September, 21-25 - Week Recap

 Recognize our emotions

Recognizing our emotions is something we learn from a very young age. Most of us can say if we are happy, sad, angry, and so on. Truly understanding our emotions and what they may hide is a little more complex and not so evident at all times. Emotions can be divided into Primary Emotions, which are the emotions we are born with, and Secondary emotions which are emotional reactions to our emotions, and they are often learned. 

It is very important to be able to identify our true emotions in order to apply appropriate coping skills, manage difficult feelings, or adjust our behavior when needed. This can help us to feel more comfortable and in control during social situations or in our everyday life. It also can help us to recognize if the emotions we display are really what we feel and target the true root of a problem in order to overcome it. 

A fun activity presented to our students this week was to create a personal emoji. The students were directed to pick either their favorite face emoji or the emoji that best matched how they were feeling. Once they had the emoji picked out, they could write or draw times or things related to that emotion.

These were some samples shown to the students:

Which emotion are you feeling right now? 

Can you recognize why you feel the way you feel? 

Did you make your Emoji? 😉

September, 14 -18, Week Recap

This week at Mark Twain School, we talked about the importance of breathing.

Sometimes we forget how important it is to breathe. Breathing is not only an automatic reflex that helps us survive, but it also affects our entire body and mental state. When we are anxious, fearful, or stressed, our heart races, our muscles tense up, and our breathing becomes faster and shallow. If we control the way we breathe by taking long slow breaths, we send a signal to our body that things are OK, and consequently, our heart starts to slow down, our muscles relax, and we feel better and think more clearly. Learning how to slow down our breathing can be very helpful when we have to take a test in school or we are faced with challenges.

With some of the students, we drew leaves to gain awareness of our breathing. By starting from the stem, we started to inhale until we arrived at the top of the leaf, and then exhale while reconnecting the other side of the leaf to the stem. Some of us colored our leaves. Once we collect them all, we will make our own "Breathing Tree".

A video was shared with the high school students, which shows a technique (4-7-8) on how to take those effective breaths, but there are many more good videos out of there.

Just remember to breathe, especially when you feel anxious, stressed, or scared.

September, 7-11 Week Recap

    The students at Mark Twain have adjusted well to the new school routine, and although this situation of remote learning is not ideal, they are working hard and giving their best! 

    At our school, the students are not only growing through their academics but also through social-emotional learning. This week the therapeutic staff talked about Mindfulness and Senses in their daily groups. Gaining awareness of our five senses and identifying them was the primary focus. This was achieved through videos, games, and activities. In their Wednesday's group, the art therapists asked the students to trace their hands and write their favorite examples for each sense. Ms. Vidal made a sample with her favorites!

    Seeing the people we care about is not always possible for many different reasons. This can be challenging, especially during this period of isolation. We miss our friends, family members, teachers, mentors, and others who are important in our life. We must trust that no matter what the circumstances, we can still be connected. Often times children's books are able to convey important messages to people of all ages. This week, Mrs. D'Amore chose "The invisible String" by Patrice Karst, as one of those books.  The invisible string is a story of connectedness where love is the only thing needed. 

I hope you enjoy the story and take as a reminder that

we are all connected and ... 

..."no one is ever alone"!

Under the Mask

Wearing a mask is an essential way to keep us and others safe during Covid-19. When we are in public, we now look different with our masks on. One major difficulty is that masks can hide our emotions. We might not catch how others are feeling or others might have difficulty understanding how we are feeling. 

In our school, we made a bulletin board about it. We invite others to draw their feelings under the mask and pin it on the board. 

This is a short video where Ms. Vidal demonstrates how to make your "under the mask" drawing. 

Have fun being creative!!!

 

Dear Students, Parents, Guardians, and Friends, 

The 2020-21 Academic School Year will not start as a traditional year. The current situation with Covid-19 is affecting us in a way we could not have imagined a few months ago. I am sorry that I will not be able to make art in person with our students for now, but I am confident that this will end soon, hopefully. 

Ms. Vidal (our art therapy intern at Mark Twain) and I are making plans to continue to engage our students. With the current technologies, this should not be a problem. We will use this blog and google classrooms as a resource as well as meeting our students through Google Meet or Zoom meetings. But this only the beginning. Hopefully, we will surprise you with more initiatives and make the best of this difficult situation. Art is a powerful tool, especially during difficult times. 

If you have any questions or thoughts to share, you can send me an email fdamore-krug@altonschools.org or call my Mark Twain School office at (618) 433-4906. 

I wish you a great 2020-2021 School Year!!!!

Sincerely, Mrs. D'Amore

 

ARTSY 2020

With great excitement and pride, I am announcing that one of our students' art pieces was chosen to be the image of this year's ARTSY poster. His painting was voted among 27 others. 

This brings much joy to the Alton art therapy program, Mark Twain, and to our district as a whole. 

ARTSY is a yearly art exhibit that features youth art made with an art therapist in different therapeutic settings like school districts, Children's hospitals, residential facilities, private practices in the Metropolitan St. Louis area.  This exhibit does not only shows great art, but each piece is accompanied by an artistic statement. The statement provides the opportunity for the youth to express their thoughts and feelings about their creations and/or talk about what the art means to them.