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Hello Romero-Cruz Academy Community!
At RCA, we are dedicated to promoting the development of well-rounded individuals. In addition to academic excellence, we believe social emotional development of our students leads to positive lifelong outcomes. Supporting students' social emotional development is a team effort. Therefore, we would like to help you support your children at home as we continue to support them at school.
This page will provide you with activities and resources your family can all use to develop social emotional skills. New activities will be uploaded weekly, so be sure to check in frequently. To take it to another level, we encourage you and your children to post your work or thoughts about the activities on our school's social media pages. Remember, we are a COMMUNITY!
Kindergarten - 2nd Grade Activities
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ACTIVITY: Empathy ("Alike")
Posted by Andrew Montoya on 5/25/2020 7:30:00 AMWatch the "Alike'" video using the link below:
After watching the video, discuss the following with your child or children:
- What happens that causes the younger person’s feelings to change? What does it teach us about Empathy?
- At the end of the day, the older person looks drained. What do you think they are feeling? Have you ever felt that way? Seen others feel that way?
- What causes the older person to be “colorful” again? How does this teach us Empathy?
- How do you understand people who aren’t feeling as “colorful” as you?
Share your child's and your own responses and experience with us on one of our social media pages!
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ACTIVITY: Cooperation
Posted by Andrew Montoya on 5/18/2020 7:30:00 AMWatch "Sesame Street: Big Bird Sings 'That's Cooperation" using the link below:
After watching the video, discuss the following with your child or children:
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What are some activities where it’s easy for you to practice cooperation? Which activities make it difficult? Why do you think that is?
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Do you like working together with other people?
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Can you name some things you do at home that require cooperation or teamwork?
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Who is someone you love to work with? What makes it easy to cooperate with them?
Share your child's and your own responses and experience with us on one of our social media pages!
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ACTIVITY: Stick to It!
Posted by Andrew Montoya on 5/11/2020 7:30:00 AMWatch "Funny Lama Drama" using the link below:
After watching the video, discuss the following with your child or children:
- What is the Llama's goal? What gets in the way?
- Have you ever felt like the Llama? In what way?
- How does the Llama work through this situation even though there are obstacles in the way?
- Did the Llama have other options?
Share your child's and your own responses and experience with us on one of our social media pages!
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ACTIVITY: Mindfulness
Posted by Andrew Montoya on 5/4/2020 7:30:00 AMWatch "Mindful Ozzy Introduces Mindfulness" using the link below:
After watching the video, discuss the following with your child or children:
- What does mindfulness mean to you?
- In what ways does Ozzy say mindfulness can be useful?
- Ozzy says that we are always breathing, but not always aware of it. Can you think of other similar behaviors you might be unaware of at times?
- How do you feel after doing the breathing exercise with Ozzy?
Share your child's and your own responses and experience with us on one of our social media pages!
- What does mindfulness mean to you?
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ACTIVITY: Keeping Calm
Posted by Andrew Montoya on 4/27/2020 7:30:00 AMWatch "Keeping Calm – Building Resilience with Hunter and Eve" using the link below:
After watching the video, discuss the following with your child or children:
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Resilience is the ability to recover from hardship. In this video, Hunter the fox is scared of what he thinks are fire sparks. How does he show resilience to overcome this fear?
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The fireflies end up lighting Hunter’s path home and allow him to return safely for dinner. How can our fears become tools that help us?
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What tips does Eve the owl give to calm down when scared?
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Mindfulness can help achieve resilience. What types of situations might this breathing practice help you through in your life?
Share your child's and your own responses and experience with us on one of our social media pages!
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ACTIVITY: Gratitude
Posted by Andrew Montoya on 4/20/2020 7:30:00 AMWatch "The Last Shot" using the link below:
After watching the video, discuss the following with your child or children:
- Is the girl grateful for her camera in the beginning?
- The camera becomes broken and the girl throws it away. Does that mean she isn’t grateful for it anymore?
- The camera finds a new way to make pictures. Why is the camera grateful for the girl?
- Does something have to be “good” or “unbroken” for us to be grateful for it?
Share your child's and your own responses and experience with us on one of our social media pages!
- Is the girl grateful for her camera in the beginning?
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ACTIVITY: Empathy
Posted by Andrew Montoya on 4/13/2020 7:30:00 AMWatch the Sesame Street: Mark Ruffalo: Empathy video using the link below:
After watching the video, discuss the following with your child or children:
- How do Mark and Murray define Empathy?
- What feelings does Mark feel that Murray also starts to feel?
- Did Murray go through the exact same things as Mark in order to feel those feelings?
- What are you feeling today? This week?
Share your child's and your own responses and experience with us on one of our social media pages!
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ACTIVITY: Responsibility
Posted by Andrew Montoya on 4/6/2020 7:30:00 AMWatch thie Stuck on an Escalator video using the link below:
After watching the video, discuss these questions:
- What happens to the escalator? How do people respond?
- Something went wrong. How did the people on the escalator take Responsibility (or not)?
- Are there times when you are unable to take Responsibility?
- Think about all the choices the people in this video make. What does it teach us about Responsibility?
Share your child's and your own responses and experience with us on one of our social media pages!
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ACTIVITY: Kindness
Posted by Andrew Montoya on 3/27/2020 7:30:00 AMWatch the Color Your World with Kindness video using the link below:
After watching the video, discuss these questions:
- There are some people who are black and white and some people that are in color. What’s the difference between the two?
- What did Kindness look like in the video?
- What was your favorite act of Kindness?
- How did you see the definition of Kindness come to life in the video?
- How does Kindness spread with these characters? How can it spread in your class? Your school? Our home?
Share your child's and your own responses and experience with us on one of our social media pages!
Recent
By Month
3rd - 5th Grade Activities
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ACTIVITY: Empathy ("Alike")
Posted by Andrew Montoya on 5/18/2020 7:30:00 AMWatch the "Alike'" video using the link below:
After watching the video, discuss the following with your child or children:
- What happens that causes the younger person’s feelings to change? What does it teach us about Empathy?
- At the end of the day, the older person looks drained. What do you think they are feeling? Have you ever felt that way? Seen others feel that way?
- What causes the older person to be “colorful” again? How does this teach us Empathy?
- How do you understand people who aren’t feeling as “colorful” as you?
Share your child's and your own responses and experience with us on one of our social media pages!
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ACTIVITY: Kindness
Posted by Andrew Montoya on 5/11/2020 7:30:00 AMWatch the "Kindness Boomerang - 'One Day'" video using the link below:
After watching the video, discuss the following with your child or children:
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In what ways did you see respect shown in the video?
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Do you think the man who helped the boy up from his skateboard, in the beginning, knew that his respectful actions would cycle back to him?
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What can stand in the way of paying respect forward?
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How can you create a chain reaction of respect in your own life?
Share your child's and your own responses and experience with us on one of our social media pages!
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ACTIVITY: Cooperation
Posted by Andrew Montoya on 5/4/2020 7:30:00 AMWatch the "Bridge" video using the link below:
After watching the video, discuss the following with your child or children:
- How did the animals both cooperate and not cooperate? What were the outcomes?
- What do you think prevented the moose and bear from cooperating?
- What could the bear and moose have done differently so that both could cross the bridge?
- Have you struggled to cooperate with someone before? What could you have done to show cooperation?
Share your child's and your own responses and experience with us on one of our social media pages!
- How did the animals both cooperate and not cooperate? What were the outcomes?
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ACTIVITY: Resilience
Posted by Andrew Montoya on 4/27/2020 7:30:00 AMWatch the "A Lesson on Resilience" video using the link below:
After watching the video, discuss the following with your child or children:
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Part of resilience is being able to bounce back from failure. What can you learn from the dolls in the video?
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Think of someone in your life who is resilient. In what ways do they show they are resilient?
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Do you think resilience looks the same for all people, or in all situations? Or is it different?
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What steps can you take to become more resilient?
Share your child's and your own responses and experience with us on one of our social media pages!
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ACTIVITY: Empathy
Posted by Andrew Montoya on 4/20/2020 7:30:00 AMWatch the "Inside Out" video clip using the link below:
After watching the video, discuss the following with your child or children:
- Part of empathy means being able to understand another’s feelings. How was empathy shown in this video?
- How did Joy and Sadness differ in the way they tried cheering up Bing Bong?
- Why do you think Sadness was able to empathize more with Bing Bong? Were there specific actions or words she used to demonstrate empathy?
- How can you practice empathy in your life?
Share your child's and your own responses and experience with us on one of our social media pages!
- Part of empathy means being able to understand another’s feelings. How was empathy shown in this video?
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ACTIVITY: Courage
Posted by Andrew Montoya on 4/13/2020 7:30:00 AMWatch the Astros’ George Springers find Courage video using the link below:
After watching the video, discuss the following with your child or children:
- Who encouraged George Springer to face what frightened him?
- Who is someone that you think is really courageous and why?
- When have you done something courageous? How did it turn out?
- What did you learn the last time you were really courageous?
- Have you ever shown Courage but hoped or planned for a different outcome?
- How does Courage look, sound, feel?
Share your child's and your own responses and experience with us on one of our social media pages!
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ACTIVITY: Responsibility
Posted by Andrew Montoya on 4/6/2020 7:30:00 AMWatch The Notebook Video:
After watching the video, discuss the following with your child(ren):
- How does this boy show Responsibility?
- What motivates his Responsibility? What motivates yours?
- How do his actions affect his mom?
- What are the connections between Responsibility and time?
- What does this short film teach you about Responsibility?
Share your child's and your own responses and experience with us on one of our social media pages!
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ACTIVITY: Gratitude
Posted by Andrew Montoya on 3/27/2020 7:30:00 AMWatch Kid President's 25 Reasons to Be Thankful video using the link below:
After watching the video, discuss the following with your child(ren):
- Kid President starts by saying that, “some days are hard.” So he made this list of things he is thankful for. Why do you think that making or sharing that list helps on hard days?
- Which thing on the list are you most grateful for today?
- What would you add to the list today?
- Kid President is grateful for a lot of different kinds of things. What did you notice about the categories he was thinking about when it came to Gratitude?
- Why is writing out what you are grateful for important?
Share your child's and your own responses and experience with us on one of our social media pages!
Recent
By Month
6th - 8th Grade Activities
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ACTIVITY: Empathy ("Alike")
Posted by Andrew Montoya on 5/18/2020 7:30:00 AMWatch the "Alike'" video using the link below:
After watching the video, discuss the following with your child or children:
- What happens that causes the younger person’s feelings to change? What does it teach us about Empathy?
- At the end of the day, the older person looks drained. What do you think they are feeling? Have you ever felt that way? Seen others feel that way?
- What causes the older person to be “colorful” again? How does this teach us Empathy?
- How do you understand people who aren’t feeling as “colorful” as you?
Share your child's and your own responses and experience with us on one of our social media pages!
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ACTIVITY: Kindness
Posted by Andrew Montoya on 5/11/2020 7:30:00 AMWatch the "Kindness Boomerang - 'One Day'" video using the link below:
After watching the video, discuss the following with your child or children:
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In what ways did you see respect shown in the video?
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Do you think the man who helped the boy up from his skateboard, in the beginning, knew that his respectful actions would cycle back to him?
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What can stand in the way of paying respect forward?
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How can you create a chain reaction of respect in your own life?
Share your child's and your own responses and experience with us on one of our social media pages!
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ACTIVITY: Differences
Posted by Andrew Montoya on 5/4/2020 7:30:00 AMWatch "Be My Brother" using the link below:
Armed with nothing but charm and a dictaphone, a young man with Down syndrome changes the perspective of two people at a bus stop. Light-hearted and silly conversations help to break the barrier of his disability. Though the man seems to be communicating with the lady at the bus stop, the end reveals the other boy at the bus stop is the young man’s brother, and is the true audience for his conversation.
After watching the video, discuss the following with your child or children:
- How does our pride affect our (ability to build) relationships?
- What changed the women’s attitude toward the young man?
- How can you recognize when someone needs you to “be a brother”?
Share your child's and your own responses and experience with us on one of our social media pages!
- How does our pride affect our (ability to build) relationships?
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ACTIVITY: Positive Attitude
Posted by Andrew Montoya on 4/27/2020 7:30:00 AMWatch "Jessica's 'Daily Affirmation'" using the link below:
Jessica is a four-year-old girl with a very positive attitude. In this video, she begins her morning affirmations of how great her life is. She states how everything is great and how much she loves everyone and everything in her life!
After watching the video, discuss the following with your child or children:
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What in your life would you give daily affirmation to? Do you think you show your appreciation enough?
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In what other ways can you show your daily appreciation for those you care about? How do others show their appreciation for you?
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What are the benefits of positive affirmation?
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What would be your “daily affirmation”?
Share your child's and your own responses and experience with us on one of our social media pages!
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ACTIVITY: Growth Mindset
Posted by Andrew Montoya on 4/20/2020 7:30:00 AMWatch the Neuroplacticity by Sentis video using the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELpfYCZa87g
This is a good visual introduction to the concept of how the brain can be rewired as we learn and think differently.
After watching the video, discuss the following with your child or children:
- What is neuroplasticity?
- How does neuroplasticity work?
- How can you “rewire” your brain?
- Discuss a time when you overcame a struggle in learning and learned to solve a problem.
Share your child's and your own responses and experience with us on one of our social media pages!
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ACTIVITY: Patience
Posted by Andrew Montoya on 4/13/2020 7:30:00 AMWatch the What is That? video using the link below:
This a Greek short film made in 2007. An elderly father and adult son are sitting on a bench. Suddenly a sparrow lands across from them. The father asks the son, “What is that?” multiple times. The son grows more impatient each time. What the father does next is a beautiful lesson in patience through love.
After watching the video, discuss the following with your child or children:
- What lesson does the father teach his son?
- Have you ever had an experience when you lost your temper? What happened?
- How can you develop patience?
- How does patience demonstrate kindness?
Share your child's and your own responses and experience with us on one of our social media pages!
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ACTIVITY: Integrity
Posted by Andrew Montoya on 4/6/2020 7:30:00 AMWatch the Integrity Test video using the link below:
Javier is a man with a wife and two kids who had been struggling to support his family financially. He finally got steady work and to a place where his family was starting to feel some security. Javier was offered was even offered a promotion. However, when he interviews for a position, the interviewer asks him to make an unethical decision. He knows that he needs the money but chooses to act with integrity. His integrity and honesty is put to the test, and these powerful clips demonstrate what can happen when you do what is right.
After watching the video, discuss the following with your child or children:
- What does Javier’s wife say makes a man rich?
- Do you agree? Why/why not?
- When have you made a decision that went against your morals?
- How about a decision that lined up with your morals? How did it feel to make a decision that was in alignment with your personal beliefs when it could have been easier to choose against it?
Share your child's and your own responses and experience with us on one of our social media pages!
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ACTIVITY: Respect
Posted by Andrew Montoya on 3/27/2020 7:30:00 AMWatch this scene from Karate Kid using the link below:
The Karate Kid is asked to repeatedly place his jacket on the hook and then remove it. He tires of this routine and thinks it is pointless. What he doesn’t realize is that this simple task gave him the perfect form for karate. Like the Karate Kid, sometimes we don’t see the significance in keeping a routine when there isn’t a direct result. Even though we don’t see the significance, both ourselves and others may be impacted. For example, when you consistently smile at someone in the hallway, their entire day may brighten up. The effect of smiling at someone every day for a whole year is much greater than the effect of just smiling at someone every once in awhile, which shows just how important keeping a routine can be.
After watching the video, discuss the following with your child or children:
- Following a routine can be tedious and takes determination. What are some ways in which you can keep yourself accountable and stay motivated to follow a routine?
- In what areas of your life can following a routine benefit yourself?
- In what areas of your life can following a routine positively affect others?
- What is one goal that you can consistently practice in your community or school throughout the year? For Example: Open the door for five people every day.
Share your child's and your own responses and experience with us on one of our social media pages!