Five Rs of Returning After Winter Break

| By: Committee for Children

By Joy Brooke

I hope having winter break off from school allowed you and your students to experience the important three Rs: rest, relaxation, and rejuvenation. Even though for some returning to school is the best thing, for others it may cause some students and yes, even some teachers the Winter Break Blues. Spring break is far away, and in most cases, the winter days are shorter and darker. These blues can create long tedious days unless we choose otherwise.

So, listen up! Here are five Rs you can do now to keep those blues at bay. They can also help you move forward by integrating social-emotional skills in your classroom from the very beginning into the new year ahead.

1. Reconnect. Reconnect with the whole group and one-on-one with each student. Tell your students you missed them and it makes you happy to see them. That will mean the world to them. Depending on their home life, some of them have missed you more than you know. Reiterate the assurance you are still there and make a point to give each of your students a positive compliment. Help them reconnect with each other. Most of them haven’t seen each other at all for over two weeks. Be conscious of this and allow for more discussion, partner work, group work, and sharing during class time.

2. Relish each other’s company. Share your stories. Two weeks is a long time to be away from each other. Talk about the highlights of your winter break and maybe even your valleys or low points. A great way to practice the valuable social skill of listening is by doing a listening activity I recently introduced. Telling students ahead of time they will be responsible for sharing their partners’ stories from the break will really get them to listen. Use this sharing as a time for relishing each other’s lives and reviewing the importance of listening skills.

3. Review your class motto. Don’t have one? Create one. My class motto has always been “Be the Best You Can Be!” We cheered it almost every morning to remind ourselves that we have a choice. We also discussed how every one of us is different and gifted in our own way. We all must do the best we can. It’s not a competition. At the same time, review the class rules that are posted in the front for all to see. Review the story of how they came to be, whether it you chose all the rules together and then signed as a contract to follow them, or whether they are rules that appeared in the student handbook. It's most important to review why the rules were created: so everyone feels safe, welcome, able to learn, and part of the community.

4. Reflect on goals and yes, even make some fun resolutions. Writing them down, sharing them, and showing them for the world to see on a bulletin board engraves them in our minds. Three years ago I made a new resolution in front of my kindergarten students that I was going to write more. And low and behold, that month I started my own column in the local newspaper, and it’s still going strong. When we write down our goals, our resolutions, our dreams…whatever you want to call them, and when we share them with others, it makes us more accountable. We find a way.

5. Routine! Believe it or not, your students missed it. They probably didn’t have it for two or more weeks. They stayed up late watching movies, playing video games, and maybe even reading into the wee hours of the night. Some may have just played with their siblings and no other friends, depending on their family and travels and traditions. The students love those two weeks of free time, but they also love that routine of coming back to the expected—especially the students who really need routine to stay calm and prevent anxiety. Make a schedule, stick to the schedule, and stick to the routine that was in place before winter break.

I hope you find time for the five Rs in the new year ahead! Let’s reconnect, relish, review, reflect, and keep and build routine to create an environment for our students that supports social-emotional learning. Happy New Year to you and your amazing community of learners! 

Joy Brooke is a National Board Certified Teacher who has used these five Rs for over 14 years to keep the Winter Break Blues away and promote social-emotional learning in herself and her amazing students.