Ohio's K-12 Social and Emotional Learning Standards were developed by Ohio teachers, school counselors, and educational personnel. The standards cover grades K-12 with Ohio's Early Learning and Development Standards already providing social and emotional learning guidelines for children ages birth to five. (See the INFOhio Early Learning Portal for resources to support these standards). The standards cover five competency areas important in developing social and emotional skills. These competencies are:
Implementing these standards in schools supports the development of skills such as identifying and managing emotions, setting goals, understanding and practicing empathy, and establishing positive relationships.
INFOhio resources and digital content can support the growth of Ohio students not only academically, but also mentally and emotionally. Using a variety of content, approaches, and media to teach social-emotional competencies will strengthen schools as they work to support the whole child. INFOhio has purchased more than a hundred professional eBooks that support the integration of social and emotional learning in Ohio's schools. Three that can be used with any grade are:
Additional titles to support the integration of social and emotional learning in the classroom can be found in Educator Tools. Use the filters on the left to limit results to Student Wellness and Success under Content Area and Professional Learning under Prof. Learning and Support.
This blog series highlights the resources available from INFOhio which can be used to support Ohio's K-12 Social & Emotional Learning Standards.
According to research from the Aspen Institute, early learners' brain development is strengthened by relationships with others (Immordino-Yang, Darling-Hammond, & Krone). A child's social-emotional health is impacted by positive interaction with others around them. At this early age, learners should rely on adults or communicate with peers when using digital content. Intentional conversations, playful moments, and story and song-filled communities are all important when helping children learn to recognize themselves and others and develop the skills necessary for social-emotional well-being.
INFOhio's digital resources are best for early learners with implicit instruction from teachers and other adults. The resources shared in this post should be previewed and tested before sharing them with children. When used jointly, the media from INFOhio will enhance learning and support social emotional well-being.
More than 150 pairs of fiction and nonfiction titles offer educators a variety of themes and subjects to explore, expanding the school and classroom library and providing alternative methods of content delivery. Books are one of the best ways to help students connect with others as they recognize their own lives in the stories they read. "Reading picturebooks prepares children for dealing with empathy and mind-reading in real life," according to Maria Nikolejeva in her article Picturebooks and Emotional Literacy in the December 2013 edition of The Reading Teacher. There are many titles in BookFlix that will help educators meet the social emotional learning standards for students in grades K-2. Below are just a few of the titles and the standards they support.
Competency A - Self-Awareness - A1: Demonstrate an awareness of personal emotions: Stick and Stone & Empathy: I Know How You Feel
Competency B - Self-Management - B3: Persevere through challenges and setbacks in school and life: The Tiny Seed & I Have Grit
Competency C - Social Awareness - C1: Recognize, identify and empathize with the feelings and perspective of others: A Sick Day for Amos McGee and Empathy: I Know How You Feel
Competency C - Social Awareness - C2: Demonstrate consideration for and contribute to the well-being of the school, community and world: Do Unto Otters & Back to School Safety
Competency C - Social Awareness - C3: Demonstrate an awareness and respect for human dignity, including the similarities and differences of all people, groups and cultures: Same, Same But Different, Leo the Late Bloomer & We are Alike, We are Different, Each Kindness, In the Month of Kislev, Seven Candles for Kwanzaa
Competency D - Relationship Skills - D2: Develop and maintain positive relationships: Crazy Hair Day & Let's Be Friends
Competency E - Responsible Decision-Making - E3: Consider the ethical and civic impact of decisions: Bink & Gollie & Conflict Resolution: When Friends Fight
You can browse BookFlix using the theme categories, or you can search using title, subject, and author search. A search for friendship results in 13 pairs of eBooks that can be used to support the standards. Each title has a lesson plan. Learn more about using BookFlix in the classroom in INFOhio Campus.
Educator Tools is a repository for INFOhio's licensed and purchased content as well as training and support materials for that content. Educators can find eBooks and videos to support social and emotional learning. Using the Student Wellness & Success limiter under Content Area on the left, find specific titles to use with students in the classroom or on their own. Applying the grade level limiter will help narrow results to the content best for student. You can also search by keyword.
Find quality eBooks from Capstone Interactive, World Book, EBSCO, BookFlix, and Highlights Library and others to develop social and emotional skills for students. Share these in class with students as read-alouds or as part of your lesson.
Grades K-5 INFOhio eBooks & Videos
Students can search for eBooks and videos on social and emotional learning in this curated collection. The same quality eBooks and videos for students found in Educator Tools are available for students to search or browse. Students can search by keyword or use the Student Success and Wellness limiter. They can also limit to eBook or video for content.
The Highlights Library storybook videos are another great resource to help students learn more about themselves and others.
INFOhio's discovery layer tool makes it possible to search almost all of our digital content from one search box. If schools are automated with INFOhio's Library Services Platform, the contents of the school library will be searched as well. Type in keywords from the standards to find resources that will support the Social Emotional Learning Standards from EBSCO's databases as well as from World Book, the Digital Video Collection, and BookFlix.
In the Basic Sources tab, search for "emotions" and limit your results to Primary Search in the Content Provider limiter. Choose "emotions: psychology (in children) under the Subject limiter. You will get several articles from publications such as National Geographic for Kids, Humpty Dumpty, and Scholastic News.
This article from the September 2016 edition of Scholastic News is a great way to cover Competency A1: Demonstrate an awareness of personal emotions. You can also access the teacher guides for Scholastic News. To learn how to find the teacher guides, read this Teach With INFOhio blog post.
Search other key words from the standards as well, and use the limiters to find the best results for primary learners.
The INFOhio blog has several posts that share how INFOhio's resources can support social emotional learning. Here are a few to consider as you begin to think about how you will implement the standards into your classroom.
Competency C - Social Awareness - C3: Demonstrate an awareness and respect for human dignity, including the similarities and differences of all people, groups, and cultures.
Diverse eBooks for Early Readers
Competency C - Social Awareness - C1: Recognize, identify, and empathize with the feelings and perspective of others
Using Connected Texts to Inspire Empathy
Competency D - Relationship Skills - D2: Develop and maintain positive relationships
Reading for Relationship Building: Texts that Transcend Trauma
Ending this post with a reference to the importance of relationships is a great way to finish. Using the resources from INFOhio will definitely boost the social and emotional well-being of the students in your class. But connecting with these kids and maintaining relationships will boost not only the five areas of competency, it will also lead to more engagement, deeper learning, and increased skills in all academic areas.
Share how #INFOhioWorks for you when using our free, digital content to support building resilient and empathetic citizens.
Emily Rozmus is a Senior Instructional Specialist at INFOhio. She has worked in education for more than 30 years, first as a secondary English teacher and district librarian before starting at INFOhio in 2013. Emily has developed district growth plans, integrated technology, created instruction for information literacy, fostered teacher development, and worked on teams to implement curriculum. At INFOhio, she focuses on training educators to use INFOhio resources to improve early learning. She also works to share research and best practices for helping students be better readers of INFOhio's digital text.
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