Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults develop fundamental social and emotional skills to handle themselves, their relationships and their tasks effectively and ethically.  (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning: www.casel.org) 

SEL is not a program but rather is an integrated, multi-component approach involving every student.  Teachers intentionally create a caring and inclusive school community as well as explicitly teaching, modeling and giving students opportunities to practice the social-emotional skills outlined in the Illinois Social and Emotional Learning Standards:

• Self-Awareness and Self-Management

• Social Awareness and Interpersonal Skills

• Decision-Making and Responsible Behaviors (www.isbe.net)

Each person is asked, assisted, and inspired to live up to the ideals of fairness, respect, caring and responsibility.

SEL is integrated into all aspects of the school day, including every curricular area and all other programs and activities.  The learning environment is structured to build a sense of autonomy and belonging and to give children the skills to feel competent in handling academic and social skills.

If you have any questions regarding our social and emotional learning approach, please contact Lynn Lawrence at lawrencely@dist102.k12.il.us.

Staff members in District 102 implement the following evidence-based SEL programs with all students in order to meet the Illinois Social and Emotional Learning Standards and to grow every student's social-emotional competencies.

Caring School Community

Overview:

Caring School Community is designed to help students become caring, responsible members of their school community. The lessons of the program help elementary teachers create warm, and safe classroom environments where students can develop the skills and dispositions they need to interact constructively with others.  The program does so by:

• Building caring relationships with and among students

• Directly teaching social skills

• Creating calm, orderly learning environments

Components:

The program helps strengthen students' sense of belonging at school and their relationships in many ways, including:

*Morning Circle activities in which students get to know one another, work together and practice social skills.

*Class Meetings in which students address common concerns and current events, and in the process learn to understand issues from others' perspectives, have empathy for how others are feeling and reach agreement as a class.

*Home Connection activities which help students talk with family members about the social development focus of the week.

Character Strong

Overview:

At Park, teachers use Character Strong during Advisory to facilitate engaging and meaningful experiences that teach social and emotional skills and build community. Sessions follow a predictable structure:

• Warm Welcome sets the tone for the advisory session

• Community Building honors the fact that relationships are the core of all we do

• Content provides time for intentional social and emotional skill building

• Character Dare offers an optional application challenge

• Optimistic Closure provides a positive wrap up

Each grade is organized around a developmentally appropriate theme for the year:

• 7th grade: Well-Being How do we develop personal well-being and how does it affect our relationships with others?

• 8th grade: Engagement How do we practice engaging meaningfully in our lives, our friendships, and in our school?

• Lyons Township Mental Health Commission News Articles

Dealing with Grief

• Helping Children Cope with Crises

• Developmental Responses to Loss

• Signs of a Grieving Child

What is Bullying?

In District #102, we define bullying as when one or more people repeatedly harm, harass, intimidate, or exclude others.  Bullying is unfair and one-sided.  

Staff at our school attempt to prevent bullying and help students feel safe at school by:

• Intentionally creating a caring community of learners.

• Explicitly teaching pro-social skills.

• Closely supervising students in all areas of the school.

• Watching for signs of bullying and stopping it when it happens.

• Teaching bullying prevention strategies.

• Responding quickly and sensitively to bullying reports.

• Taking seriously families’ concerns about bullying.

• Looking into all reported bullying incidents.

• Assigning consequences for bullying based on the school handbook.

• Providing immediate consequences for retaliation against students who report bullying.

It is our goal that students at our school do the following things to prevent bullying:

• Treat each other respectfully.

• Refuse to bully others.

• Refuse to let others be bullied.

• Refuse to watch, laugh, or join in when someone is being bullied.

• Try to include everyone, especially those who are often left out.

• Report bullying to an adult.

Social and Emotional Learning can be a powerful component of bullying prevention.  Simultaneously fostering a caring climate of respect while explicitly teaching core social and emotional skills, creates a strong foundation for preventing and responding to bullying. 

We also specifically teach the following skills, all necessary to deal with bullying: 

• Self-Awareness and Self-Management skills allow students to recognize and handle their emotions in order to calmly and assertively respond to conflict and bullying.

• Social Awareness allows students to appreciate differences and to be empathic with others, even those who are not in their circle of friends.

• Relationship Skills help students to initiate and sustain friendships, a key to preventing them from becoming targets of bullying.

• Responsible Decision-Making enables students to think through and resolve problems effectively and ethically.

Students who have strong social-emotional competencies are less likely to bully, to be bullied, or to be passive bystanders.

What is Erin’s Law?

Questions Parents May Have About Erin’s Law

Why?
Why is sexual abuse prevention being addressed in District 102?  Erin’s Law (in Illinois, Public Act 96-1524) requires that all public schools implement child-focused sexual abuse prevention education to all students every year.  In District 102, we want to ensure a positive, safe learning environment for all students.  Using our Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) approach, we intentionally foster positive relationships and create support for students experiencing difficulties.  We explicitly teach students skills that will develop critical social-emotional competencies and prevent bullying and abuse. 

What?
What material will be covered?  In order to teach children age-appropriate information about how to keep them safe from dangerous or abusive situations, District 102 will be using components from Second Step Child Protection Unit (Pre-K-6th) and Safer Smarter Teens (7th-8th).  These materials are research-based and provide students with specific developmentally-appropriate education regarding personal safety, safe and unsafe touches, refusal skills, and how to communicate a problem with a trusted adult.

Lessons will teach several key concepts, including ways to keep safe, body and self awareness, safe versus unsafe touches, safe versus unsafe secrets, and how to say no and tell a trusted adult.

Lesson objectives will differ according to student age.  In the Pre-K through Grade 4, private parts will be identified by what a swimsuit covers.  In grades 5-8 anatomically correct terminology for private body parts will be used.  Research shows that health education is more effective when accurate terms for private body parts are used. 

Who?
Elementary lessons will be taught by the social worker who works in your child’s school.  In some cases, we may bring a staff member from another building to help address scheduling or language needs. Each school social worker has received training from the Child Advocacy Center regarding Erin’s Law, preventing abuse by creating safe environments, responding to behavior and disclosures and the mandated reporting process.  

At Park, advisory groups will partner together and will receive lessons from one of building’s Advisory Team members, made up of administrators, social workers and teachers.

Each student in our school community will participate in age-appropriate lessons.  We hope all parents will partner with us to educate our children.

When?
Each school and grade level will have a presentation implemented during spring.  Prior to the presentation, parents will receive additional information.

Where?
The presentations will be conducted within each school, with combined classes of similar grade-levels, when appropriate.  These may be in a classroom, in the multi-purpose room, or in the school LRC. 

Whom should I contact if I have additional questions or concerns?
You may contact your school social worker if you have questions about this program.  For more information regarding how to talk to your child about sexual abuse, see Early Open Often