Ask any educator, parent, or student about May, and you’ll likely get a heavy sigh. It’s a beautiful paradox: summer is on the horizon, but we are deep in the trenches of end-of-year assessments and collective burnout.

It is incredibly fitting that May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Right now, our learners are absorbing the stress around them, and big feelings often manifest as big behaviors. Before we can expect them to perform academically, they need to feel safe and regulated.

We don’t need to add “become a licensed therapist” to our endless to-do lists. Instead, we can lean on zero-prep digital resources to create micro-moments of mindfulness throughout the day. Here are a few ready-to-use collections for your morning meetings or home routines:

For Little Learners (Grades K-2)

• Sesame Street in Communities: Short clips tackling frustration and anxiety using the characters our youngest learners already trust.
• Teaching with Tunes | SEL Emotions: Catchy music that gives young learners the vocabulary to express when they are feeling overwhelmed or sad.

For Growing Minds (Grades 3-5)

• Yoga for Kids: Breathe with Me: A quick exercise to ease physical stress like test anxiety. (Pro-tip: Search the keyword “mindfulness” on eMediaVA for a whole toolkit of brain breaks!)
• “Meet the Helpers” Series: Reassures kids that it is always okay to ask an adult for help when they feel scared.

For Navigating Teens (Middle & High School) As students transition to secondary schools, the stress of SOLs shifts to GPAs and social media. These tools validate their real-world experiences:

• Youth Mental Health Collection: A powerhouse compilation covering everything from managing anxiety to building resilience.
• Above the Noise: Engaging videos on issues teens actually care about, perfect for sparking conversation in advisory or at the dinner table.

Digital tools are fantastic for teaching Social Emotional Learning, but part of mental health awareness is knowing when to close the laptop. Here are some other tools for when you need a break:

• The 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Technique: When anxiety spirals, pause and identify: 5 things you can see, 4 you can touch, 3 you can hear, 2 you can smell, and 1 you can taste.
• Get Outside: A simple 10-minute walk without a screen lowers cortisol and resets a dysregulated nervous system.

A Note to the Adults: You cannot pour from an empty cup. Whether you are managing an energetic classroom or juggling work and home life, your mental health matters. Give yourself the same grace you give your students.

Let’s make this May a little more mindful. Take a deep breath: we’ve almost made it to the finish line!

Sandra Wilfong is an ITRT in Chesapeake Public Schools and an eMediaVA Ambassador.