Designed to accompany a 28-minute videotape about the impact of the Iowa agricultural crisis on the school setting, this publication offers suggestions for classroom activities and ways teachers can become effective in reducing student stress. Teachers are encouraged to deal with students with problems by showing sensitivity and warmth, communicating acceptance, and exhibiting a desire to understand. Development of good listening skills (paraphrasing, perception-checking, questioning, pacing, summarizing) is recommended to facilitate classroom discussion on feeling-level topics. Suggestions for school activities to help relieve stress include writing essays, keeping journals, teaching relaxation responses, using puppets and role plays to act out situations, sharing situations and feelings, using subject matter assignments related to the rural crisis, displaying articles and cartoons about the rural crisis on bulletin boards, starting classroom meetings/discussions on issues involving feelings and relationships. Described among symptoms of children/teenagers under stress are disorganization, lack of interest in self and others, preoccupation, sadness and crying, opposite behavior from usual, violence, regression, weight change, fear, fatigue, extreme obedience/compliance, absence from school. Extension publications, books, state and local agencies, and professional school personnel are listed as additional sources of help. Directions for teaching the stress reducing techniques of "sanctuary" and "unwinding" are provided. (NEC)