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Social Emotional Learning at Raymond Elementary
At Raymond Elementary, we have always placed a high priority on building relationships with our students. Understanding their passions and interests, how they learn best, along with knowing their dreams and aspirations helps us design learning opportunities that are specific to each child. We know through research that students who feel supported and cared for by adults at school are better able to learn. We strive to be caring and supportive each day as we interact with our students and create welcoming learning environments.
 
We also know our students will be more successful in school and beyond when they can manage their emotions, understand the perspectives of others and make sound choices about personal and social decisions. In order to support our students in these areas, we begin with a universal screening diagnostic that identifies our students’ strengths and areas for potential growth in their social emotional learning (SEL). Based on the diagnostic data, we provide our students with different tiers of support.
 
Currently, we are in our second year of a building wide implementation of the PAX Good Behavior Game, which is used daily in our classrooms with all students. This program gives all of our students the opportunity to develop self-regulation skills as well as co-regulation with their peers. In addition, for students who have been identified through our universal screening, we also provide a myriad of intervention strategies including whole-class instruction, small group intervention lessons with a specialized curriculum, and/or individual counseling. Having the right data, allows us to personalize our interventions.
 
Social emotional learning by definition is a process for learning life skills, including how to deal with oneself, others and relationships, and work in an effective manner. We strive to offer socially inclusive practices in order to ensure our students have an engaging and stimulating learning environment in which to practice these skills. During the school day we teach, model and recognize students who display our Raymond Habits of Mind, which include being respectful, resilient, resourceful and reflective. We have also created PRIDE groups, which are smaller groups of students from all grade levels that remain together throughout their career at Raymond. Our fourth graders look forward to leading our PRIDE sessions as they show our younger students what being a PAX Leader looks like. We also have a Kindness Crew comprised of fourth graders who are nominated and “elected” by their peers. This group recognizes other students who earn a positive phone call home and they also helped organize our Raymond Kindness Month. In addition, we offer after school clubs, including our Math Club and Girls on the Run Club, which are organized and run by our dedicated staff members.
 
At Raymond Elementary we understand the value of developing our students’ social emotional skills in conjunction with their academic skills, with the goal of helping each child “leave his or her print” and develop into a productive member of the community.