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Sanford Harmony (Grades PK-5)Please contact Gina Hudson in Support Services or your child's school counselor if you have any questions about the Harmony program.Second Step (Grades 6-8)We want your child to be successful in school, and that means supporting and encouraging their whole development. While excelling in academic classes is important, students also need skills for learning challenges, making good decisions, handling strong emotions, and getting along with others.Second Step® Middle School, is a research-based social-emotional learning program designed to improve students’ social-emotional skills, such as emotion management, impulse control, problem solving, and empathy. Second Step skills and concepts are designed to help students both in and out of school.If you have any questions about Second Step® Middle School, please don’t hesitate to contact Gina Hudson in Support Services or your child's school counselor for more information.Thank you for your support as we work to build a safe and supportive school community.
What is Social Emotional Learning?
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Social and Emotional Learning is an integral part of education and human development. It is the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions.
Social and Emotional Learning advances educational equity and excellence through authentic school-family-community partnerships to establish learning environments and experiences that feature trusting and collaborative relationships, rigorous and meaningful curriculum and instruction, and ongoing evaluation. It can help address various forms of inequity and empower young people and adults to co-create thriving schools and contribute to safe, healthy, and just communities.
Definition of SEL Video
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Video List Definition of SEL
Author:Length:
Panorama
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PANORAMA FOR SOCIAL and EMOTIONAL LEARNING
Measure and understand social-emotional learning
Panorama helps schools and districts support student and adult social and emotional learning with research-backed surveys and actionable data reports.RCSS has selected a small number of items on the Panorama Student Competencies Survey to assist in the development of students' social emotional skills.For grades PK-2, teachers complete a brief 6-item questionnaire about how students are functioning in the classroom.For grades 3-12, students complete a self-report survey. There are 42-47 questions (varies by grade level), which take about 14 - 16 minutes to complete.The items measure the following 7 topic areas:- Emotion Regulation
- Grit
- Growth Mindset
- Self-Efficacy
- Self-Management
- Social Awareness
- Supportive Relationships
The social skills survey begins March 15, 2024. As a parent, you have the right to opt-out of your child's participation in the survey. If you choose to do so, please click on the link and complete form. Opt-out is available through March 11, 2024. Click here to Opt-out: https://forms.office.com/r/RiFtxT1Hku
Benefits of Social and Emotional Learning
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Student Benefits
- Academic Outcomes
- Improved Classroom Behavior
- Increased Ability to Deal with Stress and Depression
- Better Attitudes about Themselves
- Can Help Reduce Poverty and Increase Economic Mobility
- Improves Lifetime Outcomes
Scientific Links to Student Gains
- Social-emotional skills
- Improved attitudes about self, others, and school
- Positive classroom behavior
- 11 percentile-point gain on standardized achievement tests
Source: Durlak, J.A., Weissberg, R.P., Dymnicki, A.B., Taylor, R.D., & Schellinger, K. (2011) The impact of enhancing students’ social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions. Child Development: 82 (1), 405-432.
There are benefits for adults too!
Teachers who possess social and emotional competencies are more likely to stay in the classroom longer.
Teachers with high levels of social competence are better able to protect themselves from burnout by:
- Developing and managing nurturing relationships with their students
- Serving as behavioral role models for children
- Regulating their own emotions
Supporting Skills at Home
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Supporting students Social Emotional learning at home and in school is important.
Here are some resources to help you support our children!
Confident Parents Confident Kids
Social Emotional Skills 101 for Parents (video link)
7 Tips for Building Social and Emotional Skills at Home
Here are bite-sized practices and rituals that you can consider using on a regular basis with your child(ren) to extend social and emotional skills into the home.
1. Take an assets-based approach that focuses on your child’s strengths. Emphasize children’s strengths and “SEL superpowers” before talking about what they can improve on. For instance: when your child brings home a graded test or assignment, first discuss what she or her did well. Then shift the discussion to what can be improved. Focus on process-oriented skills versus the outcome. Take this a step further by working collaboratively with your child to create a “skill chart” that they can use to monitor how they are practicing various skills and habits at home.
2. Explore emotions by asking your child how they feel. Send the message that feelings matter, are normal, and that you care about them. Encourage children to use “I” statements when talking about their emotions; help them unpack what it feels like to be happy, excited, stressed, or frustrated.
3. Model empathy and kindness as well as sharing and helping behaviors. Utilize daily interactions – such as helping an elderly neighbor – to encouraging sharing and helping behaviors. Explore options for children to participate in community service projects or volunteering opportunities and talk to them about giving back.
4. Read books to (or with) your child. Seek recommendations from your child’s teacher or a librarian for stories on themes that both interest your child and are relevant to the skills they are learning in the classroom. Read these books together with your child and explore how the characters handle conflict or form relationships.
5. Empower your child to solve problems on their own. Resist the temptation to step-in and offer solutions to a difficult situation your child is encountering. Instead, ask probing questions to help your child solve the problem on their own. Discuss how decisions might impact others (positively or negatively) and what the pros and cons or solutions might be.
6. Model emotion labeling and emotion regulation when you encounter stress, frustration or anger. Specify a “quiet area” in the house that can be used to cool-down. When you encounter “trigger situations” that may cause you to get angry or irritated, name what you’re feeling, take a few deep breaths, and talk as a family about what everyone can do to stay calm.
7. Be willing to apologize. Show your child that it is important to apologize after an outburst, misunderstanding or conflict while modeling respect and kindness.
Source: www.panoramaed.com
Middle School Parents!
Check out ParenTeen Connect for hot-topic information!
Teacher Resources
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Students in grades PK through 5 are exposed to Social Emotional Learning skills through the Sanford Harmony program. The program consists of four units: Being My Best Self, Valuing Each Other, Communicating with Each Other, and Learning from Each Other. Teachers now have access to the curriculum materials digitally! (Please upgrade to the third edition.)
Students in grades 6 through 8 will be beginning the use of Second Step Middle Grades Curriculum. The program has 4 units that cover mindset and goals, bullying and harassment, emotions and decision-making, and managing relationships. Second Step promotes social-emotional skills, prosocial behavior and academic achievement while preventing conduct problems, aggressive behavior, and emotional distress.
Teachers can boost their knowledge through teacher training to support social and emotional learning and inspirational instruction in the PK-12 classroom for free at Inspire Teaching and Learning!.
Students in grades 3 through 12 complete the Panorama Student Competencies and Well-Being Survey as a universal screener to identify areas of strength and improvement. Teacher perception surveys are completed for students in grades PK through 2. Rearch and evidence-based interventions are available in the Panorama Playbook, available to all teachers. Just log in to your Panorama Education account!
To further develop student learning in the areas of social-emotional competency, check out these other cool resources:
