LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Erica Woolridge stood before a class of rising second graders participating in a summer program at Bloom Elementary in Louisville. 

"This lesson is about when bad things happen and how we deal with them,” she told the class.

Woolridge, a professional school counselor with JCPS, was expecting many of the answers she heard from the children when she asked them about the past 15 months.

"So when the pandemic first happened, and we all had to stay home and we couldn’t go to school, how did you feel?” Woolridge asked.

"I felt so sad and worried, because I thought everybody was going to get sick," a student replied. 

"I felt angry because I missed my friends," said another. 

Asked how they're feeling now, one student responded, "I feel happy because I can see my friends again." 

The students listened to a song telling them it’s OK to cry, or to not know what’s going on. The lyrics included, "When bad things happen, you might not understand why." 

"I mean, they were scared," Woolridge said after the lesson. "They’re afraid and they were angry. They miss their friends and you know, just a lot of not knowing what’s coming next." 

Students had similar concerns when they returned to the classroom for the final weeks of the last school year, she said.

"Kids were wanting to know where some of the teachers were that were teaching virtually," Woolridge said. "They were afraid something happened to them, so we had to make a lot of connections to make kids feel safe and not scared and not worried about mom and dad while they’re at school."

The pandemic upended daily life for school children, who had to quickly adapt to classes away from their teachers and friends. 

Counselors like Woolridge and mental health practitioner Lorna Scott have been working to help them cope with everything they are feeling. 

Woolridge and Scott both teach at other elementary schools, but they have spent the last few weeks at Bloom Elementary, focusing on social emotional learning for the Summer Backpack League. 

There are worksheets showing a range of emoji faces for students who might not be able to say what’s on their mind. 

"Just kind of letting us know how they’re doing throughout the week," said Scott. 

While students were learning from home last year, they were not getting the same emotional support that counselors are able to provide in school, Scott said. 

"They weren’t learning how to deal with these feelings and coping," she said. "They didn’t know how to cope with what was going on." 

Just being back in the classroom will be an adjustment.

“We have to build kids’ stamina back up as well because they haven’t been used to being in classroom seven hours out of the day and so we’re going to be focusing on that as well," she said. 

Scott also asked her summer program students about the pandemic. 

"Kind of still in shock?" said one student. 

"It kind of feels relief, but I’d rather go back to without a mask, but it kind of feels like we are out of a cage that we were stuck in,” replied another student. 

More than a year after everything changed, the children have some of the same questions adults do. 

“We don’t know what the future may bring," one student said. "Maybe we still have a pandemic, maybe we don’t.”

"I’m wondering how long it will last and why did it come," was another response. 

Scott is approaching the new school year with an open mind, working to make sure students get the support they need, she said. 

“The socializing’s going to look a little bit different this year, but we’re still here and we can still teach them how to have fun and be together even though we’re six feet apart," she said.