Dear North Clackamas Families,

An important part of your child’s growth is in the area of Social Emotional Learning (SEL). Social Emotional Learning refers to a child’s ability to learn and use the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions. When schools and families work together on these important skills, children feel happier and more successful at school, they have more friends and are better able to solve problems with their classmates, and they are more likely to feel safe and welcome in their classrooms (please see CASEL.org for more information about the research supporting SEL).

North Clackamas Schools are committed to supporting children’s SEL development and we are focusing on 8 important skills. On the back side of this sheet, you will see a list of the skills for your child’s grade level, and some descriptions of what this looks like when children are demonstrating the skill. We selected these skills based on the 5 important areas for social emotional learning. They are:

Self-awareness: The ability to recognize your emotions and thoughts and their influence on behavior. This includes knowing your strengths and needs, likes and dislikes, and having a growth mindset (confidence in your ability to learn).

Self-management: The ability to manage your emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively in different situations. This includes managing stress, controlling impulses, motivating yourself, and setting and working toward personal and academic goals.

Social awareness: The ability to understand others from diverse backgrounds and cultures and to respond to social cues about what is appropriate in a given situation.

Relationship skills: The ability to establish and maintain healthy and rewarding relationships with diverse individuals and groups. This includes communicating clearly, listening actively, cooperating, resisting inappropriate peer pressure, solving conflicts, and seeking and offering help when needed.

Responsible decision making: The ability to make useful and respectful choices about personal behavior and social interactions based on safety concerns, school rules, and helpful behavior that support the well-being of self and others.

Teachers will be providing information to parents about their children’s development at school three times a year on the report card. Teachers will use a mark from 4 to 1,depending on how much support a student needs to demonstrate a particular skill or behavior. For example, students who show the skill independently and consistently while they are in class will receive a mark of “4” from their teacher. Students who occasionally show the skill, but need several reminders from the teacher throughout the school day would receive a mark of “2.” All children are working on these skills and teachers consider the age of children when providing a mark. If your child’s teacher has a concern about social emotional skills in the classroom, the teacher will talk with you about how they are working to help your child learn and grow.

For more information about SEL and how you can support your child’s development at home, please check out this Parent Toolkit ( for some great information and ideas for talking about and teaching these skills. We look forward to partnering with you to create school communities that support all children and families.

K-2 Social Emotional Learning Outcomes

8 Important Skills / What this looks like in children:
Demonstrates awareness of own feelings. / ●Recognize and label feelings.
●Describe their feelings and the situations that cause them to feel happy/sad/etc.
Manages emotions effectively / ●Identify ways to calm themselves.
●Show positive ways to deal with upsetting feelings.
●Walk away/remove themselves from upsetting events.
Demonstrates awareness of own strengths and challenges. / ●Identify their likes and dislikes.
●Describe things they do well.
●Describe an activity/task in which they may need help in order to be successful.
Demonstrates personal responsibility by meeting school/class expectations. / ●Understand that school-wide expectations and responsibilities promote a safe and productive environment.
●Accept that there are positive and negative outcomes for their choices actions.
●Acts responsibly when using other people’s property.
Respects individual differences among people. / ●Describe ways that people are similar and different.
●Name positive human qualities in others that cross all cultures and groups.
Demonstrates awareness of people’s feelings and responds to social cues. / ●Predict how others are feeling based on their facial expressions and body language.
●Recognize words and actions that hurt others.
●Understand the importance of personal space.
●Appropriately engage in play with others (i.e. introduce self, ask permission, join in, and invite others to join in).
●Wait their turn, observe the situation, and know when it’s appropriate to respond.
Interacts appropriately with others. / ●Listen to others when they are speaking.
●Demonstrate the use of verbal etiquette (use please, thank you, excuse me, etc.)
●Take turns and share with others.
●Participate in instruction and in small groups.
Tries to solve conflicts in effective ways. / ●Identify interpersonal problems that requires adult help to resolve.
●Recognize there are many ways to solve conflicts and practice solving problems using a menu of choices (i.e. Kelso Wheel).