West Babylon School District celebrated Red Ribbon Week and pledged to live a healthy, drug-free life during the week of Oct. 19-23. This year’s theme is “Be Happy. Be Brave, Be Drug Free.” The week kicked off by the staff and students coming to school dressed in red.

Throughout the week, the schools held different theme days in the fight against drugs and alcohol. Hats and creative caps were worn to school to “put a cap on drugs” while teachers and students wore mismatched outfits to show that they won’t get mixed up in drugs on a different day. The schools each created their own themed days such as superhero day, pajama day, bright color day, crazy clothes day, tie-dyed/’60s day, blue/gold day and backward shirt day so students can “turn their backs on drugs.”

Throughout the district, teachers are taking learning outside the walls of the classroom and finding creative ways to teach their students outdoors in this new learning environment.

The social distancing requirements are changing the way teachers conduct lessons and they are adapting by finding new methods. Bringing lessons outdoors has made for more hands-on learning as well. At John F. Kennedy Elementary School, students went on a leaf hunt. First, they discussed playing the role of scientists as they looked for different kinds of leaves. The students investigated the leaves carefully and collected just a few of each type. They went back to the classroom and sorted the leaves by shape and category.

At South Bay Elementary School, students did a science walk outside to determine if things were warm. At Forest Avenue, students did a math lesson utilizing Math and Movement number line hopping mats. Math and Movement is a program that uses multi-sensory learning approaches to teach students skills to succeed in math. This year, the fourth grade students at Forest Avenue will be focusing on looking at the subject areas holistically. “Math and Movement are the beginning steps toward taking our students ‘outside’ traditional learning, providing them with choice, and fostering a sense of ownership and awareness in the different pathways we take as life-long learners,” the teachers said.

At Santapogue Elementary School, fifth graders recently went outdoors for a lesson based on the book “Mr. Peabody’s Apples.” They learned an important lesson: glitter is like gossip; once you say something, you can’t take it back. At Tooker Avenue Elementary, students in Mrs. Kozak’s and Mrs. Valdemira's class are learning about the parts of speech as part of their ELA curriculum. They were able to enjoy the fresh air as they went on a noun hunt. When they went back to the classroom, they separated the nouns into categories. As an extension activity, they went on to write stories using some of the nouns they found outside.

Senior High School and Junior High School students are socially distanced and enjoying the great outdoors in their language arts classes. It was a great way to stay safe, get some sunshine and feel inspired while writing their personal narratives.

Addressing students’ social-emotional needs is an area that was top of mind as the district reopened its doors in September. The district created an SEL committee that began working during the summer on a variety of topics.

“The social emotional committee was formed to address the needs of our students and to integrate student engagement, mental health and students/staff social responsibilities as part of classroom instruction,” said director of guidance Gina Curcio. Committee members were from central administration, guidance, building administrators and faculty.

A subcommittee was also formed to create the framework to support teachers and students. “We targeted transitioning students, such as incoming kindergartners, sixth and ninth graders,” Ms. Curcio said. “Additionally, we created a tier 1 intervention for all students in a teacher framework that consisted of SEL lesson plans that were age appropriate for all students K-12. Every teacher was trained on the framework, including warning signs, and how to report anything alarming. They were also given a tool kit with a variety of resources for all of their students.”

Reorientation was a focus, so students and staff could get reacclimated. The SEL committee focused on making students feeling safe and understanding what was going on around them. “Learning how to be academically successful is crucial to their success but they also need to learn how to deal with stress and what school expects from them,” she said. Teachers were trained to provide students with strategies to self-regulate and implementing structures that motivate them to learn.

The SEL committee created a teacher framework for the first two weeks of school. “The first two weeks were crucial to engaging and fostering social emotional wellbeing as well as administering academic assessments to obtain baseline data on how to develop the whole child,” Ms. Curcio said. The lesson plans were narrowed down into different themes: community, regulation, stress, resilience and empathy.

The framework for these lessons was then broken up into different tiers, depending on if students needed further intervention from members of the district’s mental health team.

Throughout the district’s schools, psychologists, social workers and counselors have been working on creating virtual interventions of their program. Sessions with students have been held via Google Meet or in person with safety precautions being followed. The first priority for counselors was scheduling students, and providing interventions for any concerns, Ms. Curcio added.

Pictured here are lessons from Kristen Scheriff, elementary guidance counselor. She has been implementing a live and remote guidance curriculum to her students. The pictures were from lessons she created and implemented on friendship so as to assist students with social relationships