SEL - The Power of AND

 At East Prairie, building community and developing trusting relationships is at the heart of everything we do. We believe that teaching emotional intelligence is just as vital as teaching academics; it’s how we live our mission to “value the uniqueness of all AND ensure the highest levels of learning.”  We call this the “Power of AND,” the unwavering belief that our students can and will excel both academically AND social-emotionally.

To support this, our students participate in daily Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) lessons.  While these skills are explicitly taught in the classroom, our true goal is for students to carry these tools into their everyday lives.  So far this year, we have introduced and reinforced four core anchor tools (detailed below).  As we head into spring, we are excited to begin our fifth and final SEL unit of the school year!

Our fifth and final unit focuses on empathy, perspective-taking, and community restoration, with the learning goal: “I can show empathy for others.”  To help students reach this goal, we are revisiting the RULER tool called The Blueprint.  This is an incredible resource designed to help children navigate conflicts and, more importantly, repair relationships when things go wrong.  In the coming weeks, we’ll share more details on how The Blueprint works and how you can use it at home to help your child productively manage conflict.

As always, we are continually reflecting on our work to ensure it has the deepest possible impact on our students.  We are committed to helping every child take these skills out of the classroom and into their daily lives and relationships!