Photo Courtesy of Nutley Public Schools At the conclusion of Teacher Appreciation Week, these Lincoln students showed their thanks.
At the conclusion of Teacher Appreciation Week, these Lincoln students showed their thanks.
NUTLEY, NJ — The chief mandate of schools is to educate children, but education comes in many forms and can apply to various parts of a child. In addition to learning history and math, students also learn how to be civic-minded, compassionate, self-regulating and everything that will help them be successful, both academically and emotionally, once they leave the school district. With an eye to this, Nutley Public Schools has instituted “Mindful Mondays” throughout the district.
The Mondays — running from May 18 through June 15 — provide an opportunity to students and district staff to focus on their health and wellness, be it physical, mental or social-emotional. This is in line with the district’s strategic plan goal that focuses on health and wellness for everyone in the school district. While Mindful Mondays are regular instructional days, no new assignments are given to students, who can use these days to catch up on work that they may have fallen behind on or to turn in any missed assignments. Mindful Mondays also provide community members the chance to engage in activities that nurture their bodies and souls.
“We hope that these Mindful Mondays help ease the stress of students, teachers and parents,” Superintendent of Schools Julie Glazer told the Nutley Journal. “We will offer students a variety of ‘Mindful Mondays’ activities to pursue on one of these days or at any time.”
The activities, which are updated regularly, can be found at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1r9aWEWEt8PHuUzsP1rwhVrOHtvhzh1RQvYckUNAIigM/edit?ts=5ebec9f4 for elementary school students and at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jqWLO-YtbfzAQ0ONjb2-hwExumyA9_s6vOD9m4DBW-w/edit for secondary school students.
“On Mindful Mondays students will choose one activity for the day from a menu of mindful activities including field trips, giving back to others, and activities for physical and emotional wellness,” Glazer said. “In addition, students can choose an activity to support their academic wellness, such as visiting a teacher’s virtual office hours or making up incomplete or missing assignments. Teachers in all of a student’s courses will be posting their virtual office hours for Mindful Mondays in Schoology, so if students have questions or are looking for support in a specific class, they can visit that teacher’s virtual classroom for Mindful Monday office hours. Any outstanding assignments should be the priority and can serve as the choice activity for the day. Once an activity is completed, students use the Google form located on the choice board to submit their reflection. The reflection will serve as the student’s attendance for the day.”
With the stress of sheltering in place, Mindful Mondays provide a structured, meditative experience.
“We hope that by taking at least one day every week to practice mindfulness, students and staff are able to slow down, take some time to breathe or do something they enjoy, and begin the week with purpose and clarity,” Glazer said.
According to Glazer, based on the first week’s Mindful Mondays reflection survey, with 2,506 respondents, 97.2 percent agreed that Mindful Mondays are valuable. Physical wellness was the most popular choice, with 97 percent saying they would do the activity again; 62 percent said they chose their activity because it was fun; and 30 percent chose their activity because it was relaxing.
“If students are feeling stressed or want to talk to someone about how they are feeling, one of the options on Mindful Mondays, or any day, is to make an appointment with their school counselor,” said Meredith Gerckens, coordinator of school counseling for the Nutley Public Schools. “Counselors are available to connect with students on the phone or Google Meet to provide services for academic or social-emotional support. Counselors also link students and families with additional resources if higher levels of care are needed.”
Students and the community can access wellness resources on the district’s website under the COVID-19 tab at www.nutleyschools.org/departments/schoolcounseling/wellness. Students are invited to join school counseling Schoology groups for virtual messages, activities and resources that the counselors are sharing.
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