Student Services and Interventions

The Purpose of Social Emotional Learning (SEL)
SEL is the process through which the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to develop healthy self-image, 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 are developed. SEL helps clearly state what students are expected to do, using common language, and provides an instructional framework to meet those expectations.

Social-Emotional Learning instruction is grounded in the 5 competencies of CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning). More information on each of these competencies is available at https://casel.org/sel-framework/.

• Responsible Decision Making
• Social Awareness
• Relationship Skills
• Self-Awareness
• Self-Management

PCPS SEL Overview

PCPS has an SEL Division Leadership team that works together to develop lessons, select resources, and evaluate our SEL implementation. 

Classroom Meetings

Elementary classroom teachers hold a brief daily classroom meeting (5-10 minutes). These meetings are an opportunity to :

• provide practice for the social emotional skills that have been taught previously,
• foster a classroom environment where all students feel connected, comfortable, and part of a community.
• establish a student-centered forum where they develop expectations for how to interact with and treat each other. 
• effectively communicate ideas, have discussions, make decisions, and solve problems as a community.
• provide opportunities for students to share information and get to know each other. 
• guide students in resolving problems and continually revisiting expectations.

The Teacher’s Role in the Classroom Meetings:

• Modeling positive interactions
• Facilitating inclusive relationships
• Improving interactions among students
• Encouraging students to listen and share
• Making thoughtful suggestions and redirecting conversations
• Reinforcing classroom expectations
• Providing consistency by following up on issues that were raised in previous sessions
• Providing consistency throughout the day on issues raised   

SEL Lessons 

For the 2022-2023 school year, PCPS teachers are developing lessons based on a common theme. These themes will be addressed across all schools and at each grade level. The lessons will use this theme to teach and practice developmentally appropriate social-emotional learning skills. Each lesson will be approximately 30 minutes in length. 

For grade level specific information, click the link for each grade level below. 👇

(Implemented 2018)
The framework is based on Second Step activities with the support and adaptations of the administration and school counseling department. Lessons are provided during Academic and Community Connections Time (ACCT). The Scope and Sequence includes units by grade level in these areas:

• Bullying prevention
• Mindset and Goals
• Thoughts, Emotions, and Decisions
• Relationships and Social Conflict
  These adapted curriculum materials (linked here) were grant-funded through VTSS.

High School - Under development, identifying current needs

 Click here for previous social-emotional lessons.