Franklin Elementary Center

A new emotional regulation curriculum, A Little Spot of Feelings and Emotions created by Diane Alber, is being implemented at Franklin Elementary. This curriculum implementation is made possible in part by a grant provided by the Highmark Foundation, focusing on enhancing students' social-emotional learning (SEL). This initiative is part of Highmark Foundation's commitment to creating healthier school environments through their School Grants Program. The program offers funding to integrate social-emotional learning initiatives aimed at improving students' mental and behavioral health outcomes, especially for those at risk. The emphasis is on equipping students with skills to manage emotions effectively and fostering a supportive school climate to help students identify the emotions they are feeling and teach coping skills for students to learn how to manage large emotions.

On November 14, students were encouraged to bring their parents to a Title I sponsored Parent Engagement Event called Meet the Spots. A total of 147 adults and students were in attendance. Parents listened to guest speaker Lisa Fleak, a counselor from Integrated Health Services, on logical and natural consequences and age appropriate discipline while students had a snack. Afterwards, Ms. Erin, Franklin Elementary’s counselor, took students and families through a parent friendly guide teaching them about the spots and creating their very own set of spots to take home. Parents were taught how we teach students to calm their anger and discussed ways of how their students feel loved. At the end, Mrs. Agee, principal at Franklin, took families through a writing process that we use at the school to have students write a paragraph about feelings. Students completing this activity returned it to Ms. Erin to earn their Little Spot of Learning. The night was wrapped up by discussing goal setting as a family, when students meet that goal they can return the paper to school to earn their Celebration Spot.