Dear Morningside Center friends,

Welcome to fall! We have a rich collection of resources to share with you this issue, including a new lesson that invites students to help each other tackle their start-of-the-year jitters. And in case you missed it: Here's our collection of more activities to start the year.

Start-of-School Jitters Time Capsule

Students anonymously share their anxieties about the new school year, consider how to support each other, store their findings in a "time capsule" that they revisit later in the year – and pass on their wisdom and encouragement to the next class.

Latinx? Hispanic? Exploring Identity through Art

Students experience how a range of Latinx illustrators touch on language, identity, and self-expression through their comics – including an exploration of the meaning and significance of terms such as Latinx, Hispanic, Latino, and Latina.

Names and Storytelling: A Session for Educators

Educators learn about the neuroscience of storytelling and experience for themselves a storytelling activity they can use with students, in this first session from our new guide, Teaching as an Act of Solidarity.

Should We Fly Less?

Air travel is becoming one of the worst contributors to climate change. In this activity, students read about and discuss the impact of air travel on the climate crisis and what we might do about it - personally and as a society. 

What Can Educators Do to Incite Lasting Change? Build Stronger Relationships

"We need to hear from our students and give students a platform where we are absolutely elevating their voices. Let them lead, because so often, adults get tied up in our ways of thinking that are sometimes stagnant and certainly not always open to ideas that are not like our own." By Lauraine Langreo at Education Week

Banned Books Week (September 18-24, 2022)

"The books featured during Banned Books Week have all been targeted for removal or restriction in libraries and schools. By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship." 

"Stories have a transformative power to allow us to see the world in a different way than we do if we just encounter it on our own. Stories are an entry point to understanding a different experience of the world." 

- Clare Patey, Director of the Empathy Museum