| By: Committee for Children Book Review: Maniac Magee Maniac Magee by Jerry SpinelliReading Level: Grades 4-8 Jeffrey Lionel Magee is legendary for so many reasons: he outruns trains, he unravels impossible knots, he outslugs neighborhood baseball stars, and he befriends buffaloes. When it comes right down to it, though, “Maniac” Magee’s most astonishing feat is his ability to connect with people….Read More
| By: Committee for Children Lessons Learned: Setting Up SEL Groups for Success Recently, two schools in my district were asked to implement a grant that focused on early intervention services for students with behavioral needs. A plan was established, and three of us were asked to implement the idea in two schools.Read More
| By: Committee for Children Reminder from Our European Partners Articles about the Second Step program in international academic journals hold a special place in our virtual trophy case. We are always delighted to read reports about our programs from another country’s perspective, and this latest article has us smiling. Read More
| By: Committee for Children SEL vs. Noncompliant Kids? I won’t agree or disagree that “American Schools Are Failing Noncomformist Kids,”as Elizabeth Weil writes in the September 2, 2013, issue of The New Republic. Like all relationships…it's complicated. I will, however, disagree vehemently with her notion that the culprit is the focus on teaching social-emotional skills to all childrenRead More
| By: Committee for Children Establishing Buy-In for the Second Step Program For the past 16 years, I often have the opportunity to present 15–20 minute overviews of the Second Step program at school staff meetings. Before a school decides to implement the program, I like to make sure that a majority of the staff feels it is a good fit for their needs.Read More
| By: Committee for Children Book Review: Better Than You Better Than You by Trudy Ludwig. Illustrated by Adam Gustavson.Reading Level: Grades 1–5 No matter what Tyler does, his neighbor Jake always has to one-up him. Tyler works hard to master a basketball move, but all Jake says is, “Yeah, well, I bet you can’t do this….” When Tyler is excited about his new music…Read More
| By: Committee for Children Keep The Learning Going: Extention Activities For Second Step Lessons A colleague of mine, Liz, is a school psychologist who implemented the Second Step middle school curriculum in several middle school classrooms this past year. She knew that she had many potential challenges such as large class sizes, split grades, student mobility, and high special-needs populations, so she also provided additional classroom supports to further reinforce the skills taught in the lessons.Read More
| By: Committee for Children SEL Is Nothing New Down Under This past June, Committee for Children staff members traveled to Australia to attend the Positive Schools conferences, held in three different states, and to find out how this country is embracing social-emotional learning.Read More
| By: Committee for Children Choosing the Right Anti-Bullying Program http://http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hemanshu-nigam/choosing-the-right-antibu_b_3837703.htmlRead More
| By: Committee for Children Team Players, Part 1: Forsythia and First Base Summer is waning, school is on the near horizon, and my thoughts turn to my ten-year-old son’s very different but equally effective summertime coaches, Coach T (baseball) and Mr. Switzer (swimming). To illustrate their differences, here are excerpts from each of their pre-training mailings:Read More