SOCIAL EMOTIONAL Learning (SEL) COMMITTEE
The SEL Committee was created as a sub-committee of the SLT to support and strengthen the social emotional experiences of our children, teachers, parents and the community at PS 154. Social Emotional Learning is intended to teach children specific social-emotional skills like self-awareness, self-management, empathy, perspective taking and cooperation. In short, these are the lessons of emotional intelligence, which science has consistently shown is a greater determinant of success and happiness than IQ or academic ability.
The research behind the academic success of students immersed in social emotional learning demonstrates the importance of these experiences for our children.
The SEL Committee aims to bring social emotional learning skills to the PS 154 community through various programs including parenting skills workshops and professional development.
KEEPING YOUR COOL DURING THE PANDEMIC SCHOOL YEAR
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2020 8:00PM
ZOOM TALK
JOIN THE LINK HERE
Parenting at any time can present its fair share of challenges, but juggling it all through a pandemic can test even the most patient of us as we attempt to balance work demands, family needs and health concerns with the complexities of navigating the school year for ourselves and our children.
We invite the PS154 community to join Neil Weintraub, LCSW for an interactive evening of conversation and learning on a zoom talk, where he will guide us through strategies for keeping calm and coping with the extra stresses that the pandemic places on us as parents and caretakers. He will also discuss techniques to encourage and support our child/children's resilience and flexibility and help minimize the negative impacts of the pandemic on their emotional wellbeing.
Neil Weintraub, LCSW has a background in psychotherapy and specializes in working with families to treat children and adolescents. He is a speaker and educator, and has given several talks providing wonderful advice to our school community over the past few years. In addition to social work and private practice Neil also offers coaching services to help parents struggling with their child/children's anxiety and depression, learning disabilities, ADHD and autism.
Resources
Impact of Social Emotional Learning on Academic Achievement
Books
Raising Human Beings, Creating a Collaborative Partnership with Your Child, Dr. Ross W Greene
Cultivate a better parent-child relationship while also nurturing empathy, honesty, resilience, and independence. Explains theory and gives actual wording to use with child
Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids, Dr. Laura Markham
Practical guide to fostering emotional connection with your child to create real and lasting change instead of threatening, nagging, pleading, bribing or punishing
How to Talk so Kids Will Listen, and Listen so Kids Will Talk - by Adele Faber, Elaine Mazlish
Cope with your child's negative feelings
Express your strong feelings without being hurtful
Engage your child's willing cooperation
Set firm limits and maintain goodwill
Use alternatives to punishment that promote self-discipline
Give helpful vs unhelpful praise
Resolve family conflicts peacefully
Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind, Daniel J. Siegel, M.D. and Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D.
Parenting strategies based on neuroscience and understanding how kids’ brains work
How Can I Talk If My Lips Don't Move?: Inside My Autistic Mind, Tito Rajarshi Mukhopadhyay
Autism - rare insight into the autistic mind and how it thinks, sees, and reacts to the world
Parenting from the Inside Out, Daniel J. Siegel, M.D., Mary Hartzell, M.Ed.
Offers parents a step-by-step approach to forming a deeper understanding of their own life stories, which will help them raise compassionate and resilient children
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Carol S. Dweck, PhD
People with a fixed mindset—those who believe that abilities are fixed—are less likely to flourish than those with a growth mindset—those who believe that abilities can be developed. Mindset reveals how great parents, teachers, managers, and athletes can put this idea to use to foster outstanding accomplishment
Hardwiring Happiness, Rick Hanson, PhD
Hardwiring Happiness lays out a simple method that uses the hidden power of everyday experiences to build new neural structures full of happiness, love, confidence, and peace. You’ll learn to see through the lies your brain tells you. Dr. Hanson’s four steps build strengths into your brain—counterbalancing its ancient negativity bias—making contentment and a powerful sense of resilience the new normal. In mere minutes each day, you can transform your brain into a refuge and power center of calm and happiness. You can hardwire in happiness.
Simplicity Parenting, Kim Payne M.ED
Today’s busier, faster society is waging an undeclared war on childhood. With too much stuff, too many choices, and too little time, children can become anxious, have trouble with friends and school, or even be diagnosed with behavioral problems. Now internationally renowned family consultant Kim John Payne helps parents reclaim for their children the space and freedom that all kids need for their attention to deepen and their individuality to flourish.
Playful Parenting, Lawrence J. Cohen, Ph.D
Play is children’s way of exploring the world, communicating deep feelings, getting close to those they love, working through stress and blowing off steam. Join kids in their world through play to solve behavior problems, create strong bonds and communicate with your child.
Lost at School, Ross W. Greene, Ph.D
Dr. Ross W. Greene, author of the acclaimed book The Explosive Child, offers educators and parents a different framework for understanding challenging behavior. Dr. Greene’s Collaborative & Proactive Solutions (CPS) approach helps adults focus on the true factors contributing to challenging classroom behaviors, empowering educators to address these factors and create helping relationships with their most at-risk kids.
The Explosive Child, Ross W. Greene, Ph.D
What’s an explosive child? A child who responds to routine problems with extreme frustration—crying, screaming, swearing, kicking, hitting, biting, spitting, destroying property, and worse. A child whose frequent, severe outbursts leave his or her parents feeling frustrated, scared, worried, and desperate for help. Most of these parents have tried everything-reasoning, explaining, punishing, sticker charts, therapy, medication—but to no avail. They can’t figure out why their child acts the way he or she does; they wonder why the strategies that work for other kids don’t work for theirs; and they don’t know what to do instead.
Emotional Intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ, Daniel Goleman
Everyone knows that high IQ is no guarantee of success, happiness, or virtue, but until Emotional Intelligence, we could only guess why. Daniel Goleman's brilliant report from the frontiers of psychology and neuroscience offers startling new insight into our “two minds”—the rational and the emotional—and how they together shape our destiny. Through vivid examples, Goleman delineates the five crucial skills of emotional intelligence, and shows how they determine our success in relationships, work, and even our physical well-being. What emerges is an entirely new way to talk about being smart. The best news is that “emotional literacy” is not fixed early in life. Every parent, every teacher, every business leader, and everyone interested in a more civil society, has a stake in this compelling vision of human possibility.
The PS 154 Parenting Book Club
PURPOSE
This book club serves as a safe, supportive discussion space for parents to learn new parenting philosophies and tools, and to share their parenting challenges and successes within the context of a chosen book. Participants will share a common desire to learn and possibly practice new ways improve their relationships with their children. The books chosen will be aligned with the mission of the PS 154 SEL Committee: to support the social and emotional learning of our children and of those who teach and care for them.
Book: “How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk,” Adele Faber, Elaine Mazlish
Wednesday, December 4, 6:30-8:00pm in the MMR
FREE!
BABYSITTING & PIZZA for school-aged children: $5 suggested donation
Join us as we discuss one of the most helpful parenting books of all time. The book has time-tested methods to solve common problems and build foundations for lasting relationships, including innovative ways to:
· Cope with your child's negative feelings, such as frustration, anger, and disappointment
· Express your strong feelings without being hurtful
· Engage your child's willing cooperation
· Set firm limits and maintain goodwill
· Use alternatives to punishment that promote self-discipline
· Understand the difference between helpful and unhelpful praise
· Resolve family conflicts peacefully
Book discount from Terrace Books
Terrace Books at 242 Prospect Park West offers parents a 20% discount on the purchase of the book
Link to buy the book at a discount: https://www.communitybookstore.net/book/9780345442864
Select PAY AT STORE for payment
Select TERRACE BOOKS as the pick up location
Write "PS154” in the order notes sectionHere are some details about the book club:
BASIC GUIDELINES
Didn’t finish the book?
Come anyway. Life happens and not everyone will get a chance to finish. Non-readers may still have valuable insights and may just want to listen and learn.
Disagree with something?
All opinions are welcome. Let’s agree to be gracious. There is never any one way to experience or interpret a book. In fact, differing opinions can make great discussions when done peacefully. If you feel yourself getting too triggered, take a deep breath and pause before you speak.
Feeling chatty?
We are, too! We love hanging out, so there’s time after the book discussion for socializing. It’s tough to find time to truly reflect on our parenting so let’s keep the book discussion focused on our shared purpose.
That dominating personality in the room
Make sure it’s not you. Let’s all agree to check ourselves.
Share responsibly
When sharing, it helps to avoid strong language like “awful” or “ridiculous” -- even “like” and “dislike” can put others on the defensive. Instead, report your experience—how you felt as you read the book: “I felt angry as I read the part about…”
Assume good intent
Talking about parenting can bring up feelings of inadequacy and feeling judged. Even an innocent comment can be interpreted as a criticism. Remind yourself that we’re on the same team and here to support each other. Put up your healthy mental boundaries so you can learn as much as possible.