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Teaching Elementary School Health Education/Mental and Emotional Health/Loss and Grief

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Our students may lose a family member or friend close to them. Loss is a feeling that occurs when someone dies or a life situation changes or ends in a loss. Grief is intense emotional suffering caused by a loss, disaster, or misfortune. Some causes of loss and grief for our students may include:

  • Change in the family (divorce, death of a family member, loss of job, serious or terminal illness)
  • Changes in living conditions (eviction, homeless shelter)
  • Death of a friend
  • Suicide
  • Death of a well-known person
  • Tragedies in the news
  • The end of something special (graduation, moving away)
  • Holidays (Feelings of loss and grief can intensify during holiday seasons)

Click here for a lesson helping students deal with loss or grief. Responding to Social Crises