Throughout the month of February, students and staff at Forest Road Elementary School focused on health and wellness. Each day, students were encouraged to complete a daily challenge which related to a specific word such as curiosity, empathy, kindness and mindfulness.
Positivity filled the hallways and virtual classrooms as students celebrated confidence with P.S. I Love You Day, connected to the environment by following the slogan reduce, reuse, recycle, and embraced the importance of nutrition. Each new challenge provided students with valuable knowledge and tools to live a healthy lifestyle both mentally and physically.
School psychologists Sonya Jackson and Dr. Francyne Zeltser also played an important role during the month. They visited the classrooms of all remote and hybrid students to discuss stress and coping skills. Students learned what stress means, how it impacts them physically and mentally and how to cope with it. They also learned how to create stress relieving tools in the classroom which is being kept in each student’s wellness toolbox. Students in kindergarten through third grade created their own breathing sticks, fourth and fifth graders learned how to make stress balls and sixth graders made their own affirmation sticks.
“The toolbox is something that we have been developing over the past few years and it allows students to choose from a variety of activities to help them regulate their emotions, practice positive thinking, and mindfulness,” said Ms. Jackson. “The toolbox also reminds our students of the importance of self-care. We will be doing other activities later in the year to continue this ongoing discussion on self-care and promoting wellness.”