The Connections Model today launched its KidConnect Ready2Learn Curriculum, a social-emotional learning (SEL) program that helps teachers provide instruction on the skills students need for success in school and in life. Based on the latest brain research and the understanding that emotions drive behavior, the curriculum provides teachers with the tools to help learners identify, understand, and manage their emotions. The curriculum is designed for classroom instruction across grades K-6 and includes 26 lessons centered on targeted skills.
In launching the Ready2Learn Curriculum, The Connections Model builds upon its KidConnect Classroom App, which gives teachers the ability to intervene with individual students in the moment of a behavioral incident caused by emotional dysregulation.
The curriculum divides the process of healthy emotional regulation into four navigable units that include the following:
- Building an emotional vocabulary by defining 16 common emotions and helping students reflect on past experiences to identify when certain feelings emerged across a variety of situations.
- Making connections between emotions and behaviors. Students begin to build self-awareness and social awareness by working through a variety of group activities to practice identifying and controlling their reactions.
- Learning strategies to manage emotions. Students work with each other through a variety of situations to identify off-target behaviors and provide tactics to move toward healthy, on-target actions.
- Practicing a variety of strategies and mindfulness techniques to help regulate emotions, increase self-esteem, and develop coping mechanisms.
