Cedar Hills Elementary is located on the shared, unceded traditional territory of the Coast Salish First Nations in the northwest of Surrey. We have a passionate population with a rich blend of multicultural learners - over half of our families speak Punjabi at home, although many also speak English, Hindi, Arabic, Tagalog, and a variety of other languages. We enjoy highlighting the differences that make us and our cultures unique while also celebrating the things we have in common that bond us.
At Cedar Hills, we aim to be an inclusive community that fosters healthy self-expression and positive relationships (this is a vision statement our staff co-created).
As Timber Wolves, we HOWL by demonstrating Honesty, Optimism, Wonder, and Lots of care (for ourselves, for others and for the environment).
Contributing to our school culture is a major focus at Cedar Hills. We know that contribution and collaboration bring pride and contentment, so students are offered many different ways to contribute their efforts and ideas. Both primary and intermediate students have the chance to participate in extracurricular activities, such as school sports (e.g., soccer, volleyball, basketball, flag football, etc.) and different clubs (e.g., Drama Club, Lego Club, etc.). Students also take on roles within the school that help make it a better place to be (e.g., planning school events with our Leadership Team, keeping the school grounds free of garbage as a part of our Clean-Up Crew, being a class representative during lunch visits with our Principal to speak about school-improvement ideas, serving as Lunch and Playground Monitors to support independence during unstructured time, etc.) and perform at various school events to entertain/amaze staff, students and other community members (e.g., during our Remembrance Day, Winter, Diwali and Vaisakhi assemblies, in our Talent Show, etc.).
Cedar Hills is fortunate to host a number of during- and after-school programs that enhance the learning that takes place within our classrooms. These include the following:
With the needs of our students in mind, staff at Cedar Hills believe in the power of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) as a cornerstone of instructional practice. When students are able to self-regulate, persevere, be socially aware, and make responsible decisions, they are set up for success in all curricular areas. For this reason, SEL strategies, including soft starts, belly breathing, class meetings, emotion naming and many others, have been incorporated throughout our school to develop SEL skills in our students. We want them to feel welcome, in control and ready to learn (at Cedar Hills and beyond)!
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is the process that supports adults, youth, and children in developing skills that are necessary for school, work, and life. This includes self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, relationships skills, and social awareness.
Staff at Cedar Hills build and adapt curriculum based on these foundations, recognizing that they are woven into all aspects of learning. We believe everyone must manage emotions to learn effectively, feel and show empathy for others in order to learn collaboratively, set and achieve positive academic and personal goals, make choices that benefit the collective good, and establish and maintain positive relationships with all members of our school community. Below, we highlight a few of our students' successes and demonstrations of strength in the areas of:
Our learners can calm themselves, focus their attention, and interact effectively with others by practicing mindfulness.
Across our school, SEL instruction takes many forms and draws upon numerous SEL programs (e.g., Second Step, MindUP, The Zones of Regulation, etc.). Nevertheless, the practice of mindfulness is fairly consistent and draws upon a variety of techniques, such as belly breathing, affirmations, mindful tasting/listening, sharing circles, yoga, etc.
Below is a brainstorm put together by our teachers:
In this grade 1 class, students are in the habit of doing some mindful breathing prior to writing activities:
When asked how this helps them with their writing, they had the following to say:
It helps me calm. I feel less stress when I have to write.
I'm not good at writing. I get worried. When I do the breathing, some of that goes away. Not all, but some.
I like writing, but I write better (after deep breathing) because I think I can say what I want to say (better).
Our learners explore ways to add to our school community with a focus on inclusivity.
As mentioned in the "Our Context" section, contributing to our school and its culture is very important to our students (and staff). Students enjoy having a voice, sharing their ideas and seeing the effects of their actions.
Here are some ways that our staff help students explore contribution and inclusivity:
As a result of the work of our SEL committee, a focus for our teachers in the latter-half of this year has been on finding ways to connect our students across classes and grades. Following the last couple years, during which students were not allowed to interact as they normally would, we felt this would benefit our culture as a whole. And students really embraced this possibility! The picture below shows a group of grade 7s teaching a math game they created to some grade 5s in a different class. The grade 7s took into account the different abilities of all students in the grade 5 class and made sure that they developed games that everyone could access and enjoy.
Speaking with the grade 7s after they'd shared their projects, they explained the thought process that went into their game creation:
We knew that there were some students who couldn't speak English that well, some may not be the best at math, and some might not pay attention unless it was exciting.
The best part was seeing everyone have fun. That was the best. Seeing them enjoying our games - knowing we'd done that.
Our learners are developing an understanding of the role of positive self-talk in promoting wellbeing.
At Cedar Hills, we recognize that one of the most important decisions you can make is how you interpret, and as a result respond to, a situation. We know it is necessary to coach our students through this process and provide practice.
In primary grades, reading can be a challenge for many learners. One of the strategies utilized by many of our teachers, but in this example our grade 2 teachers, involves helping students maintain a "growth mindset" rather than a "fixed mindset". Students in this class have come to understand that reading is not a fixed skill, but one that improves with practice and determination.
A couple grade 2 students explained how maintaining a growth mindset benefits their guided reading sessions:
Sometimes when I'm reading I don't know a word. I tell myself that I don't know it yet, but I'll learn.
Reading is tough, but I like reading with my teacher. I feel like she helps me. I know I'll get better if I keep trying my best.
Every day, students at Cedar Hills are presented with opportunities to practice and demonstrate their Social and Emotional Learning skills and capabilities. Our staff is devoted to creating a culture of care in which relationships are valued and collaboration can flourish. However, a quick scan at the beginning of the year revealed that our students were finding it challenging to work together effectively, often as the result of difficulties with self-regulation and/or a lack of appreciation of different perspectives. To identify students’ overall strengths and areas for growth, we tracked Responsible Decision-Making in a class of our grade 4s and 5s. This cohort included a diverse range of learners that were representative of our school’s population, but who particularly struggled with our two identified areas.
The personal and social core competencies we focused on in relation to “responsible decision-making” include:
Self-Regulating: Students take ownership of their choices and actions. They set goals, monitor progress, and understand their emotions, using that understanding to regulate actions and reactions.
Resolving Problems: Students identify and develop an appreciation for different perspectives on issues. They show empathy, disagree respectfully, and create space for others to use their voices.
Below are examples of our students’ classroom experiences as they relate to responsible decision-making.
Students in our cohort took part in SEL-related activities as a part of the Second Step program and during regular morning meetings.
Second Step lessons focus on self-regulation, understanding emotions and working through potential conflicts. This learning was put to practical use during morning meetings in which students identified their emotional states, worked through ways to regulate emotions that were negatively affecting their learning, and discussed making good choices.
Another aspect of the Second Step program relates to "putting yourself in another's shoes" (i.e., perspective taking and empathy). Our focus cohort had the chance to practice this process using Vertical Non-Permanent Surfaces (VNPS) during math. Weekly, they would be put into different small groups to discuss solutions to math problems, which they would display on their VNPS. Each group member had a role (e.g., recorder, idea generator, and speaker), and the speaker would have to listen for understanding in order to be able to explain the whole group's solution. This process was meant to help them learn to consider the opinions of others more openly (along with improving their numeracy skills).
Our learners continue to develop their SEL skills and capacities. In the focus area of responsible decision-making, students demonstrated an increase in their ability to:
Our cohort of learners initially struggled with linking some of their learning during Second Step lessons to real-life situations that they were involved in on a daily basis. However, with continued practice over the year, students found the process of identifying and talking through ways to consciously adjust their emotional state and make better choices useful. Prior to winter break, there were a few basic strategies that were commonly listed when discussing this process - specifically, "Going for a walk" or "Getting a drink of water" to both calm down when feeling overstimulated or perk up when feeling tired. In June, when asked about ways they manage their emotions, students were able to discuss much more personal strategies that they found worked best for them or that they had heard from others and made their own:
There are days I feel down. And it's ok to feel down but I'd rather not, so I'll put my head on my table to refocus or maybe tell myself about the good things in my day. If I can find something to look forward to that helps.
If you want to learn your best, you have to be calm. So I try to be calm by taking deep breaths. But sometimes that's not enough. Sometimes I need to talk to someone, so I'll go for a walk to see Ms. Dally (our CYCW) or I'll talk to my teacher if she's not busy. Usually talking about what bothers me, or taking deep breaths and counting back from 5. That's what I do.
If someone bothered me, I used to get annoyed and do something back to them. Then I would lie and say I didn't do it. I know I need to tell the truth and choose a better thing to do. Now, if I feel like I'm getting annoyed, I try to talk to that person. If that doesn't work, I can take a breather, go see Carson (our CSP worker), or even just remind myself that I'm in control. I still do things sometimes, but I tell the truth if I do and try to be in control.
For many students, the use of a VNPS in math was new this year. Similar to the morning meeting process, it took time to get used to listening to and then explaining the thinking of group members.
However, by the third term, students were able to share about their growth in listening to and understanding the perspectives of their group members, as well as understanding the positive aspects of contributing to a group:
We began our SEL journey this year with a belief that we could help our students work together more effectively by providing direct SEL instruction and regular "real-world" practice. Through teacher observations, student survey data analysis and student interviews, we believe we have had success. We plan to build on and extend this work next year in the following ways:
Self-Awareness
Responsible Decision-Making
Additionally, as the year progressed we looked closer at our co-created vision statement, "At Cedar Hills, we aim to be an inclusive community that fosters healthy self-expression and positive relationships." We felt that our future planning should incorporate more to develop the "inclusive community" aspect of Cedar Hills. We began the following actions in May and intend to carry them into our next school year: