Leigh Anne Boyd » Mrs. Boyd - School Social Worker

Mrs. Boyd - School Social Worker

I am the school social worker, Mrs. Boyd.  My role is to teach and support our students with their social and emotional needs so that they can do well in school.  I provide in class lessons in all of the K-5 classrooms on coping skills, conflict resolution, and relationship skills.  For students in crisis, I can give emotional and behavioral support.  I am a counselor for students with IEPs, 504s, and MTSS plans for students the team identifies to be in need.  Families can also reach out to me for support with community resources for their child.  I reach out by Talking Points to all families with information about classroom lessons, skills, and resources.  Families can always respond to my messages with questions or call the school to speak with me.
 
Links - this page provides access to many community resources you might find helpful. 
 
Social Emotional Classroom Lessons - this page has information and resources from the lessons we are working on this month.  Each month I share skills I have taught in your child's grade and how you can carry these skills over at home.  
 
Posts - this page includes information from previous years that could be helpful to your child about social and emotional development.
 
Mrs. Boyd - a middle aged, caucasan woman with grey and brown hair
SEL Stadium Shark
 

Posts

Calm Down Corner

At school this month I have been introducing materials that they can use to help them calm down when they are upset.  Each teacher had their own rules about when, where and for how long they can use these items to ensure students are able to have optimal learning in school.
 
I am sharing them here so that you can help your child. Some need materials (Putty, Worry Box/Monster, Build, Mind Jar, Stuffed Animal, etc.) but you can always replace putty with anything they can squeeze or any other replacement that gets the kids to calm down.  You can make your own box with these visuals, your own items, or other calming ideas that work for your child.
 
Here's a few ways to use them:
 
1. Put together a calm down box of your own. - Use visuals of things that your child finds calming and put them with items they might need to help them calm down in a box.  Visual prompts can help encourage them to try it without a verbal argument.  (If you need more options, I do have them.  Please feel free to ask).  Give them a space and time to use these items when they have some difficult feelings.
2. Practice using the skills with your child.  Pull them up on your phone or print them out if you want. Do them with your kids when they are already calm.  The more we practice coping skills the more likely we will be to use them effectively when we are upset.  Practice one at meal time or bedtime or another time when they can see it is for all family members and helpful for all to manage our feelings.
3.  Model using these (or similar skills) when you are upset.  I like to say, "I am feeling upset, I think I need to try some deep breathing (or other skill) before I try to talk about this with you".
4.  When your child knows how to use these skills, remind them to try them when they are upset.  Usually it's best to practice it slightly upset before trying them if they are out of control upset.  If you can plan to gradually increase the challenge of calming down it usually is more successful.
 
How to...  Also many students were asking about 2 of the items that they would like to have at home.  I am including two links:  How to make a Calm Down (Glitter) Jar and How to make a Worry Box or a Worry Monster.  

Mindfulness and Mindful Walking

In May I met with the students to discuss Mindfulness.  I explained that mindfulness is focusing on something on purpose, right now, and being kind to ourselves and others.  This is because we usually (kids and grownups), get upset about things that happened in the past (we replay them in our head and what we or someone else could have done differently) or that will happen in the future (and we worry about if it will turn out badly).  When we focus on what is happening right now, we can calm our thoughts and hopefully calm our bodies as well. I'm including a few videos about mindfulness for different age groups:
 
 
 
After we discussed Mindfulness, I took the kids on a walk outside to practice mindful walking.  While we walked, we focused on our senses.  Taste being a hard one to practice without food, we focused on the rest: Sight, Hearing, Touch, and Smell.  We moved our bodies to get our heartrates up and noticed our heart beating.  Then we practiced taking slow deep breaths to calm ourselves and talked about how this is like when we get upset and need to calm down.
 
Here is a link of a video about Mindful Walking.  Try it with your family.  I love to do it myself whether it's around my backyard, walking to places near me, or going out on a nature hike.  
 
 
Try this over the summer regularly, and you may find that you and your children are better able to handle the big feelings that come along.

Zones Toolbox (with translations)

Now that we know what our bodies are like when we feel different emotions and the zones they fit into, we need to figure out which of our coping skills works best in which zone.  This lesson is about noticing what we need and matching a coping skill to it. We focus on the level of energy in our body and whether we need to calm down (yellow & red zones), get a boost of energy (blue zone), or use our calm body to problem solve (green zone).
 
We learned three new coping skills (Change it up, Ocean breaths, and End of the rainbow) and then we rated these coping skillsl and some skills from last year about which zone they would be most helpful for us.  Once we've done that, we have a toolbox of coping skills that will provide us with what we need when we have big feelings.
 
 
PS - if this file is too large, please let me know and I can send you a smaller version in English or in any of the translated languages (Arabic, Chinese, Khmer, Spanish, Vietnamese) upon request.

Social Emotional Book List

Here is a list of books about Social Emotional topics that you can use with your children if you are interested.  If you have any feedback about the books, please share it with me and I would love to hear how you and your children respond to these books!
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Name
Leigh Anne Boyd
Position
Social Worker