Adams Elementary Principal Byron Bethards is on a mission. With an increasing number of younger children experiencing mental health and other social and emotional difficulties, he wants each of the 420 students at Adams to feel known and visible at school. He also wants the school to be a place where every student has a strong sense of self and appreciates their fellow students.
Last month, he and school counselor Leonne Bannister visited each classroom and shared a lesson of self-compassion from the children’s book “The Best Part of Me”, by author Wendy Ewald. They kicked-off a school-wide writing project to celebrate individual differences and the diversity of the school community. Once completed, each student’s writing project and a photo of their “best part” were assembled for a display in the school gymnasium during parent/teacher conference days this month. In addition, a speaker from Trillium Family Services will visit the school to talk with parents about what they can do to teach self-compassion and self-care to their child to support mental health.
“I found this experience to be both professionally and personally fulfilling,” shared Principal Bethards. “It has been incredible to see firsthand the diversity and developmental levels of our young writers. The display of student projects allows our staff, students, and families to discover all of the unique qualities that make up our community of learners.”
To learn more about resources available from our mental health partner, Trillium Family Services, please visit their website HERE.