SEL IDEA Time Wrap Up
We have wrapped up our first IDEA Time session, focused on Social Emotional Learning. We surveyed students and curated a variety of classes based on their interests. All of the classes had a tie in to social emotional learning standards and included:
- Stage Might Theatre by Foundry 10
- Calm Art Space
- Magical Creatures
- Dungeons & Dragons by Foundry 10
- Clay Creations by Throw and Build Pottery Studio
- Animal Care and Kindness
- Book Character Friends
- We Are Timberwolves
- Sports Sampler by SkyHawks
- Photography by Sprouting Image
- Mindful Moments Art
- 5th Grade IDEA Teaching Assistants
SEL Field Work
In addition to the weekly enrichment classes, students participate in Field Work experiences either here at school or out in the world.
- Kindergarteners learned how to be safe and follow adult instructions while having fun at Bob’s Corn Maze
- Kindergarten, First and Second Grade students learned about bullying and how to be an upstander when Taproot Theatre brought their production of Detectives! to our school
- Third, Fourth and Fifth Graders learned about courage, empathy and trust by seeing I’ll Be Your Superhero at Seattle Children’s Theatre
Why is Social Emotional Learning Important?
“In this article in Review of Educational Research, Cheyeon Ha (Rossier School of Education, USC) and Michael McCarthy, Michael Strambler, and Christina Cipriano (Yale School of Medicine) report on their meta-analysis of 40 studies (2008-2022) analyzing the impact of school-based social emotional learning programs on K-12 students’ academic achievement. The key finding: students who took part in universal SEL programs showed significant improvements in ELA and math test scores compared to students who did not.
In short, conclude the authors, “there is robust evidence to suggest that SEL programs not only serve their intended primary purpose, but also significantly increase students’ academic success in schools.”
“Disentangling the Effects of Social and Emotional Learning Programs on Student Academic Achievement Across Grades 1-12: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis” by Cheyeon Ha, Michael McCarthy, Michael Strambler, and Christina Cipriano in Review of Educational Research, October 2026 (Vol. 96, #3, pp. 1839-1880); Ha is at cheyeonha@gmail.com.
The Cedar Park PTA understands and values the Social Emotional Learning programs at Cedar Park and contributes to our students’ success by funding IDEA Time 100%. You can learn more about their fundraising programs and goals here.
Examples of the Work
First and Second graders who participated in Animal Care and Kindness learned about how to care for even the smallest creatures and that all creatures, cute and cuddly as well as creepy-crawly deserve our respect and make a big impact on our world and daily lives.
For one specific class they learned about endangered animals and collaged posters to get the word out and advocate for the animals. You can watch a slideshow of their work.
Throw and Build Pottery Studio taught Third, Fourth and Fifth graders how to create beautiful ceramic items while talking about the power of getting out of your comfort zone, learning new skills, seeing beauty in imperfections and the creativity of others and having a growth mindset when learning a new skill that may be difficult.
