Seize the Opportunities of a New Year
Happy 2020! With a new year—and decade!—in front of us, ’tis the season to set goals and get organized, both for yourself and with your students. Why not also plan for setbacks or mistakes? Knowing how to respond to obstacles ahead of time makes it easier to navigate them.

To help with that, in this month’s excerpts, we’re sharing expert advice from two of our top sellers. You’ll find ten coping tools to use when you or your students are feeling cranky or blue. And we share seven strategies for helping kids work through mistakes. Read the excerpts.

Below you’ll find a spotlight on our Kids Can Cope series. These picture books provide kids with practical strategies to cope with difficult feelings and situations, such as anger, worry, teasing, and fear. Author Gill Hasson shares additional information for children and adults at the back of each book.

Also included below is the Student Coping Plan, a free download from A Practical Guide to Mental Health & Learning Disorders for Every Educator by Myles L. Cooley, Ph.D. This one-page worksheet helps your students create a plan for when they feel upset or overwhelmed.

Seize the opportunities of the year ahead!
Special Offer
Get free shipping sitewide* on freespirit.com ! Sale ends January 31, 2020. Use code FSJAN at checkout.  Shop now.

*Excludes already discounted sets, clearance items, and eBooks.
New Series Spotlight
Kids need tools and practical strategies to cope with difficult feelings and situations. The Kids Can Cope series , written by Gill Hasson and illustrated by Sarah Jennings, does just that by offering advice for the challenges children face when worried, angry, afraid, or fearful. Also included in each book is supportive information for adults.  Learn more.
Tips & Tools from the Free Spirit Blog
In this blog post, middle school counselor Stephanie Filio offers suggestions for helping children cope with the violence they see in the media. Read now.
Kids are more stressed than ever before. Elizabeth Verdick, coauthor of Stress Can Really Get on Your Nerves, shares five strategies to get kids talking about and coping with stress.  Read now.
Grants
Educational grants available for your school or community:

NEA Big Read provides organizations with grants and comprehensive resources that support their efforts to read and discuss a single book. NEA Big Read supports organizations across the United States in developing community-wide reading programs that encourage reading and participation by diverse audiences. These programs include activities such as author readings, book discussions, art exhibits, lectures, film series, music events, theatrical performances, panel discussions, and other events and activities related to the community’s chosen book.

Eligibility: Public, Private, Charter, Other (including homeschool, 501(c)(3) organizations)
Prize: $5,000–$15,000
Application Deadline: January 29, 2020
 
The Snapdragon Book Foundation provides funds to improve school libraries for disadvantaged children. Founded by a former school librarian, this foundation exists to put books in the hands of students. In a time when many schools are reallocating their funds to technology and audiovisual equipment, Snapdragon Book Foundation hopes to make sure that school libraries are still offering children good books to read.
Eligibility: Public, Private, Charter, Other (including homeschool,501 (c)(3) organizations)
Prize: $2,500–$10,000
Application Deadline: February 16, 2020
Recent Review
“Highly recommended.”— Midwest Book Review

 

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Free Download

The Student Coping Plan, a downloadable worksheet from A Practical Guide to Mental Health & Learning Disorders for Every Educator by Myles L. Cooley, Ph.D., helps you work with students to decide on coping strategies to use when they feel upset or overwhelmed.

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Upcoming Events and Conferences 

January 24–28: American Library Association Midwinter Meeting, Philadelphia, PA

February 5–8: Council for Exceptional Children, Portland, OR
 
Our 2020 catalog is here! Didn’t get one? Request one now here .
“Rarely are opportunities presented to you in the perfect way, in a nice little box with a yellow bow on top . . . Opportunities, the good ones, they’re messy and confusing and hard to recognize. They’re risky. They challenge you.”
—Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube