SEL Curriculum for Elementary Grades K-2

The Pathway 2 Success Curriculum is a complete set of social emotional learning lessons designed for kindergarten, grade 1, and grade 2 learners. It provides daily lessons and activities to teach SEL skills throughout the entire school year.

What is Social Emotional Learning?

Social emotional learning is the process we use to help children and young adults acquire necessary skills for success. Ultimately, SEL skills are the foundation for everything else. They allow children to develop confidence, build friendships, work well with peers, get organized, and problem-solve through challenges. If we want children to thrive personally, socially, and academically, it is important to give them the skills, tools, and supports to get there.

Which Skills Are Included?

This complete curriculum targets the five core domains of social-emotional learning. This includes self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationships, and decision-making. These are each broken into their own complete units.

Unit 1: Self-Awareness

Learning who I am
Building confidence
Understanding emotions
Learning positive thinking
Embracing a growth mindset
Practicing mindfulness
Considering dreams for the future

Unit 2: Self-Management

My behavior and choices
Calming strategies
Using self-control
Managing emotions
Developing work habits
Staying organized
Learning to persevere

Unit 3: Social Awareness

Learning social expectations
Sharing ideas
Using a social filter
Being a social detective
Developing empathy
Showing respect
Showing kindness

Unit 4: Relationship Skills

Understanding relationships
Building community
Developing friendships
Talking with others
Getting along with others
Teamwork
Conflict resolution skills

Unit 5: Decision-Making

Understanding my brain
Making choices
Good decisions
Being responsible
Developing integrity
Problem-solving
Learning from choices

Research-Based Best Practices

The lessons and activities utilize research-based best practices for SEL instruction and primary instruction. They include:

Sequenced instruction of social-emotional skills
Active and varied activities
Focused and intentional SEL strategies and instruction
Explicit instruction of social-emotional skills
Clear learning target for each lesson
Visuals to support instruction
Embedded movement and motor activities
Integrated art and music activities
Questioning to support learning goals
Home-school communication
Pre- and post-assessments for units

How Can I Implement These Lessons?

Each week, you will be teaching a new SEL focus (such as emotions or confidence). Every day, you will use the detailed educator lesson plans to guide you through the day’s lesson. Lesson instructions are scripted as a support, though you can always choose to add your own language to make the lesson your own. Lessons are purposefully split up so you can select the best activities for your learners if time is short.

The lessons are intended to be flexible! For example, if task cards are included, you can choose to have students read and discuss in partners OR you can read aloud for a whole class discussion. If a writing prompt is included, you can choose to have your students write OR you can discuss together as a class and model the writing for them. Additionally, plenty of materials are included. You can always choose the activities that best meet the needs of your learners.

If you don’t have daily SEL time, that’s okay! Choose the activities for the week that best meet the needs of your students. For example, for lesson 2, you may choose to complete lessons 2-1, 2-2, and 2-5 if that is what you have time for.

Over 1500 SEL Pages!

This curriculum set includes a huge amount of materials. This is purposeful to make sure you have what you need to teach your students. Examples of activities and resources included are: