Month: June 2020

Child Development Considerations in Talking to Children About Race and Racism

• • Anti-Racism for Kids: An Age-by-Age Guide to Fighting Hate
  • Talking to Your Kids about Racism: How to Start the Important Conversation by Age and Keep it Going

Tips for Talking to Children about Racism & Violence

• • 10 Tips for Teaching and Talking to Kids About Race: this is a great place to start. EmbraceRace also has many other fantastic resources
  • Anti-Racism For Kids 101: Starting To Talk About Race: tips and books for parents who are nervous to talk about race
  • What does “Black Lives Matter” Mean?: an excellent 5-minute video for children made by Look, Listen, and Learn
  • Our Kids Need Us: written by Delaney Ruston, filmmaker of “Screenagers,” has great suggestions on how to have these critical conversations
  • Racism and Violence: How to Help Kids Handle the News: a great webinar put on by The Child Mind Institute. They also have article on this same topic here
  • Helping Kids Process Violence, Trauma, and Race in a World of Nonstop News: another great webinar put on by Common Sense Media

Books for Children (just a few to get you started!)

• • “A Kids Book About Racism” by Jelani Memory (suitable for K-8^th)
    • • Also available to watch/listen to on YouTube here
  • “All Are Welcome” by Alexandra Penfold (suitable for K-3^rd)
  • “A is for Activist” by Innosanto Nagara (suitable for Pre-K-2^nd)
  • “Chocolate Me” by Taye Diggs (suitable for K-3^rd)
  • “Skin Like Mine” by LaTashia M. Perry (suitable for K-6^th)
  • “Something Happened in Our Town” by Marianne Celano (suitable for K-3^rd)
  • “Sometimes People March” by Tessa Allen (suitable for K-4^th)
  • “The Day You Begin” by Jacqueline Woodson (suitable for K-3^rd)
  • “We’ve Got the Whole World in Our Hands” by Rafael Lopez (Pre-K-1^st)

Books & Podcasts for Adults

• • “Raising White Kids: Bring Up Children in a Racially Unjust America” by Jennifer Harvey
  • “So You Want to Talk About Race” by Ijeoma Oluo
  • “White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism” by Robin DiAngelo
  • “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race” by Beverly Daniel Tatum
  • “Teaching Hard History” is a podcast from Teaching Tolerance that covers topics of slavery and the civil rights movement
  • “1619” is a podcast from The New York Times that examines the long shadow of American slavery
  • “Code Switch” is a podcast from NPR that explores how race impacts every part of our society

Additional Resources

• • PBS Kids for Parents has a number of resources related to talking to children about racism, television show episodes that address what children can do to fight racism, and so many more excellent resources. This was a great recent episode for kids on race and racism
  • Facing History and Ourselves is an incredible website with lessons, articles, and many other resources on racism and social justice
  • Raising Little Allies-to-Be is a fantastic 30+ page guide with great resources adults and activities for kids
  • Common Sense Media created a resource guide with books, movies, and other media for children that talk about race and racism. Check it out here
  • Below are some websites to help you find diverse children’s books:
    • • Social Justice Books has more than 60 carefully selected lists of multicultural and social justice books for children and young adults
      • OurStory is a great way to find diverse books
      • Biracial Bookworms is a good site to find diverse books
      • The Conscious Kid promotes access to children’s books focusing on underrepresented groups and also has some great resources
      • Here Wee Read is another great site to find diverse children’s books

June 2020 School Counselor Newsletter

Dear St. John Families,

It hasn’t been easy, but we’ve made it to June! As I’ve talked with many of you over the course of distance learning, I’ve been in awe of everything you’ve done to help your children succeed during this unprecedented time. It has been a truly remarkable and unforgettable feat, so hats off to you!

As we’re looking toward the coming days of closing out the school year in this incredibly unconventional way, I want to share a few tips with you to help support your child through this transition:

1. Talk about and validate your child’s feelings. As your child processes all of the transitions that the end of the year brings, it is so important to be talking about their feelings and validating their experience. This is a great article that offers a few simple ideas to do so.
2. Create new rituals to mark the end of year/start of summer. There are many end-of-year celebrations that can’t happen this year, but creating some special family celebrations is a wonderful way to honor your child’s completion of another year and make some special memories. Check out this article to get some fun family inspiration.
3. Focus on the positive and look for hope. Try to help your child avoid ruminating on the loss and negative. What positives can you find? What new opportunities does this time present? What are you grateful for? It is so important to spend a few minutes a day focusing on something positive. Here’s just one idea to get you started, this simple gratitude activity.

As always, my website has many additional resources for parents. I also have a page entirely dedicated to specific COVID-19 resources for helping children understand COVID-19, answering their questions, managing their feelings, and ideas to foster family connection and harmony during this time. 

If I can do anything at all to support you during the final days of the school year, please do not hesitate to contact me at cshaw@st-johnschool.org. I would be so happy to help you in whatever way I can.

Wishing you a happy and healthy summer vacation!

Ms. Shaw

June Resources

• On June 2^nd, ParentMap is hosting a webinar with Emily Cherkin called “Old-School Summer: Bringing Back Free Play” that will focus on tips to help families thrive during this unusual summer.
• Tina Payne Bryson (co-author of “The Whole-Brain Child”) has been creating some great content for parents during this time. One resource that I think is particularly valuable is this 7-minute video called “Helping Our Kids Manage Disappointment Over Cancelled Camp and Summer Plans.” There are some really valuable tips in there!
• With so many in-person summer camps being cancelled, Camp Kindness Counts is going virtual and offering a one-week virtual summer camp focusing on “building kind, courageous kids.” This camp is geared for children aged 5-11 and is scheduled for June 22^nd-26^th.
• A fun family activity I recently came across are these COVID-19 Time Capsule pages. Fill these out as a family to remember this historic time.