March is always a busy month for students, families, and teachers. Although spring break is right around the corner, we have observed that some members of our community seem a bit tired and in need of more energy and refueling. The Wellness Committee at Lab sees this as the perfect time to schedule some events that focus on our physical, social, and emotional health. 

We hope that you will reiterate these important messages at home and support our efforts to make our lives a bit simpler and rejuvinating this month. Upcoming events include:
(Modified) Tech-Free Days: March 14-16
We realize that the current generation depends and thrives on technology and that our school's mission was developed around new and innovative ways to incorporate appropriate use of technology in our classrooms. Yet, research has shown that taking a "break" from technology and developing a great awareness around the potential downsides, can greatly benefit students in the future.

We realize that it is unrealistic for us to be completely tech free at Lab; and so, our plan is for every department to identify five commitments that they will make to reduce tech use during these three days. Families are encouraged to take a "break" from technology at home during these days, as well. Our goal is that we will all find new and creative ways to communicate and connect with our students during this time. You may want to get additional inspiration by reading these two articles about the impact that technology has had on today's society:  

• The Flight from Conversation
• Things Apple's iPhone Helped Destroy

Vision Board Contest/Advisory: March 19-23
Each advisory will create a specific Wellness Vision Board by March 23. This board will encourage each advisory to think of creative ways to think about wellness as individuals and as a group. The following week, the Wellness Team will review all vision boards and decide who has won the wellness contest. There will be a wellness basket for the winning advisory in Lower School and Middle School. 

​Wellness Week: 3/19-3/23
During this week, we will have various local organizations and farms donating fresh food for our students to try during their lunch periods. We also will have speakers come in to talk to our students about different wellness themes. Each day, advisories will spend time focusing on a different theme that represents a different types of wellness. Our team, including author Brett Blumenthal, will work together to create daily wellness tips for our teachers to use during our morning meetings and advisory time.

​Here are the themes for Wellness Week:

• Day 1: Nutrition
• Day 2: Movement (Physical Wellness)
• Day 3: Environmental Wellness
• Day 4: Self Care-Relationships/Friendships
• Day 5: Mindfulness (Brain Research)/Stress Management

We hope that our entire Lab community will embrace and enjoy these various events and themes throughout the month.

Kind Regards,
Meegan and the Lab Wellness Team

​All 5th and 6th Grade Parents are invited to a Families Managing Media Seminar! Research supports the need to find a healthy balance for parents and children on technology use inside and outside of school. As students enter middle school, this balance is even more important. This seminar aims to help kids and parents manage technology use. It will also cover the brain science behind screen use, the developmental impact of screen entertainment on children/adolescents, and strategies to manage video game, social media, and smartphone misuse and addiction in your children's lives.

• When: Tuesday, March 6.
• 5th and 6th Grade Students attend from 9 am--10 am
• 5th and 6th Grade Parents 10--11 am
• Where: UNC-Charlotte Center City Building

​For more information, check out
www.familiesmanagingmedia.com. Please email Meegan Whelan or Andrea Miller if you plan to attend.

Good evening,
 
Last month our students focused on self-control and this month we will be introducing Social-Emotional Intelligence. As an educator, counselor, and mom, I have realized how important this skill is in our day-to-day lives. Whether our children are in the classroom, out at recess, in practice, or on a play-date, having strong social-emotional skills allows our children to use their intuition, communicate effectively, and develop meaningful relationships throughout their lives. Over the next few weeks, I strongly encourage you to have conversations with your children about this important character trait and share with them how you have fostered your own social-emotional skills and the meaningful ways they have impacted you in the process.
 
SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE is understanding feelings and using them to inform actions.

Ways to Show Social-Emotional Intelligence:

Finding solutions during conflicts with others;
Demonstrating respect for the feelings of others; and
Adapting to different social situations.

Ways to Earn Character Badges:

• Watch the movie Inside Out and write/draw about how the different characters showed social-emotional intelligence.
• Keep a feelings journal describing different feelings throughout the day. Notice any patterns?
• Do two random acts of kindness and share what happened through writing or drawing
• Read How Full is Your Bucket? by Tom Rath and Mary Reckmeyer. Fill someone else's bucket each day for a week and share what you did.

Follow up Questions for Students:

• What kinds of things fill your bucket? How do you know when your bucket is full?
• What ways do you show kindness at home and at school?
• Name four feelings and share a time when you felt each of those feelings.
• Tell us about a time when you said something that made the other person feel mad or sad.

Character Books and Resources

Websites/Videos:

• Create a Peace Table in your classroom for conflict resolution and use this as an advisory lesson (teaches high levels of social-emotional intelligence)
• Marc Brackett on Emotional Intelligence
• Brene Brown on Empathy
• Empathy (for older students)
• Empathy: Sesame Street (younger students)

Articles:

• The Boston Globe "7 things every kid should master"
• The Guardian "Emotional health in childhood"

Books:

• Otis and the Scarecrow by Loren Long (K-5th); about empathy
• The Rhino Who Swallowed a Storm by LeVar Burton and Susan Schaefer Bernardo (K-5th) - about sharing your feelings
• Charlotte's Web by E.B. White (2nd-5th)
• Just My Luck by Cammie McGovern (3rd-5th) - teaches about kindness/empathy
• Junonia by Kevin Henkes (4th and 5th)