Social Emotional Learning Curriculum for Elementary School
Kindergarten–Grade 5 Visual Review of Research
Second Step Program
The Second Step Program Promotes By directly teaching students the skills • School success • School connectedness • Safe and respectful school climate
that strengthen their ability to: • Learn • Manage emotions • Have empathy • Solve problems
Empathy
Skills for Learning • Students who can self-regulate are better able to participate in and benefit from classroom instruction.
• Being able to feel or understand what another person is feeling prepares students to manage their own strong emotions and solve interpersonal problems with others.
• The program promotes development of students’ self-regulation skills. It provides practice through games for Kindergarten– Grade 3 and through instruction in Skills for Learning across all grades.
• Skills for Learning are necessary for having empathy, managing emotions, and solving problems. The Skills for Learning are woven into all units.
Emotion Management
• The program teaches students skills for identifying emotions in themselves and others, labeling these emotions, and taking the perspectives of others. • These skills are the basis for helpful and socially responsible behavior. Having empathy is also related to academic success.
Problem Solving
• Students who can recognize strong emotions and calm down cope better and are less prone to aggressive behaviors.
• Students who can solve interpersonal conflicts with peers are less likely to engage in impulsive or aggressive behaviors.
• The program teaches students proactive strategies that help prevent strong emotions from escalating into negative behaviors.
• The program teaches students to use four
• Calm students are better able to use other skills, such as problem solving, to help them get along better with others and make good choices.
Problem-Solving Steps after calming down.
• Creating a neutral problem statement, generating safe and respectful solutions, and evaluating the consequences of these solutions steers students toward selecting prosocial solutions.
The Second Step Program Prevents
By developing students’:
• Problem behaviors • Peer rejection • Impulsivity
• Self-regulation skills • Social-emotional competencies • School connectedness
• Antisocial behavior • Low academic achievement
© 2011 Committee for Children Waterford Public Schools
Second Step: Skills for Social and Academic Success 9
