News
Express Yourself - Children's Mental Health Week (1-7 February 2021)
Posted on 29/01/2021
Expressing yourself is about finding ways to share feelings, thoughts, or ideas, through creativity. It is about finding a way to show who you are, and how you see the world, that can help you feel good about yourself.
Place2BE, Children's Mental Health Week
Children's Mental Health Week at SRA
At Samuel Ryder Academy, we are proud to support Children’s Mental Health Week and the theme this year is ‘express yourself’.
We recognise that talking about mental health and expressing our feelings can be difficult, no matter our age. Now, more than ever, it's important to share how we’re feeling with others and, as part of our mental health awareness initiative, we have organised a range of activities for our students throughout the week to keep the conversation of children's mental health going.
Incorporating this year's theme, we are encouraging students and families to take part in the activities and suggestions put together by our departments below. You will also find listed some helpful resources that you may wish to explore during the remote learning phase independently as a family.
Wednesday 3 February
To ensure that students have dedicated time for this awareness week, on Wednesday afternoon for Years 7 -13 there will be no timetabled lessons but we are encouraging them to take part in the opportunities that we will advertise. For Years R – 6 the dedicated time for this will be session 1 on Wednesday.
#SRAexpressyourself
If you would like to share any of the activities you've tried during Children's Mental Health Week on social media, please use the hastag #SRAexpressyourself so we can follow your journey.
Please follow us on social media for more daily activities and updates throughout the week.
Twitter: @SRA_StAlbans @SRAPrimary Facebook: @SamuelRyderAcademy
What is mental health?
Here are some videos you may wish to share with your child when discussing mental health this week.
Video aimed at primary aged students
Video aimed at secondary aged students
Department activity suggestions
Try these at home or in school with your bubble during Children's Mental Health Week.
Drama
Write a short monologue or poem of their thoughts and feelings – How have you expressed yourself during lockdown? This could be filmed as an extension.
Geography - geog your health
The Geography Department would like you to take a picture of you doing something outside- it could be you exercising, doing your hobby or going for a walk. Extra recognition will be given to those who can explain the geography in the photo around them.
English - express yourself through poetry
Write a poem around the theme of Express Yourself.
You could write about something you’re really enjoy doing, about how you are feeling currently, about your hopes for the future or maybe even the things you miss about life pre-lockdown. There is no limit to the possibilities...
Maths - try these fun challenges
Primary students:
How many different shapes can you spot during your walk? How many times did you see each shape? Can you draw a diagram (poster, bar chart, pictogram, tally chart) to represent this data?
Secondary students:
Try these origami challenges
Origami Challenge One - Easy Origami Turtle - How to Make Turtle Step by Step
Origami Challenge Two - How To Make an Easy Origami Butterfly (in 3 MINUTES!)
Origami Challenge Three - How to make Origami Hummingbird
Share images of any designs you make!
History
Art
Your task is to create a piece of artwork (drawing, painting, collage, 3D model or digital art), any size you wish, on the following daily theme:
Monday - My current mood
Tuesday - My environment
Wednesday - A precious object
Thursday - A wonderful memory
Friday - A hope/dream
Please tweet your artwork on the day of the theme to @SRA_art_. Or email it to your art teacher or to Mrs Wilkinson and we will tweet your daily entries via the SRA Art Twitter page. Have fun!
Food Technology
To make a dish that you enjoy making and of course eating!
This dish makes you happy which is a very important thing at the moment.
Show the step-by-steps of making your dish and you cooking it.
We'd also love to see the completed dish... before you eat it!
Design Technology
The Rube Goldberg Machine!!
We want you to watch these videos for inspiration and create your own version of the Rube Goldberg Machine! If anything the videos will make you smile.
Be creative with the items you use and the methods to get the machine to work.
Video your machine in action and upload it to Seesaw or send us the link to watch it.
Good Luck!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yqix5KkusbE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFSn8IwgQfw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss-P4qLLUyk&feature=youtu.be
Can you take on Mr Pett and beat his times!
Can you take on these challenges and beat Mr Pett
- How long can you plank for? Mr Pett’s time was 2 mins18 secs
- How many pages can you read in 20 minutes? Mr Pett’s was 18 pages
Useful resources:
Please find below some helpful websites and resources you may also wish to explore as part of Children's Mental Health Week.
Children's Mental Heath Week - free resources which can be adapted for use in school, for home-schooling, online lessons or independent learning.
Young Minds - lots of free resources and tips from a leading movement that aims to make sure every young person gets the mental health support they need, when they need it, no matter what.
Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families - videos and free resources from a world leading mental health charity for children and families.
Herts Mind Network - delivering essential mental health support in Hertfordshire, providing a diverse range of services from our seven Wellbeing Centres and other venues across all ten districts of the county. Funded locally, our services are available to all residents in Hertfordshire over the age of 18 and we offer dedicated services for 15-18 year olds.
