The Safe & Caring Schools® teacher activity guides support the standards from the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) for the infusion of social and emotional learning into the classroom. Those key competencies are: Awareness of Self and Others, Positive Attitudes and Values, Responsible Decision Making, and Social Interaction Skills. In addition, the material correlates with standards for social studies, language arts, health, and other areas of the curriculum.
Synopsis
The Safe & Caring Schools® teacher activity guides support the standards from the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) for the infusion of social and emotional learning into the classroom. Those key competencies are: Awareness of Self and Others, Positive Attitudes and Values, Responsible Decision Making, and Social Interaction Skills. In addition, the material correlates with standards for social studies, language arts, health, and other areas of the curriculum.
With the increase in horrifying news stories about children who have turned to violence against their classmates or families because they have been the victims of constant bullying at school or at home, this book provides a framework for teachers and schools to create an atmosphere of trust and respect between their students. Resources in the book include a monthly planner with suggested activities centered around a theme. There are lesson plans that include suggested books that the class can read together and a CD that contains PDF files of all the reproducible activity forms in the book. In each month, there are math, social studies, and literature activities from which the teacher can choose. There are quizzes for each unit that can be reproduced without changes, or the teacher can use questions from the quiz to develop her own assessment. While the message seems a little heavy-handed at times, there is definitely a need for schools to contribute to the character education of their students. Reviewer: Ellen Welty
