What is SEL?

Welcome to the Joliet Public Schools District 86 Social/Emotional Learning (SEL) webpage!  This webpage is designed as an SEL resource to parents, students, and educators.  Please explore our library of self-care articles, SEL video tutorials, links to community resources/agencies, and much more!

Second Step is Joliet Public Schools District 86's SEL curriculum for Kindergarten through fifth grade.  The second Step curriculum is a holistic approach to building supportive  communities for every child through Social-Emotional Learning.

Second Step

Unit Two: Managing Emotions

The District 86 Jr. High Schools have adopted Character Strong, a curriculum built around character traits and social-emotional skills that have been proven to help students become productive, empathetic, and successful adults.  Each week, students will be exposed to a lesson that may encompass the following "Eight Essential" character traits: Patience, Kindness, Humility, Respect, Selflessness, Forgiveness, Honesty, Commitment; as well as the following social-emotional skills: Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social-Awareness, Responsible Decision-Making, and Relationship Skills. Students and staff will work together through the lessons that equip them with ways to understand, practice, or reflect on one of the eight essentials and their own character. Every lesson is written by educators with all students' abilities, backgrounds, and needs in mind. The core belief of Character Strong is that it is an entire community's responsibility to help students grow; therefore, we all will be working together to build kinder school cultures and, ultimately, a kinder world.

Character Strong:

Digital Resources to Help Families Effectively & Safely Understand and Stop Bullying

What is Self-Care?

We've all heard the term, "self-care", but what does it really mean?  The International Self-Care Foundation (ISF) has found there are many definitions of self-care, and most cited among those is the World Health Organization's definition of self-care from 1998, which can be summarized as follows:

Self-Care is the action of taking care of oneself through establishing and maintaining health, and to prevent and deal with illness.

The International Self-Care Foundation has proposes a framework called The Seven Pillars of Self-Care:

Practice Mindfulness to Reduce Anxiety

Mindfulness is the ability to be fully present and engaged in the moment, freeing our minds from distraction and judgment. This is especially important when we are faced with challenging circumstances and excess stress.

Cosmic Kids Yoga

Apps for Relaxation and Mindfulness