2. Share and take turns.
3. Respectfully talk it over
4. Walk away from the problem.
5. Ignore the problem behavior.
6. Tell the person to stop.
7. Apologize.
8. Make a deal.
9. Wait and cool off.

Learn more about Kelso’s Choices Here

Printable Kelso’s Choices Wheel

Kelso’s Choices Willow Pond Storybook Videos

 

3^rd - 5^th Grade:

Hello, as a reminder, this year, the counseling department will be following monthly themes that correspond to different SEL goals and will be reflected through all grade levels. Resources will be sent out each month to teachers and families so that you are aware of what your students are learning, and to support/reinforce the information at home.

Our theme for November is problem-solving – we will be utilizing the K.C.’s Choices Curriculum to highlight how students can solve small problems on their own. Conflict, disagreement, and communication error are all normal and often happen when children are all together. However, hurtful words and physical attacks are unacceptable ways to deal with these disagreements at school. Through the K.C.’s Choices curriculum, we assist students in understanding the difference between BIG and small problems. Once the students have identified what type of problem it is, we move on to solving it.

Our goal is to teach students several positive ways to deal with difficult situations (or small problems). To do this, we ask students who have small problems to try at least two of the following skills to solve the problem:

1. Talk it out.
2. Apologize.
3. Tell them to stop.
4. Make a deal.
5. Wait and cool off.
6. Walk away.
7. Go to another game.
8. Ignore it.

 

Learn more about K.C.’s Choices Here

Printable K.C.’s Choices Wheel

 

 

As always, if you have any questions or need more support for your student, please reach out!

Shine Lingenbrink – M.Ed., NCC (She/Her)

LingenbrinkR@Issaquah.Wednet.edu