Cardinal Counseling Connection

With Spring Break upon us, visit this site: https://www.sanantoniothingstodo.com/author/samomsblog/ and find things to do around San Antonio during the week of Spring Break and all year round. The website has sections for things to do "This Week, This Weekend, This Month" and more!! There are even links to find things to do close to San Antonio in Boerne, Bandera and New Braunfels. Whatever you decide to do, make sure to take time to enjoy slowing down just a bit.

In guidance classes, as part of the Comprehensive Guidance Program content areas: Intrapersonal Effectiveness (students will be able to interact effectively with a diverse population) students have spent time learning what it means to be proactive, (responsible for their choices), trustworthy, fair and communicating effectively. Leadership skills can be learned and applied at any age. At NWC, leadership skills are used daily.

State assessments including STAAR, STAAR Alternate 2, TELPAS, and TELPAS Alternate will be administered in Texas schools in spring 2024. Northside ISD campuses will provide these assessments to all eligible students.

In alignment with House Bill 3906, which was passed by the Texas Legislature in 2019 and calls for all electronic assessments by school year 2022-2023, NISD has begun the transition to STAAR in an online format; all 3rd grade - 5th grade students at NWC will take the assessment online.

Testing dates and campus-specific information will be sent out soon.

For additional information and an overview of the statewide testing program, visit the Texas Education Agency Student Assessment Division parent information website.

As testing season approaches, students may feel a heightened sense of worry or anxiousness. You can help prepare your child in several ways.

*Encourage your child to practice calming strategies. Mrs. Pena works with students on mindful breathing. This has many benefits including calming and relaxing the body when it is feeling tense or worried.

*You can also help your child create a test day mantra and have them practice it.

An example of a mantra could be: "I am a smart learner", "I will do my best" or "Challenges help my brain grow!"

*Practice self-care. Examples of self-care could be eating healthy meals, getting enough sleep the week leading up to the test, spending time with people you love, and speaking kindly to yourself.

National Social Emotion Learning (SEL) Day is Friday, March 8, 2024. Here are some activities to students and families can do to celebrate #SELday at home:

SEL Skills

Reflect on the following SEL skills:

• Self-Awareness—My recognition of who I am, what I need and how I feel relative to the world around me.

• Self-Management—My ability to manage my emotions and behaviors, to complete a task or succeed in a challenging situation.

• Social Awareness—My demonstration of consideration for others and a desire to positively contribute to my community.

• Relationship Skills—My ability to use positive communication and social skills to interact effectively with others.

• Decision Making—My approach to problem solving that involves learning from others, from past experiences and using my values to guide my action and accepting responsibility for my decisions.

• Empathy - Empathy and thinking about the perspectives of others helps us stay resilient when we don’t feel our best. Think about someone who may be struggling right now in a way different from you or your family.

• Gratitude - Gratitude has been shown to boost physical, psychological and mental health, particularly during challenging times. Share a #SELday post (text, video, artwork) thanking someone who’s helped you develop an SEL skill or is helping to support your community.

• Service - Providing service to others helps your community and also helps counteract the effects of stress and anxiety.

Thanks to a grant through United Way, military families have access to parenting and counseling services through Family Services. Family Service Association is providing in-home parenting, group and in-home counseling; Primary Caregiver who is active duty military, National Guard(NG), Ready Reserve(RR), Veteran, Retiree and families who have a child: Parenting 0-17 years and Counseling 0-17 can visit https://family-service.org/military/ for more information

Navigating Technology With Children and Youth

Check out the video below from the Institute of Child Psychology by Tania Johnson. If your family is struggling with how to navigate healthy technology use in your home you can also check out the Family Media Plan from the Institute of Child Psychology.

Pre-kinder - 5th grade, BMC, ALE, RISE

Email: arcelia.pena@nisd.net
Phone: 210-397-0600