Education is a changing landscape, and while changes can be exciting, they can also bring uncertainty! With shifts in curriculum, technology, and learning experiences, wellness resources can offer support for both teachers and students.
As students grow and mature, access to learning experiences about emotions, social skills, self-image, and interpersonal relationships, can help their well-being blossom. While teachers balance the responsibilities of their positions, having access to resources that will help them cope with their own responses and feelings in healthy ways can help them feel prepared to guide students through academic and personal challenges. We’ve pulled together activities and resources from Discovery Education to help support teacher and student wellness!
Student Wellness
Students in grades K-12 are not only learning new academic skills and content each year, but they are also learning how to handle new emotional challenges. Discovery Education has a variety of resources that share information about age-appropriate wellness topics. It’s no surprise that wellness looks different for a student in grades K-5 when compared to a student in grades 6-12, so the implementation of wellness content needs to match the students’ needs! With activities about identifying emotions, setting goals, showing empathy, maintaining positive relationships, and making responsible decisions, it is easy to find DE lessons that will help students grow in all areas of emotional wellness.
The Wellness Channel offers content to support conversations in the classroom about emotional, environmental, financial, intellectual, occupational, physical, social, and spiritual wellness for students in grades K-12. The Wellness Channel is another great place for teachers to start when identifying relevant resources for their students, as they can quickly find activities and instructional supports for their grade level.
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Grade-Specific Resources
For our youngest students, grades PK-2 are full of remarkable emotional and social growth—from the productive struggles of learning new rules and routines to the joys (and frustrations) of making new friends! Sesame Learning and Discovery Education have joined together to present Feelings Time, a channel full of lesson plans, child-centered video content, and Brain Break mini-lessons to help students to become emotionally strong, self-assured, and more resilient.
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As K-5 students develop self-awareness and social skills, introducing wellness activities can become part of a regular, fun routine. Discovery Education’s Virtual Field Trips can help students dive right into emotional wellness content and make these lessons exciting and interesting. Teachers can bring thoughts and feelings to life for K-5 students with the Soar with Wings Virtual Field Trip, which delves into the key pillars of emotional intelligence and shares stories of real-life students. Self-esteem and bullying are very relevant topics to tackle with students in grades 3-5, and the Amazing Me Virtual Field Trip takes students on a journey to explore how to be kinder to themselves. With characters from Cartoon Network’s Steven Universe as well as ambassadors from the Dove Self-Esteem Project and Discovery Education, students can build life-long confidence and self-esteem!
Students in grades 6-12 are preparing for the next steps in their life, and DE has resources to help them maintain their emotional wellness through new challenges such as drug addiction, cyber-safety, teenage friendships, self-awareness, and stress management. The DEA and Discovery Education have worked together to build Operation Prevention, which has a Virtual Field Trip, lesson plans, and other engaging online tools to help students explore how addiction impacts people’s lives.
Teacher Wellness
While teachers help students navigate their emotions and develop healthy responses to stressful situations, they are often balancing their own challenges. The Educator Supports embedded in Discovery Education Experience has short videos, podcasts, webinars, and “microlearnings” that teach about a variety of topics and are relevant to day-to-day life as an educator. The Discovery Educator Network is also a great wellness resource, as it offers the opportunity for teachers to build connections and support each other as they embrace the exciting and overwhelming moments of teaching.
Whether it’s the start of a school year or just another normal day in the classroom, implementing lessons to discuss emotional wellness topics can help both students and teachers feel heard and supported throughout the school year. Discovery Education is here to help make wellness implementation simple and engaging for both teachers and students!
