Morningside Elementary School implements two APS-wide initiatives in our school - a Social Emotional Learning curriculum and the No Place for Hate® program.
Through a comprehensive focus on SEL, Atlanta Public Schools is committed to the social, emotional, and academic development of students by connecting "hearts and smarts" as part of a systemic whole child framework. APS also recognizes that building the capacity of adults to model SEL skills is at the core of teacher and leader excellence. APS uses the CASEL framework to inform its SEL programming in alignment with the district's strategic plan.
CASEL defines SEL as the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes, to develop healthy identities, manage emotions, and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions (CASEL, 2020).
Social Emotional Learning supports the academic and life-readiness success of children. Integrated into the daily schedule, all students receive SEL utilizing the Second STEP Curriculum. All Counseling Classroom Instruction will support the SEL theme and competency of the corresponding month.
SEL Books of the Month
APS SEL selects a book each month that is presented to all students across the entire District. The Book of the Month provides the anchor for discussion and activities in daily SEL lessons and in Counseling Instruction.
Thanks to the support of the MES Foundation and all of its parent donors, every MES classroom will be supplied with copies of every SEL Book of the Month.
Click to learn more about the MES Foundation
SEL Lesson Plans
APS mandates that all students receive 60 minutes of SEL instruction weekly. The District SEL department provides weekly lesson plans for teachers to implement in their SEL block daily.
Click to view SEL Lesson Plans
*Teachers, when downloading each week, please make a copy*
October SEL Students of the Month
The SEL Theme for the month of October was Diversity and Acceptance. Students chosen for SEL Student of the Month demonstrated amazing self-awareness. Congratulations to our SEL Students of the Month!
Kindergarten
Clara Van Curen
Oliver Ingley
Kaydence Carter
June Ravenel
Joyce Lin
William Franconi
1st Grade
Giselle Albury
Jackson Bowman
Clara Payne
Wyck Jones
Davis Townley
Leah Vece
Daniel Legum
2nd Grade
Isabella Holdsworth
Clarence Wang
Ryan Kisgen
James Pratt
Franny Fox
Rumi Qureshi
Catherine Bauer
Michaela Yurchenko
3rd Grade
Millie Constant
Henry Baby
Ezra Duke
Reavey Bull
Parker Alexander
Owen Milam
Adam Richards
5th Grade
Ariel Yurchenko
Norah Hutchins
Andres Nunez
Annika Goodman
Almila Kirbiyik
Isabella Atkin
4th Grade
Maybeth Rutherford
Keira Cobb
Rae Conlan
Khush Bhatia
Milo Chiecchio
Max Kozinn
September SEL Students of the Month
The SEL Theme for the month of September was Individuality and Positive Self-Concept. Students chosen for SEL Student of the Month demonstrated amazing self-awareness. Congratulations to our SEL Students of the Month!
Kindergarten
Jackson Pratt
Lukas Bieg
Kit Parker
Bobby Ware
Avery Clendenin
Charles DeBacker
1st Grade
Blakeley Weinstein
Breelyn Simpson
Fletcher Morrison
Kiran Shankar
Ella Meisel
Olivia Lutz
Rose Griffin
2nd Grade
Illina Rangaraj
Virginia Franconi
Henry Decker
Sloan Thibodeau
Zoe Oster
Madison Smith
Lorenzo Gardner
Cullen Cadin
3rd Grade
Jacob Clifton
Elizabeth O'Brien
Elizabeth McHenry
Faelan Andrews
Alexander Uwaezouke
Millie Byrd Roberts
Eloise Lippert
4th Grade
Ava Bowman
August Kucek
James Moye
Theo LeDantec
Nora Tardelli
Maya Al-Bayati
5th Grade
Zacharey Mesbahi
Jacob Evans
Daniela Aguilar Gomez
Nathaniel Warner
Charlie Baldwin
Emma Stiedinger
August SEL Students of the Month
At the end of every month, teachers will nominate one student from their class that exhibited the SEL competency for that month. The month of August was all about BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS. Congratulations to our SEL Students of the Month!
Kindergarten
Savannah Lee
Lily Cooper
Parker Burton
Akshay Warrier
Joyce Lin
Amelia Meisel
1st Grade
Jonathan Fiddes
Mason Poncz
Bethany Zant
Quinn Coffas
Riday Chauhan
Cameron Cobb
Jackson Krieger
2nd Grade
Viraj Khulbe
Jack Reiff
Grace Roach
Samuel Ross
Charlotte Curtis
Jonah Foreman
Caroline James
Kiala Law
3rd Grade
Carter Fox
Joseph Clifton
Maddie Dublin
Sadie Baldwin
Eleanor Healy
Vivienne Pool
Cadence Carey
4th Grade
John Hudson
Riya Hida
Gracie Farr
Darren Lieb
Henry DeBacker
Arjun Vaitla
5th Grade
Brendan Poirier
Julia Prout
Adelyn Freitag
Devon Crisler
Nate Little
Jordan Jackson-Stroud
Since 2015 APS has implemented the Anti-Defamation League's No Place for Hate® initiative District-wide.
Each year all APS schools, including MES, participate in programs around the goal of creating a welcoming community committed to stopping all forms of bias and bullying.
Programs at MES will take place in December, February and April.
No Place for Hate® program 1: Kindness Graffiti
On Thursday, December 9, MES students took part in the first No Place for Hate® program. All students took part in a lesson on kindness and then proceeded outside to decorate our school with "kindness graffiti" using sidewalk chalk. Families joined in the outdoor graffiti sessions making for a truly unforgettable day!
*More information will be added to this page with details on the upcoming No Place for Hate® programs scheduled in 2022.*
The No Place for Hate® Pledge
Another key component of No Place for Hate® is rallying our entire school around the program - making a commitment to make MES No Place for Hate.
