 Well, hi Paris, thanks for joining us for this recorded zoom session this time. Because of your feedback from the August trainings, you had mentioned that you want to work with behavior strategies, and one of those is building good relationships with your students. So I asked Jill Gunther from Nebraska MTSS to join us and share some ideas on this topic. Yeah, thanks Jill for joining us. These are our emails and just feel free always to reach out. We're here for you. This is our job to support you. So please let us know after this, you know, if you have questions or if you need support on any topic. Perfect. And like she said, I'm Jill Gunther, social emotional behavioral learning specialist with Nebraska MTSS and I serve region three, which is ESUs one, seven and eight. Right. And so we'll just go ahead and get started here. We're going to talk, like Steph said, just a little bit about really building those relationships, really building that classroom community, that school community, which in turn in turn really helps to build those positive behaviors and it really helps to increase those desired behaviors that we want to see as well. And so just a nice quote here to get us kind of in that mindset, but we're going to start with a quick little just personal reflection. You guys can kind of think about this welcoming inclusion question here that we have. What about today has been better than yesterday? And so we'll talk a little bit later about how welcoming inclusion activities just kind of what those are and how they can really be a great tool in our tool belt to help build those relationships. But for now, just kind of a little personal reflection and really thinking about some of the good things going on and what are some things that really have made today better than what yesterday was. And if you're watching in a group like some of you do, you could pause this even and share them. Absolutely. Absolutely. All right. And then with that, that brings us to our objectives for our time together today. We are going to really dig in to just establishing that rationale for being able to foster that community in the classroom and through the SEL competencies and research, just kind of what those SEL competencies are, what that means. And then secondly, really identifying strategies to be able to foster that community in the classroom. And thinking about those norms as you're together today, you know, stand and stretch often kind of that be safe piece, take care of your own needs, that be respectful piece, engage in those collaborative efforts. If you're together within a team and then just being responsible, taking the time if you're together in a team, being able to ask those questions, being able to have some reflections and some opportunities to talk about what this might look like for you. And then that brings us to our first objective. So really kind of thinking about what is social, emotional, behavioral learning. So this is our Nebraska MTSS definition and it's the systematic process. So really thinking about social, emotional, behavioral learning in a silo. But what does that mean altogether? How do we build that system so that we can really support social and emotional skills for both students as well as adults so that we in turn can really create that safe, that supportive, that welcoming environment so that we can have those positive behavioral outcomes so that we can have those positive mental health outcomes again for both students as well as adults. And so just to kind of give us an idea of what some of those skills are that fall within social, emotional, behavioral learning, you'll see the SCBL competency will on the slide right now. And there are five competencies. So those five competencies are self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision making, relationships, and then social awareness. And for our time together today, we're really going to just kind of look at those two green ones. So the relationship skills and the social awareness as we're thinking about how do we really target and how can we be intentional with building those relationship skills in order to have those positive behaviors? And so when we're thinking about those skills that fall within, this is a web that we like to share just to give us a better idea. When we're talking about social, emotional, behavioral learning skills and the skills that fall within each of those competencies, what does that mean? So as you're looking at this web, hopefully you're seeing like, well, these are some of the skills that we really just want in every good human being. These are the skills that we want for each and every one of our students that comes into our classroom or comes into our building. We want them to really have these skills. So when they move on to whatever that means post-secondary, that they really are able to utilize these skills. And so as we're looking at like self-awareness, that's really going to be thinking about like, what are some of the strengths that we have? What are some of the limitations and how we can maybe build upon those? How are we aware of our own emotions, thoughts, behaviors? The self-management piece, really thinking about that self-awareness, but then how are we coping with that? How are we really able to manage those emotions, thoughts and behaviors? How am I setting goals? The responsible decision-making piece. So really thinking about evaluating consequences, kind of working through that problem solving process. And then those relationship skills. So things like communication, teamwork, being a good friend, that all falls within those relationships and then the social awareness piece. So that is thinking about empathy and perspective taking all falls within social awareness as well. So hopefully this web just kind of gives you a better idea of what we're meaning when we're thinking about some of those skills that fall within each of those competencies. This next piece kind of does that same thing, but this is just a nice one that I really like to share because it actually comes from lots of different surveys that were done of employers in what skills they're looking for in their employees. And so I think this just helps give us a better understanding of like, why are social emotional behavioral learning skills important? Like, why are we talking about them? Why are we targeting them? Why is it important for students to really have that awareness of these skills and for us to be really be practicing and modeling these pieces? And so this is just a nice layout of that. And again, specifically today, really looking at those relationship skills and those social awareness skills. So those ones that you see there in green. So thinking about respecting individual differences, thinking about effective communication skills, thinking about those conflict resolution skills, they all fall within there. And when we're thinking about those social emotional behavioral learning competencies, again, like we mentioned, we're talking about these because they are just such a key component in really helping students have those positive behaviors. So really targeting those positive behaviors because we know those skills that fall within those competencies really help support if you have those school-wide expectations. So things like be safe, be respectful, be responsible and have that definition of those, those social emotional behavioral learning competencies really help support those skills. They really help support that positive mental health. And then they really help support that career readiness. So just like when you saw those skills that fell within each of the competencies, when we're thinking about the skills that employers are looking for, those social emotional behavioral learning competencies really help support those as well. So all just kind of driving home, like why is this important? And then especially when we're thinking about social emotional behavioral learning skills and students with those strong skills, they are more likely to just be better self advocates. They are more likely to be just more resilient, be more caring, concerned community members. And then on the flip side, they're less likely to display that emotional distress. They're less likely to have those conduct problems or receive public assistance. So this is just kind of a nice just little overview when we're thinking about those strong social emotional behavioral learning skills as well. Here we see just some research, just kind of around mental health in Nebraska and really thinking about it from both the adult side as well as the student side. So on the one side, we're really thinking about some surveys that were completed a few years ago. But again, we're seeing the our educators all the way from our administrators to our teachers to our specialists to our parents and everything in between really just thinking about just greater stress that we're experience experiencing more shortages, especially in substitutes and support staff, increased mental health concerns. And then for our student population, one in four youth are in need of those mental health services. But when we look down, we see only about 40 percent of those youth are actually getting those services, getting those that treatment that they're in need of. And so again, just really drives home for both students as well as staff, the importance of really targeting and supporting social emotional behavioral learning for students as well as staff so that we can have that awareness. And so that we as the adults can really practice those skills for ourselves so that we in turn can be able to really model those things for our students as well. We've also seen in recent years, the ESU has started a licensed mental health practitioner program. And so those LMHPs are out in schools. And now we have 10 now that work for the ESU. So we're happy to start to see some more supports go into schools. But I'm sure we still have some kids that have those needs that aren't being met. So hopefully we can, you know, schools are increasing time with their LMHPs. And I think it's something we've seen the need for for years and just haven't had the access to that. Yes, yes. This is a nice quote that really just outlines the importance of those relationships. And so your success as an educator is more dependent on those positive, those caring, those trustworthy relationships than on any skill, idea, tip or tool. And I really just like this quote. I think it's a nice reminder for us and really thinking about like, how can we build those relationships with our students, with our staff? Within our building. And so just kind of a nice little quote to get us going as we move into really talking about those relationship skills. And so you saw the web. This is just kind of an expanded version, but really just kind of honing in on those relationship skills. And so some of those pieces that really fall within that we're thinking about, like, how can we target? How can we really talk about some of these skills that fall within relationship skills? So that teamwork, that conflict resolution, that being a good friend and that communication. And then what does building those relationship skills? Like, what does that look like? What does that sound like within the classroom setting? So just to kind of get us thinking about that, wanting to give you just like a little example here. So when it's maybe a basketball unit, maybe it's within a PE class, what can really talking about building those relationship skills and kind of really being intentional look like sound like within that setting. And so maybe it's we're learning basketball, it's in a basketball unit. And we're talking about how we all have different abilities. Some of us have really strong basketball skills. Some of us maybe not so much. Maybe this is our first interaction with learning basketball or playing basketball. But talking about how we can be encouraging to everyone, how we can cheer each other on as we're trying these skills. That's all part of that relationship skills and how we're really working to target those on the flip side there. Maybe it's during like a science lab and we're working in some lab groups. And we all have those designated just assigned roles, responsibilities. And it's talking about this really gives us the chance to be able to communicate, to be able to collaborate together. Who is going to do this step? What is this going to look like? Who is going to fill out the paper? That's all part of really building those relationship skills as well. In my class, we used to do class meeting every week. And we ended class meeting always with giving someone a compliment. The person sitting to your right. And it was so neat to see my kids encourage each other there. It started out the year it was really general, like you're a good friend. And then they'd get to the point that they'd say, you've really been trying hard to pass your ninth in multiplication. And I'm so proud of you because you finally did or something like that, where they would get very specific and it was the biggest team builder in my class. So I think Paris, you know, as you work with small groups and things like that, you could think about that at the end of a class time. A time to do shout outs or high fives to people for the great things that they're doing. I love that. What a great example. And I also love that you said like it kind of started off rather generic. But then as they just got more comfortable with it, then it's just like building and just becomes more natural. And then you see that generalization, like not only in your classroom, but now they're doing it in the hall or now they're doing it in the cafeteria or whatever it might be. And it really just created a family kind of feel to our class because we cared about each other. So it was nice. I love that. And not only the person like getting the compliment or getting the shout out it makes them feel good, but the person giving it to like so many benefits. Yes. The next one here, so this social awareness web. So again, it's that expanded web that you saw initially, but really kind of just showing what skills fall within that social awareness. Like, what does that mean when we're talking about social awareness and social awareness is a big piece of relationship skills as well. So if you think back to those five competencies that we went through, I know it's not necessarily what they say, but I do feel like every one of those competencies is really just built on the premise of those relationship skills. We can't practice or know or understand self-awareness or self-management without having those relationship skills and have that understanding. And so I really do feel like all of those skills that are within really, really build off of relationship skills specifically. But social awareness, especially, so even with that example of just the kind of having that perspective, but how that makes that other students feel that are giving the compliments as well as the student getting the compliment, so much of that just gratitude piece and the benefits of that as well. But that's really part of that social awareness. So not only like the empathy and the perspective taking and the gratitude piece, but all of those pieces also help to build those relationships. So having that awareness of those around us and how what I say or what I do, what kind of impact that might have on those around me. So as we're thinking about that, they do really kind of work alongside one another, the relationship skills and the social awareness as well. And so I think that that's like a modeling piece to learn. Some sometimes kids don't have this in their life. They don't have people modeling empathy and awareness of culture and some of those things. And I think just our role as educators is just to model that. And then kids are drawn to that kind of positivity and caring nature and things like they need that if they didn't hear a positive thing this morning as they didn't feel good and they went to school or something. They need that empathy from you and they and they're going to be drawn to you and drawn to a good relationship with you because you cared about them. Absolutely. Yes. And then that kind of brings us to kind of thinking about like, what can that look like? What can that sound like in the classroom setting as well? And so when we're thinking about that social awareness, I mean, it could be during a social studies lesson where we're talking about just kind of different perspectives, different cultures, different values, different beliefs and how everybody has different beliefs, how we all have different values, but really kind of talking about how that makes the world go round, right? Talking about how that can also have an impact on the interactions that we have together as well. That's all part of that social awareness. It could be discussing steps for solving a story problem as well and just kind of seeing those different perspectives. Like this is how one student solved it. This is maybe how another student solved it. Or something that we're reading, how we might interpret it one way and another student may interpret it a little bit differently. But talking about those different strategies that we kind of work through, talking about those different perspectives, that is all part of that social awareness piece as well. And when we have that open dialogue and we're talking about how, you know, we all might have those different strategies or different perspective on maybe a reading or on solving a story problem that really targets that social awareness. But when we have that open dialogue, it helps to build those relationships as well. So with that, that kind of brings us to the second piece that we're talking about today is what are some of those strategies to just kind of help build and foster that community within the classroom so we can see those positive behaviors and we can build those positive relationships. And so this just is a nice reminder that when we have those strong relationships for all of our students and with our staff, we're really building that foundation for that student engagement. We are really helping to provide that sense of belonging and we're creating that safe and supportive learning environment. We're helping to really increase those desired behaviors and then decrease those undesired behaviors by building those strong relationships. So a couple of ways that we just wanted to share and hopefully some things that, like I said earlier, that some tools that you can add to your tool belt. So positive greetings at the door is the first one. And this can be positive greetings at the classroom door. This can be just positive greetings throughout the school day, right? So it could be as students are entering or even exiting the cafeteria or going out for recess or in transition from one class period to the next at the middle school or secondary level. And so when we're thinking about those positive greetings, it can be just a variety of different places, but really thinking about how we can make it specific. So doing that greeting by using the student's name, having that short, that positive interaction and then directing them to whatever the next activity is or if it's at the classroom door at the beginning of the day, directing them to whatever it is that they're going to be working on as they go and they find their seat. And so when we think about those positive greetings at the door, there is so much research behind this strategy for just working to increase academic engagement. So research actually tells us that when we are incorporating those positive greetings at the door, it helps to increase just academic engagement by over 20 percentage points. And then it also helps to decrease that disruptive behavior by nine percentage points. And then just overall, when we're thinking about this as a whole school day, that potentially adds an additional hour of engagement over a five hour instructional day. So just huge benefits for this kind of just small interaction with students. And when we think about especially for our students that are going from class to class, like especially at the secondary level, if all of our staff members are really incorporating these positive greetings at the door, think of how many interactions, how many positive interactions students are having each and every day with the educators within the building. And so just kind of a nice little reminder that something really so small, the huge impact that it really can have. That was, I think, one of my favorite routines in my classroom. And we did hugs, high fives or handshakes. And but, you know, if you think about that kid right now, absenteeism is such an issue in schools. And if you've had a kid that's been gone and you can say to them, I'm so glad you're back, we missed you yesterday, rather than where were you yesterday? Why didn't you get your homework done? You know, things like that, just that positive little message and just letting them know that they were missed is so important, I think. Absolutely. And can just have such a change for not only your day, but also the students day, right? And really all of the other students as well, because they see they see those interactions too, and it helps with the modeling. We had one day with one of my classes, we forgot to do our hugs, high fives and handshakes at the beginning of the day. And we just got off on the wrong foot. We were just kind of hourly and I said, OK, everybody, we're going to leave the classroom and we're starting over. So they lined up and we started over with our hugs, high fives and handshakes. And so it was a better day after that. I love it. Re-start. Sometimes you need it. Yes, absolutely. The next piece kind of again, going along with those positive greetings at the door, but student check-ins. So thinking about different times, different ways that we might incorporate some student check-ins. And so this could even be used as part of those positive greetings at the door. I do have a couple of resources just linked in the slides here. So like some morning messages or sample prompting, prompting circle questions to just kind of get us thinking about some different questions maybe to ask or some different ways to kind of target those interactions. But really thinking about like, how could I use some student check-ins to really help to build those relationship skills with students? How can we build that positive environment? And these are just some like times to think about, like, when could I incorporate those as well? And so maybe for our like elementary classrooms, maybe it's during like if we start with a morning meeting or like a circle time for our middle school, secondary classrooms. Maybe it's during like if there's a bell work or prompt as we're going in, thinking about like how we might utilize some of that time to provide those student check-ins to really in turn help to build those relationships. And so even this one, so this little smiley face one that you see here, just doing a check-in even with like academic work. So it could be it could be an emotional check-in. It could be something about their night last night or an activity that they were just involved in. It could be an academic check-in like, hey, how are you feeling with this assignment? Or how are you feeling with what we just discussed in class? And, you know, just getting that information, that feedback from them. And then what what are we then in turn kind of providing to help support that as well? So that's just kind of a fun little one like, I can do this. I'm getting there. I need help and can really kind of help build that self-awareness skill for the student as well. But then giving us that information too and just kind of help with next steps there. And Paris, sometimes you work with somebody one on one, a kid one on one. And so you might want to do that little check-in as you're getting to them for the day or maybe you work with them just for math class. So you want to check in with them just as you're coming to them maybe in the afternoon or something. But you have that quiet time with them, that that side conversation that you can check in and they trust you so much, I think. And you build those relationships through those small times. Absolutely. So again, just like a few ways to do that as well. So Steph talked about like maybe just like an emotional check-in. You know, maybe it's in passing, maybe it's at the start of the class, maybe it's during a break time in the class, whatever that might be. Just kind of a few other tools to be able to do this. So this is these next two slides are more of some like emotional check-ins. Like just to see like, how are we feeling? How are we doing? But it could also be about the content too. Like whatever happened in class, whatever was discussed, whatever the lesson is, like, how are we feeling about that? And so these are a couple just feelings wheel check-ins that could be utilized. The emotion sensation wheel, I really like this one. I don't feel like it's as widely used, but sometimes students or adults were able to maybe describe like what's going on in our body or kind of how our body is feeling, but maybe not able to exactly pinpoint like what that feeling might be. And so this is just kind of a different way to do that. So I really do like this one as well. These other two, so thinking about like a five point scale, it could even be like a fist to five doing a check-in that way or this mood meter of how are you feeling from just increased energy and then the pleasantness as well as just kind of how that one is set up in the different quadrants. And so just some great tools to kind of be able to utilize that student check-in strategy. That brings us to inclusive practices. And so if you think back to the welcoming inclusion activity, that's just kind of the first one that you see there. So there are three inclusive practices, welcoming inclusion. So kind of like how we start the engaging practices. So it's kind of like the middle and then the optimistic closure. So the end. And so these three inclusive practices are a great way to just really help to build those relationships. Again, helps to increase those positive or those desired behaviors, helps to decrease those undesired behaviors. And so we wanted to give just a few examples of each of these inclusive practices. So this first one, these welcoming activities, there's actually like a few slide decks linked in here as well, but a great resource to just kind of pull from as we're thinking about like, what are some different things that I might be able to incorporate in my time with a student or with a small group of students to be able to work to really build those relationships. And this is a great way. So on these slide decks that are linked in here, there's usually six just kind of pieces or six questions in each of the slides. And so a lot of times there's maybe like a quote of the day, there's some type of pull of the day. And then like a morning check-in as well. So this particular one, it says on a scale of sheep, how are you feeling today? And so just kind of like fun ones to incorporate as well. But what a great way to really help to get to know the student a little bit better, kind of know, especially for those morning check-ins, like how's our day gonna go today? What do I maybe need to be prepared for? How can we kind of set ourselves up for success as well? So lots of great resources just embedded within the slide decks here. And it always wants to play the video for me too. The second piece, so engaging practices here is kind of like that second one. So what are we doing kind of in the middle as part of those engaging practices to work to increase and build relationships? And so a 60 second relate break is a great example of an engaging practice. So it might just be like a quick little break. So it's a one minute break where we're providing some type of question not necessarily related to the content. And so for this particular example, it's for like a larger group where we're having the students answer the question, but like getting up and moving and going and answering or sharing their answer to the question with somebody else within the classroom. And so different ways that we might incorporate this, this just might be like if we're working one-on-one with a student, maybe it's just we're posing that question but we're getting up, taking a quick movement break and then sharing with each other the answer to that posed question. And so can certainly be utilized with just one-on-one with a small group or with a large group but some different resources to be able to utilize those engaging practices as well. So lots of get to know you questions in that first link there. Some would you rather questions are great ones to utilize for those that engaging 60-second relate break. A question wheel, a student this or that and then four corners as well. And so just some resources there as we're thinking about like what could I use to be able to utilize that particular strategy. And then the third inclusive practice is optimistic closure. So that's just kind of the ending. And again, lots of different things that we could use as part of like an optimistic closure or like an ending time with students. It could be like a quick little, hey, tell me one word about how you felt about the lesson today or tell me one word, how you might describe your day so far. It could be even this example here is like utilizing a deck of playing cards and choosing one card and then answering the question that goes along with that particular suit. So maybe if we are drawing the heart, our question is something from the heart. So how did you feel? What did it mean to you? So thinking about maybe it was just a book that was read. Maybe it was a completion of some story problems, things like that. So what exactly like, how are you feeling about that lesson? Do you have questions? What are some maybe new ideas, new thoughts, a new point of view if we're drawing the club there? And so questions could be changed up. We could use lots of different questions but just a great way to just kind of have like, hey, I could utilize a deck of cards to be able to kind of incorporate or target building relationships just kind of like out of closing as well. I love that idea even for teachers that come to the ESU. It's a good one. And an easy one to just have like a quick deck of cards or even just a few to be able to kind of pull from there. This is a nice little visual here too. So just provides 10 ways to build relationships. And so I really like this top 10 that they have here. So really thinking about talking to them about non-school related subjects. So taking an interest in what their interests are, whether that be sports, just extracurriculars, just kind of like things that they like to do. Maybe it's hobbies or collections or whatever that might be. But talking to them about non-school related things can really help to boost those relationships. Letting them teach you about their interests. That was the one that I used all the time. Like I worked in the high school setting and I learned so much about gaming that I never knew before. Remembering things about their lives. So even for us, like just making little notes of things to like check back in something that they share or maybe it's an upcoming trip that they have or they're getting to visit a family member just kind of making a little side note for ourselves so that we can check back in on that. Just a huge relationship builder there too. Sharing about your own life, engaging in activities with them, telling hilarious or even embarrassing stories can be a good one. Sharing inspirational stories from your life, just doing crazy things. I like that one. Like that can mean a variety of things, right? Using their interests in your lessons or in your activities that you're doing and then apologizing when you mess up I think is a huge one too. Just kind of having that or showing that vulnerability as well because it's just a great modeling tool for those students as well. So letting them know like, hey, yeah, I messed up. You're right. Can be just a great relationship builder too. So I really like that just kind of layout of those top 10. Let's see the emotional piggy bank. So this is another great resource and for all ages I know it's specific to just kind of our younger like lower elementary and even early childhood but these are things that can be used for all grade levels just really helping to build those relationships. So the first two links really just kind of talk about the emotional piggy bank. So how it's important to really think about how we can make more deposits in our interactions with students than we are withdrawals. And so what that can kind of look like and just kind of keeping track but also the hot buttons is a great one too. So being able to for ourselves as well as the students that we're working with being able to kind of identify those hot buttons or those triggers like what is it that can kind of make me feel frustrated? What is it? What are some of those pinpoint things and being able to really talk about like this is what I've identified and these are some strategies that I can utilize when those things happen. Again, a great just relationship building tool. Fees come from again, that early childhood resource as well but can be utilized for all grade levels just providing that positive feedback, that encouragement. And sometimes I feel like we kind of get stuck in using those same words, that same verbiage, that same language. And so this just kind of gives a variety of different sentence starters when we're thinking about like how can I provide that encouragement or that feedback to students? And so these are some great ones in both of those links there that give us some just different ideas, like I said, some sentence starters and some different ways for that nonverbal encouragement as well. It could be a thumbs up, maybe it's a fist bump, even just the smile, right? Those different gestures and things like that that we can utilize again and thinking about that from the perspective of all grade levels that we could utilize to help build those relationships. And we're supposed to have so many more positive interactions with our kids than negative like four to one, but I've heard it only loses its effect if it's 16 to one positive to negative, then it gets bushy. But think about your kids who don't hear a lot of positive things every day. They're maybe not doing the right things all the time or at home, they get a lot of criticism. Just think about that one way you can boost them up or I'd try to find something in my students that was like their unique little talent. Like we had one boy who just, he was having a hard time in life. Family was going through a lot of stuff, but man, could he organize things in our classroom and he would put our pillows away in the cupboard's right and he would organize the books and our whole class would cheer him on for that. So just those little things that you can find just the smallest thing in every kid and just make them feel special. Yes, I love that. And I think the other piece that I would add in for this too is just trying to make it as specific as possible as well. And I think these sentence starter examples do a great job of that because great job or nice work, those are great, but when we can really be specific, so utilizing the student's name and then letting them know what it is that they're doing that you really want to see more of and then what the effects of that are. So in that Y piece too. So the more specific that we can be, the better. It just helps to increase those positive behaviors, those desired behaviors when we can be very specific with that positive encouragement and feedback as well. And it can be small moments, like not very much time in between these, especially for the kids that struggle with them. So it might be you listened for that two minutes, right? And you didn't blurt out for that two minutes. I'm so proud of you, keep going. Just those little reminders along the way that can keep them going. Absolutely. These positive notes, home example, just kind of like a little pick me up note example. Again, a great way to just kind of show that gratitude. We talked earlier about giving those compliments or giving that positive feedback as well. But these are just kind of a nice way too. So students, I feel like of all ages, they really love to get even just like that little handwritten note. So this is actually a template that can be printed out. It could even be just a sticky note, right? It can be anything, but being able to just kind of share some good things that you saw and then being able to as the student, being able to have that sticky note or that pick me up note or that positive note and being able to share it with friends or family or things like that. So lots of great effects from that as well and helps to really build not only that, those relationships, but helps to fill their cup, right? And our cup too. And my students would work so hard for me just to call their mom and tell them that they were working hard. I mean, the neediest stuff, kids, right? The kids with the worst behaviors, they would work their tails off. So I would call their mom and tell them or their dad or whoever at home. But it's just such a simple thing that we can't forget it or they'll go put that note on the fridge at home so that everybody can see I did good. Yes, I love it. This is a calendar. So the next couple of slides, this first one is a relationship wellness calendar. And the one on the next slide actually comes from random acts of kindness. But what a great way to kind of make it just like a little challenge to help build those relationships and kind of help build getting to know each other. So this particular one isn't like month specific but you could take pieces of it, kind of build your own if you would want to. You could do it just like on a weekly basis. Lots of different ways it could be utilized but this particular one, so we have a few different oops and then I clicked on it too. Sorry, go back to the screen sharing. And so this particular one has different pieces on there like maybe it's volunteering in the community. Maybe it's writing three things that you love about yourself. Maybe it's writing someone a note of gratitude. So all of those pieces, when we're thinking about that web of relationship skills and that web of social awareness that are really working to target those things as well. The next one is it comes from random acts of kindness but another great way to really kind of incorporate maybe even doing a challenge with students in a small group, in a large group, maybe even just with one student but to see how many you can accomplish throughout the month. And then this kindness bingo actually comes from that same resource, the random acts of kindness. So just kind of a fun one too that really targets the skills of gratitude especially but helping to ultimately build those relationships. We should have said a couple of links at the bottom of that slide as well. So they are some gratitude journal prompts. So research tells us that when we are really working on those skills of gratitude when we're showing gratitude to others there are so many health benefits for ourselves. It helps to just increase our ability to sleep, our overall wellness, things like that. But there are a few of those gratitude journal prompts. So if we're thinking back to those like student check-ins or like welcoming inclusion activities those journal prompts could be utilized for that as well. Doesn't necessarily have to be like writing it out but maybe just sharing your response or your answer to that particular journal prompt. So a couple of good resources that I forgot to mention on that last slide. Opportunities to provide student choice. So when we're thinking about really engaging in student voice and choice that is also a great relationship building strategy. When we're really incorporating student voice and choice it also helps to decrease those undesired behaviors as well. And so when we're thinking about like what are some ways to incorporate student choice within group activities whether it be small or large within the classroom setting. This is just kind of a nice little table here that gets us thinking about like what that might look like. So it perhaps could be within activities. Obviously as we go through each of these they may only be appropriate at certain times but just kind of gets us thinking about like what are some different ways to be able to target that student voice and choice. So that first one within activity. So it could be where the student is choosing the materials that they might be utilizing for that specific activity. Great way to target student voice and choice. Maybe it's between activities where there is a couple of different activities provided and the student gets to choose which one they would like to complete or the way that they would like to complete that activity. Maybe it's they get to have that refusal piece. So not electing to participate in that activity. Who maybe they're participating or completing the activity with where they're doing that activity at. So maybe it's on the floor maybe it's just outside of the classroom maybe it's in the corner wherever that might be being able to choose maybe the location. When so student determining what time and activity should occur. So maybe it's something that's completed during like a free choice or like a wind time or a study hall or whatever that might be determining when the completion of that activity occurs. What? So determining how they might demonstrate their learning. So this might be things where completing that activity and writing or maybe it's something that they are going to provide a speech about or maybe it's an art activity or a creative way to display that learning and then terminate. So deciding when to end that activity. So again, just thinking about like different ways we might incorporate student voice and choice. Again, great strategy as part of that relationship building. All right. So we've given a lot of strategies just kind of around that kind of small or large group or classroom community as a whole. This is a nice way to be able to work to build relationships just like with individual students as well. So we talked a little bit about like writing notes down of things that students might share. This is just kind of a nice way to kind of outline that. So maybe we have a post a note for each of the students or the small groups that we're working with and being able to just kind of outline some of those things that we share. But the nice thing about this the way that it's explained is it really gives us some information about what students maybe do we need to get to know a little bit more about what maybe are some other questions that we might be able to ask of the students to be able to learn more to really work to build those relationships. And so this is just kind of a nice one to get us thinking about different ways that we might be able to do that. And then we couldn't talk about relationships and really working to build those relationships to help to increase those positive behaviors without talking about the importance of doing that as adults with our colleagues as well. And just the importance of really building those relationships with others. And just the benefits of really modeling those relationships that we have with our colleagues how beneficial that can be for the students as well. And so just a couple of resources as we're thinking about that as well. So there's a gratitude curriculum. So we have some journal prompts earlier. This is just some activities for really just for all ages. It's specifically designed just more for like colleagues for teachers for educators within buildings. And then also the caring connection Google form. So this is one that we actually created within Nebraska MTSS to just kind of get to know the our colleagues a little bit better within our organization. Again, something that could be adapted modified but just kind of a fun one to get to know things about the people that we're working with and also gives us some information maybe to be able to show some of that gratitude for our colleagues as well. And then with that we wanted to just kind of put together all of the different links and strategies and tools that we shared throughout just kind of in one document. And so this document here either the QR code or the link on the slides will take you to a document with all of the different links. Sometimes it's hard to go back through like a slide deck if you're looking for a specific resource and be able to remember like which slide that those are on. So this particular document just has all of those laid out together. So just kind of as your own little toolkit to be able to go back to. And remember on our Para website we will have the Google slides right next to the recording of this presentation so you can find it there. Perfect. And then that just brings us to that review of our objectives. Really thinking about that rationale for being able to foster that community in the classroom through those SCBL competencies and research and then those strategies to help foster that community within the classroom. And so towards the end here we've talked a lot about that gratitude. What a great way to be able to do that for our optimistic closure. So we have a QR code also a link for notes of gratitude but really thinking about what is or who is a colleague maybe a friend, maybe a student that you would like to show some gratitude for. So the notes of gratitude it's an online link. So you can certainly utilize that one and you put in their email address sends it to them. You could also just do just like a card so a note of gratitude but that would just kind of be our challenge to you. Think about somebody that you would like to show some gratitude to and go ahead and either do the online version or it could just be a quick little note or even an email especially for like a student that maybe you're having a hard time building that relationship with being able to just kind of take some time and write a quick little note to them as that form of gratitude. I love that idea. All right and then we just have our region three contact information if you have any questions or if you need some additional resources obviously reach out to Steph but wanted to include our region three team there as well. And we're so thankful for your partnership. So thanks a lot. And Paris we just want to remind you that our Zoom series continues all year and the other two will be in person. Remember that we meet on the first Tuesday at two via Zoom but we always record our Zooms in case you can't make it. So February 6th we'll talk about some de-escalation strategies that also lead into behaviors. And April 2nd we'll talk about small group facilitation strategies. All of our resources are always available at bit.ly slash Paris of ESU 8 and that's where you can find our Zoom links and things like that too. And lots of resources, lots of years of banked webinars that you can check out there. So we want to say thanks so much to Jill for joining us today and being part of our awesome para group. Paris go out and take care of yourself during the upcoming holidays. Take some time for yourself. We are in a lucky profession that pauses at the holidays. So I hope that you can take some time to not get caught up in all the stress find that quiet moment to yourself or practice some really good self-care strategies like careful planning and not over committing and things like that. But we hope you can recharge and reset for the new year and we'll see you in February. Thanks so much.