What is SEL?

Students who are involved in social emotional learning programs at school demonstrate improved grades and test scores, spend more time studying and have greater mastery of subject matter. Research shows that children in BC, overall, begin Kindergarten unprepared not because of low academic skills but because they have poorly developed social emotional skills. Further, social emotional skills have a stronger association with academic achievement than with IQ, pre-reading or pre-math skills.

Increases in bullying, anxiety, stress-related disorders, and school failures / low achievement can be linked to poor social emotional development. Many Kindergarten teachers – private and public – list social and emotional skills as the primary skills or traits in highly Kindergarten-ready children and in students who perform best in elementary school. Self-calming, emotional recognition, self-regulation, reflective thinking, and communication and persuasion skills are all a part of social emotional development.

Alderwood House teachers focus on developing social emotional skills through attention to group and community development (i.e. teamwork, interdependence, social responsibility), through dramatic play which provides extensive opportunities for problem solving (i.e. situated learning, understanding diverse perspectives, experimenting with multiple solutions), through literacy activities designed to increase emotional competence (emotional recognition, responding to emotions in self and others, self-calming) and the curriculum draws from activities in designed programs such as Tools of The Mind, Second Step, PATHS, MindUp and I Can Problem Solve.

Social Emotional skills can often be difficult for parents to measure growth in, as they are most evident in social situations in which adults do not interfere or problem solve for the children. Teachers at Alderwood House take videos throughout each week and many of these videos are posted on our private online parent video group. This way parents can see some of the learning and behaviors that happen in the classroom.