Social-Emotional Learning

In the Toddler classrooms, guides help students develop and practice emotion vocabulary and recognition during circles. Students and teachers take time to identify emotions that someone may be experiencing and the signs they see in others. Emotion recognition is paired with supporting children’s self-regulation development. Children practice breathing techniques in regular, brief, and engaging ways with their teachers. Students learn these skills outside of challenging moments so that the children can begin to apply the skills in key moments.

Students in Children’s House (CH) build on the SEL skills they learned in their Toddler programming. During their time in CH, students explore and learn to understand identifying emotions as well as how actions impact others physically and emotionally. Children also begin to show additional motivation and independence to explore, which builds on the concept that a student’s work is theirs. Students also increasingly strengthen their knowledge of grace and courtesy skills, such as greeting others when they enter the room or learning how to invite a friend to an activity.

In Lower Elementary (LE), teachers give students increasing opportunities to strengthen their self-management, a core SEL skill. While they were in Children’s House, students were encouraged to follow their interests. In a natural development, students in LE begin to manage those interests, from deciding their schedule for the day to planning projects that involve bigger and harder work over time. Students receive and practice grace and courtesy lessons, role playing numerous daily life situations. For example, exploring what to do when a nearby peer is loud and disturbing their work, receiving unsolicited help and advice, or how to politely enter and leave a room. Peace education also continues, with students learning verbal problem-solving skills.

The final elementary three-year cycle is Upper Elementary (UE). UE students at MSR are leaders, and (within limits) hold certain classroom rituals independently, such as morning meetings. A notable element of SEL in Upper Elementary is the coordination of the numerous skills they’ve developed while at MSR. For example, students collaborate with peers on long-term projects that involve big work, or they learn to recognize and explore more complex emotions that come with navigating social and academic adversity.

At the Brier Creek Campus, students in Middle and Upper School continue on the journey of identity development and discovery of how they fit into the world around them. They are matched with an advisor who serves as a mentor and a trusted confidant–someone who is with them throughout their secondary years. During weekly Advisory meetings, students participate in social and emotional lessons designed by the school counselor and facilitated by their advisor. Students continue with #WinAtSocial, a program starting in [insert level], with increasingly more complex topics related to character-driven decision-making with social media and technology as they have more and more freedom, privileges, and responsibilities. 

As students progress through their education at MSR, the social and emotional support is consistent, but it takes different forms as students move through the planes of development. MSR’s staff at all levels support students in nurturing that development so that they can effectively navigate the many complexities of life with grace, courtesy, and peace at the heart of their actions.