Toolbox Parent Presentation by MVSD Elementary School Counselors

Toolbox Curriculum

All MVSD elementary schools practice a social-emotional learning curriculum called Toolbox. Years of research in the field of childhood resiliency and social-emotional learning have taught us that emotional and behavioral regulation skills can be explicitly taught in schools, and that the benefits are huge.

The Toolbox curriculum gives students (and adults) “tools” to help us become effective learners, friends, community members, and citizens. For example, the first “tool” is the breathing tool. The idea is to teach students to use their tools when faced with challenging situations or to help them through life.

More info:

• Dovetail Learning‘s Toolbox Brochure

• Toolbox Tools

• A description of each tool in the Toolbox

• The Toolbox gestures

Toolbox starts with each child, building self-knowledge and self-mastery; it soon improves empathy and communication and helps resolve conflicts in the classroom, on the playground, and throughout the whole school community.  Children experience their own power and naturally take more responsibility for managing themselves and solving problems.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

Toolbox builds a critical foundation for whole-child development as well as academic success. Despite growing pressure to improve academic results, decades of research has proven that children cannot learn until they feel safe and are able to understand and manage their emotions and social interactions.  It has shown that:

1) social and emotional skills are essential for academic learning,

2) these skills can be taught and learned, and

3) this kind of training has powerful benefits for life success.