Dear Full Service Community School Health Center Family:
We miss you! We hope that this letter finds you and your family well. We are sending you this letter to provide you with resources that might be helpful while we are social distancing and adjusting to our new routines.
First, for everyone, but especially our children, we want to share a short story adapted from child psychologist Ana Gomez:
The Story of the Oyster “Do you know about the oyster who lives at the bottom of the sea who uses its special powers when something is bothering it until a pearl is formed? In these difficult days, we can be like the oyster and when something is bothering us, notice our feelings – lonely, sad, angry, frustrated, happy, worried, relaxed, confused, mixed up. Notice the way the feelings we have make our bodies feel.
Draw a picture of our feelings, talk about our feelings and thoughts. Draw a picture of ourselves. Does our body feel loose like a noodle or hard like a rock? Does it feel light or heavy? Where on our bodies do we feel these feelings? What do the feelings look like? What do they say?
Like the oyster, we have special powers to make what is bothering us into a pearl. When our feelings get too big, too hot or too cold, we can do things to cool them down or warm them up. We can be kind and loving to our feelings. Ignoring our feelings will not make them go away. Do we need a hug or someone to talk to or someone to tell us that things will be ok? We can use the power of breathing to calm our minds, hearts and bodies. We also can sing, hum, dance or jump!
Now imagine that we have a long, special cord that goes from our heart to the hearts of all the people we love. This cord joins us together. We are not alone. We all have special powers and like the oyster, we can create pearls.”
Thank you for reading! We look forward to coming back to school and finding out what pearls you have made and what feelings you identified to help create your pearls. We also want to hear about who you are connecting with by using your long, special cord. On the following pages please find information and links to helpful resources.
The resources included here below are up-to-date as of the post date. Information is changing rapidly and not always correct, so we urge you to rely on information from government websites.
Download the PDF below for your reference:
