Social-Emotional Learning “is the process through which children, youth, and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions” (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, 2018).

Social-Emotional Learning “is essential to creating schools that effectively prepare all students to succeed in school and in life” (NYSED, 2019).

The District's partnered with the Children’s Institute in 2017 to conduct a districtwide Social-Emotional Learning Needs Assessment. The District then spent time analyzing these needs and developing an action plan.

At this time, we are continuing to partner with the Children’s Institute to create a Social-Emotional Learning toolkit for teachers so they have the materials to effectively address these needs and to align our curriculum with the NYS standards.

The SEL block at the elementary level will be a dedicated time at the start of the school day for teachers to address the social-emotional learning benchmarks set forth by the NYS Education Department.  These benchmarks are organized in grade level bands and are linked here:  NYSSEL Benchmarks

Teachers will be using lessons from the existing Second Step curriculum to address many of the social-emotional learning benchmarks.  An overview of the Second Step curriculum is linked here: Second Step

Since the Second Step curriculum is not designed to be delivered daily, the following are examples of other social-emotional learning activities which may occur during the SEL block:

• Morning Meeting
• Lessons on Erin’s Law content which were delivered by Bivona Child Advocacy Center this year
• Lessons with the Delphi RISE counselor
• School-wide and grade-level assemblies including concerts by the music ensembles
• Anti-bullying lessons/assemblies
• Guest speakers and Community Partnerships – for example, Monroe County Sheriffs (DARE), Penfield Fire Co, Penfield Volunteer Ambulance
• Age-appropriate play
• Read-alouds specific to social skills
• Community-building circles
• Large group enrichment opportunities