Week #6: Staying Connected While Social Distancing
This week we decided we wanted to revisit staying connected while school is closed and we work to maintain social distance. We know elementary aged children thrive on social connections and that it is a critical to their well-being. In addition to all the many ways our amazing Grand Ridge teachers are maintaining existing relationships and establishing connections with their classes, our goal as PBSES coach and school counselor is to find ways to help maintain the connections between students and friends in other classes, as well as the multitude of "other" adults that care about them from school.
Below you will find several ideas for ways to keep connected with those outside your quarantine circle and information on an opportunity for your students to join Mrs. Chapman and Mrs. Fernstrom for virtual lunchtime meetups. And in case you missed them, you will also find both of the videos the staff has created as one more way to try to stay connected!
Social Distancing Should Not Mean Social Isolation
Children—especially young children—need quality time with their caregivers, friends, and other important people in their lives. Social connectedness improves children’s chances of showing resilience to adversity.
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Idea #1: Arrange video ‘play dates’
Some options: FaceTime or Zoom with your children’s friends or family. You can even make it a surprise call. Give your student three clues as to who it is, and have them try to guess!
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Option: Weekly themes – ex. Reading theme: kids read their favorite book to each other, act out character voices, and dress up like their favorite character. (For older kids, create a book club ‘meet up’). Lego theme: Have kids bring out their Legos and build together.
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Idea #2: Send letters or pictures
Have your kids send letters/pictures to family members, friends, neighbors or nursing homes. This is a great opportunity for them to practice writing or typing, and acts of kindness.
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Make and send personalized gifts - Paintings, decorated boxes, hand-beaded jewelry, pillows, knitted wear, quilts, kids puppets, clothing and fabric, decorated with fabric-markers. Take photos and send these too.
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Idea #3: Virtual game night
Host a virtual game night or dinner with your family friends. Line up a few friends/family members and break out a trivia game or dinner. Make your own food, divide up into teams, and do your best to conquer.
Some video-chat friendly games:
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Trivia
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Scattergories
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Head's Up!
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Bingo
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I Spy
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Pictionary
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Charades
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Idea #4:Connect with neighbors
Bring lunch or dinner to the bottom of their driveway, porch, deck or other safe distance location and wave to each other.
Write or draw messages in chalk on their driveway or sidewalk.
Put posters with uplifting messages in your windows.
HAVE "LUNCH" WITH FRIENDS!
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Mrs. Chapman and Mrs. Fernstrom would like to invite you to have virtual lunch with us and other students from your grade. This will give us all a chance to "hang out" together and learn a little bit more about each other. Each "lunch" will start out with a quick overview of our expectations (just like in the classroom or lunchroom at school) and a question of the day that we will send out beforehand. This will be followed by a time for sharing. Each week we will have a different topic for sharing. The first week it will be "What have you been making at home?". We would love to see your art masterpieces, building creations, something amazing from your kitchen, or anything you have made that you would like to share!
Some details:
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there will be a limited number of spaces available through a sign up form
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we will try to accommodate anyone who is interested by adding more sessions as needed
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sessions will be by grade level
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once each session is organized, we will send out the link to a Zoom meeting to a guardian email address along with the question of the day and the topic for sharing time
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we will be using common zoom classroom expectations around respect, responsibility, and safety
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the link to sign up will be sent out each week in our newsletter for lunches the following week
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Connection is Important for Adults Too!
Below are 3 articles that share information about why connection is so important and some more ways to stay connected. They are geared towards adults but the ideas apply to children too and the activities can be modified as well. Remember to take care of yourselves too though!
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The Art of Socializing During a Quarantine
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Why Relational Connection is So Important During the Coronavirus Pandemic
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40 Ways to Maintain Social Ties During the Coronavirus Quarantine