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    Key Takeaways

  • Learning isn't just cognitive—it's social and emotional, too.
  • Social-emotional learning is a key ingredient to a healthy school culture and reading is an effective way to teach students the importance of kindness and respect.
  • Being able to manage emotions and effectively resolve conflicts are important skills for students to develop and will ultimately lead to success inside and outside the classroom.

    • Teachers understand that learning is more than just cognitive. To fully prepare student for success with the life skills they need, there has to be a strong focus on social and emotional learning.

    By helping students develop skills to manage their emotions, resolve conflicts, and make responsible decisions, you can create a healthy school culture and set your students up for success inside and outside the classroom.

    The following book collections and resources cover the most relevant topics and issues facing students today. From bullying, friendship, and anger, to how-tos on conflict resolution, respecting others, and building confidence, these social-emotional learning tools are a wonderful way to foster a culture of kindness that extends outside your classroom and school into the wider world.

    The 7 Strengths Libraries

    These specialized collections of books span every elementary grade level and encourage students to consider the seven strengths that are so important to a healthy school culture:

  • Belonging
  • Friendship
  • Kindness
  • Curiosity
  • Confidence
  • Courage
  • And hope

    • Each collection provides fiction and nonfiction selections about kindness, friendship, belonging, and hope and connects the texts to students’ lives to help build a clearer sense of who they are as individuals. Also included is a guide for teachers, which offers strategies for vocabulary building and tips to inspire students to become more engaged, reflective, and independent readers.

    Byron Garrett Social-Emotional Learning Collections

    This collection of social-emotional learning books engages students while encouraging them to make personal and meaningful connections to their lives as they read. Students will also have the opportunity to explore these five key themes of social-emotional learning:

  • Understanding myself
  • Managing myself
  • Respecting others
  • Building relationships
  • And making decisions

    • The Optimistic Classroom Library

    Creating a classroom culture that conveys the values of hope, gratitude and acts of kindness, respects one another’s differences, promotes collaboration, and honors cooperation is the goal of every teacher. This collection of books is an effective way to create a positive and relaxed classroom and uses authentic literature to model good behavior. Most importantly, it encourages students to be mindful of their actions.

    Social-emotional learning is a key ingredient to fostering a healthy school culture, but it’s a long process. These book collections are the perfect addition to any classroom library and will help your students understand why it’s so important to treat one another with respect and kindness.