Mrs. Law's Lexington Junior High Blog

This is not your typical holiday post. For many people, there is a dark side to the season of hope, joy, parties, presents, food, etc. It comes in the form of memories, guilt, anxiety, loneliness, stress, and grief. Lately, I have seen the quote "It's okay to not be okay". No one is happy all of the time. No one is grateful all of the time. We have bad days, bad seasons, bad years. And that is okay! It is okay to be sad, it is okay to not want to listen to holiday music, it is okay to not put decorations up, and most importantly, it is okay to seek help. This season, love yourself and take care of yourself! Local Resources 33 Forever Richland County 211 Resources/articles (some fun, some serious) for dealing with holiday grief! Everything You Wish You Didn't Need To Know About Holiday Grief 64 Tips For Coping With Grief At The Holidays

As the school counselor, I have a lot of conversations about resources available in our area. There are more than you realize! There are agencies and caring individuals for nearly everything a person could need assistance with. Housing, employment, food, clothes, counseling, crisis, medical, etc. The list of resources can actually become quite overwhelming. Instead of listing ALL of these things separately, there is one simple way to find it all. FIRST CALL 211 First Call 211 is a free, confidential community service. Our mission is to provide useful information to the public and to connect members of our community with services that meet their needs. Assistance can range from simple issues, to much more complex issues, and our up-to-date database allows us to search through local services and match those in need to the proper agencies for help. Website  https://www.mrcpl.org/services/first-call-211 By Phone (2-1-1) Alternate Line: 419.522.4636 Toll Free: 877.79...

**Attention Parents** In our professional and personal lives we all have people we admire and trust. For me, that person is Norman Shub.  Norman Shub is an author, teacher and psychotherapist with the ability to expertly guide individuals, couples, families and communities toward solutions. His clear, compassionate, and practical style of teaching makes him a joy to listen to and you will come away with many clear and specific ideas . For more than 35 years, Norman has been clinical director of Gestalt Associates and the Gestalt Institute of Central Ohio. Throughout the year, he offers workshops on many of the topics that affect our daily lives. These workshops are offered in the evening, at a very reasonable price, and I can not express how beneficial I have found him to be.  Please consider attending a workshop. You will not regret it. Here are the current offerings! Developing Your Child's Self-Esteem - February 13, 2018 Parenting From Your Heart - April 1...

Anxiety Workshop for Parents! Anxiety  has become a growing issue in our changing world, especially with increasing terrorism, violence and more.  Parents often struggle to manage anxiety that develops in their children. While occasional anxiety is normal, constant anxiety can look a lot more like fear. Fear is being afraid of something real. Anxiety can become irrational and an everyday part of a child’s life, prohibiting them from truly enjoying childhood.  If you are a parent and are confused about how to help your child grow beyond their anxiety, you are not alone.   In this workshop, parents will learn skills to mitigate anxiety and help their children navigate anxiety. Why Should You Attend: -Is your child feeling too much anxiety? -Do you know what parents do that inadvertently causes anxiety in children?  -Are you modeling too much anxiety?  -Do you know how to help your child feel less anxiety through the parenting proces...

Happy Friday! There may be snow on the ground, but SPRING BREAK is nearly here! I am sure many families are looking forward to a fun and relaxing break! For many students, after a break, the return to school is difficult due to symptoms of anxiety. We see a growing number of students dealing with anxiety. Anxiety is often unpredictable and can be a challenge for the whole family. If you have a child who struggles with anxiety, I urge you to make the return to school a priority on April 17th. Try not to schedule any appointments or have any tardies in that first week back. If an appointment is necessary, make it as late in the day as possible. This way it does not disrupt the morning routine.  If anxiety is something your family struggles through, there is an upcoming workshop just for you!  Norman Shub, Ph.D. is the Clinical Director of the Gestalt Institute of Central Ohio.  Norman Shub is an author, teacher and psychotherapist who is a leader in the guiding of ind...

  RED RIBBON WEEK   This week the Junior High is celebrating Red Ribbon Week! Red Ribbon Week is a week of drug, alcohol, and violence prevention awareness. Every day on the announcements there will be interesting drug facts, and at lunch all the students have the opportunity to wrtie their "anti-drug" hands that will be hung all over the school. In addition, the entire school is encouraged to WEAR RED THIS THURSDAY!   This is a great opportunity to talk to your student about the dangers of drugs and alcohol. Here is the latest "TEACHable Moment" from the Drug Free Action Alliance. You can subscribe to this information on their website!   Know! The Impact of Marijuana on Adolescents “We are the New Americana, getting high on legal marijuana,” are the lyrics to a popular new song by 21-year-old singer/songwriter ‘Halsey.’ Her song reflects the unfortunate reality of the world our children are growing up in, as marijuana becomes not...

October is National Bully Prevention Awareness Month! I received information about a wonderful resource located right here in Lexington! Team Chitwood teaches kids and teens the values of respect and acceptance , along with an anti-bullying verbal and physical defense curriculum . *** Students can come train at Team Chitwood next week (for the remainder of October) for FREE and get a FREE T-shirt .*** In addition, there is an upcoming presentation at Olentangy Liberty HS on November 19 th by Jim Bisenius on Bully Proofing Youth . Jim will be presenting important information and advice for parents, and Team Chitwood will be sharing the story of a local student who overcame bullying using their techniques. Team Chitwood also provides self-defense training. Team Chitwood helped create the defensive tactics program for Ohio law enforcement , and Officer Shawn Chitwood still trains our police force in special workshops and in regular group classes through their academies....

Staying On Top Of Grades! Grade cards will be going home today! In addition to grade cards, you will find a newsletter. Lexington Junior High does not send a monthly newsletter, but they will come home with grade cards occasionally. It is a great way to get information out to every parent. I hope you find it helpful! I want to highlight one of the items I included in the newsletter, as well as tell you about a couple more! ProgressBook Alerts There is A LOT of information that can be found on ProgressBook. Many people think of it as a place to see current grades. That is true, but there is so much more. Teachers will post homework, along with attachments of the homework! My personal favorite feature is the alert system. Too busy to check everything every night but still want to stay in the loop? Do you want to be notified if your child has a missing assignment? Or if their grade drops below a certain level? You can set an alert to be sent to you when this happens! On t...

SLEEP The first day of school is almost half finished! Anyone have a difficult time getting up this morning? I know I am still working on getting to bed earlier. Switching back to school mode can be a difficult transition. Sleep is INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT! Here is a great article discussing the HUGE impact sleep has on school!   Know! Sleep Impacts School Success For students everywhere, saying goodbye to summer break meansalso saying goodbye to their summer sleep schedule of staying up late and snoozing until lunchtime. For tweens and teens, this transition is especially challenging. Their body clocks are programmed to stay up later and sleep in later. And while it may be a struggle, sleep is an essential element for school success. How much is enough? According to the National Sleep Foundation, the updated recommended range for school-age children (ages 6 – 13) is 9-11 hours of sleep; and teens (ages 14-17) are said to need 8-10 hours of sleep.  For ma...

Summer Lunches!       We know that statistically, many students, without having school lunches available during the summer, do go hungry. Thankfully, there are people out there who want to help.   All children ages 1 through 18 are eligible to receive free meals during the summer months at participating program sites. Individuals ages 19 through 21 who have been identified as having mental or physical disabilities and are following Individualized Education Programs (IEPs ) through their current enrollment in educational programs, also are eligible for free summer meals.   Here is a link provided by ODE with information on where the free meals can be obtained as well as a phone number for more information (1-866-3-HUNGRY). There are 6 free meal sites located in Mansfield as well as in neighboring communities such as Crestline, Galion and Mt. Vernon.   http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Other-Resources/Food-and-Nutrition/Summer-F...

Rising Stars Engineering Camp Summer is sneaking up on us. What are your plans? Vacation, video games, friends, pool pass?  Here is one more option for current 6 th and 7 th grade students to consider!    Learn about mechanical engineering when you build and race your own robot! The robot is yours to keep! Learn about aeronautical engineering when you build and launch your own rocket! The rocket is yours to keep! Learn about green engineering when you build a solar panel and a windmill! Learn basic physics and how it affects engineering! This week long camp is only $80 and offered in nearby Shelby. Applications are available in the Junior High office. Click the link for more information: http://www.ncstatecollege.edu/cms/events/rising-stars You can also contact Linda Nicol at 419-755-4700 or lnicol@ncstatecollege.edu. 

Greetings Spring Breakers! I hope everyone is enjoying their SPRING BREAK! I am spending some time with family and relaxing. I have been hearing about many exciting vacations and look forward to seeing all of the smiling, tanned faces on Monday:) Spring break is a great time to relax, unwind, and catch up on all of those things you have been putting off. For some of you, that means working on math corrections! Remember, if you are having trouble, you can always log in to ConnectEd and get some help. http://connected.mcgraw-hill.com/connected/login.do   Ohio Means Jobs is another great website to take a look at. The 8th graders have had the opportunity to explore this site a few times this year. For you parents out there, there is an adult side of the website also. This is a great site to explore careers, evaluate your interests, research educational options, and so much more. This website takes things one step further. Every career interest is linked with...