Columbia, SC
Richland County School District One
Yolanda Smith, Parent and Family Engagement Specialist
Parking Lot Lunch and Learn
The Lunch and Learn Workshop for parents and teachers needed some tweaking due to COVID-19 conditions in the 20-21 school year. Students were attending school in person, but meetings and gatherings with parents were not permitted. The school parking lot was a good outdoor space for a new kind of workshop.
Parents had requested information about online learning, returning to class, and about their children’s social-emotional well-being. In response, the school’s Communities in Schools partner and counselors discussed strategies that teachers and counselors use at school to support students’ social-emotional development.
Parents drove up to the school to receive an agenda, session materials, and lunch. Then, they had the option of parking in the school parking lot or taking lunch home and logging in on their electronic devices for online attendance. The lunch was real; the learning was virtual via Zoom.
The presentations included ideas that parents could use with their children at home. One strategy focused on a variation of UNO cards—UNO: Zones of Regulations. Parents received a deck of the cards to use at home and played the game as part of Lunch and Learn.
The game encourages students to discuss and manage their emotions and feelings in positive and healthy ways, and to understand how other people feel. As they play the game, students answer questions on common emotions—happiness, sadness, anger, frustration, making friends, and more. By talking through their emotions, students learn problem solving skills, social awareness, perspective taking, and coping strategies that may go from the game to positive behaviors at school and at home. The presenters also discussed how parents may follow up on their child’s responses to the UNO game, and how to know when to reach out for medical help for more serious concerns such as depression.
Parents, staff, and the partnership team evaluated the unique session using Google Docs. One parent reflected, “I was able to see how to use play to better acknowledge and understand our son’s emotions.”
Read more about Parking Lot Lunch and Learn in Promising Partnership Practices 2021.
