On Thursday at Jackson Primary School, more than 70 students and their parents joined together to celebrate learning more about social and emotional well-being.
Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) has become an important component of public school education, and it's particularly important at Jackson and Robert Morris, Principal Maureen Notaro said, because young students are getting their first exposure to both educational lessons and being part of a larger community that includes their peers.
"Every day when kids walk in, we're their first experience," Notaro said. "They're greeted with a smile. They're accepted. They're welcomed. It's their first experience with school, so we go out of our way to try to make sure that they're socially and emotionally connected to the school."
Thursday's events included dance, yoga, a de-escalation class for parents, a chance for children to make affirmation jars and worry sticks, and for parents and kids to learn about Bouncy, the SEL dog that helps children learn to cope with their emotions. There were also community agencies in the gym for families to visit, including Batavia PD, City Fire, State Police, Community Schools, Eat Well Grill, and the Health Department. Mr. Sunshine (top photo) led a participatory concert later in the evening.
Notaro said elementary schools have developed over time approaches that help students grow into their new roles as members of a community that include a lot of different kinds of people.
"We're kind of honed in on it more, the social-emotional piece of it, like making friends," Notaro said. "We focus on qualities every month -- honesty, generosity, we look for those traits in kids. We try to promote those and acceptance and all those different character traits in kids to help them grow to be good citizens."
Photos by Howard Owens.
One session during the event focused on Bouncy, an animatronic (mechanical) that is designed to help children cope with their emotions, particularly negative feelings. It's a pilot program, Notaro said.
"Bouncy teaches the children how to stop and deep breathe and take a minute if they get upset, and to recognize nice feelings when they become worked up and are upset," Notaro said. "Bouncy kind of helps them dial it back. We're piloting it in a couple of kindergarten classrooms. It's not a real dog. It's an animal animatronic dog, and the kids get an actual stuffed animal with it too. They're trying to relate to Bouncy, and how Bouncy teaches them acceptance because Bouncy has some disabilities."
Parents met with a teacher to learn about de-escalation techniques while their children were in another classroom making affirmation jars and worry sticks.
"They're just little affirmations that kids can pull out every day that say, 'I'm happy,' 'I'm loved,' 'I'm, funny,' 'I'm smart," Notaro said. "It ties into our literacy goal, too, because we're trying to promote literacy at home."
On display during the community night were artworks created both by kindergarteners and high school students. Kindergartners drew pictures of monsters, and then high school students made clay sculptures based on those drawings.
