FOCUS ON FEELINGS
Focus on Feelings: Teaching Important Lessons for an Unprecedented Back-to-School Experience Social emotional learning, or SEL, helps children and
In Head Teacher Sarah Lewis and Assistant Teacher
adults understand and manage their emotions, set and
Kaylee Huntley's Orange 1 class, students made self
achieve goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish
portraits to show what they looked like with their masks
and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible
on and off. They drew themselves on folded paper. When
decisions, according to the Collaborative for Academic,
the paper was folded up, they had a mask on, but when
Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL).
it was pulled down, they had their masks off. The class
With the pandemic causing our daily lives to look different, and with the emotions surrounding a very different back-
spent time discussing how wearing masks can affect the viewing of facial expressions.
to-school experience, SEL is especially important to help
Head Teacher Nicole Goldman and Assistant Teacher
students feel more at ease and help them learn.
Taylor Deedy's Green 2 class participated in a classroom
Kids have a hard time learning when they are stressed
scavenger hunt and various getting-to-know-you activities.
or anxious, so performing daily SEL activities helps them
Students created their own Gaynor pride mask chains
to relax so they can then focus on academics. When
using green and white beads and discussed how masks
students returned to school in the fall, teachers made
hide emotions and could make it hard for people to see
sure to incorporate social emotional learning activities
how someone is truly feeling.
into their classroom routines.
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GAYNOR GAZETTE
