School Wind Phones
Wind Phone, Princeton University, New Jersey
Children experience grief differently at every age—and often, they don’t have the words to name what they’re feeling. In classrooms, school gardens, and counseling offices, Wind Phones are emerging as powerful, quiet spaces where students can express their loss, longing, or love. A Wind Phone is an unconnected phone placed in a peaceful setting where students and staff can “call” a loved one who has passed.
A Wind Phone provides a safe and creative way to express grief, process emotions, and maintain ongoing connections. Aligned with social-emotional learning and wellness standards, Wind Phones can be used during individual reflection, counseling sessions, or classroom activities focused on grief and loss. They are a simple yet meaningful addition to any school seeking to support emotional well-being with compassion and care.
A Wind Phone can be a powerful cross-curricular project that supports emotional wellness while meeting academic standards across multiple subject areas. In Language Arts, it inspires reflective writing and storytelling. In Visual Arts, it encourages creative expression through drawing, painting, or design. In Social Studies, it opens conversations about cultural rituals, grief practices, and empathy. In Science, it connects to concepts such as sound waves and nature’s role in healing. Math lessons can incorporate patterns in messages or data to facilitate emotional check-ins. Across grade levels, a Wind Phone fosters meaningful learning experiences rooted in compassion, communication, and connection, aligning with standards in social-emotional learning (SEL), literacy, wellness, and the arts.
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Wind Phones & Federal Grief Support Standards
Wind Phones align with U.S. Department of Education guidance, trauma-informed best practices, and national grief and mental health frameworks. There are no federal laws mandating a specific grief education curriculum like New Jersey’s S3330. However, several key federal guidelines and frameworks strongly encourage grief support practices in schools:
This chart outlines how Wind Phones align with national frameworks and best practices for grief, trauma, and mental wellness support in U.S. schools.
Wind Phones align beautifully with all these federal recommendations, especially by:
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Providing trauma-informed, safe spaces for emotional expression
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Supporting ongoing bereavement strategies, complementing crisis plans
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Fitting within school-based counseling and SEL systems funded under Title V
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Helping meet NASP & NCSCB best practices by offering tools to understand and express grief
While federal law does not mandate a grief curriculum, it does strongly advocate for school readiness, inclusive practices, and mental wellness supports. Wind Phones meet those goals with simplicity, compassion, and lasting emotional impact.