Math, Science, and SEL in the Classroom
How do you embed SEL skills and mindfulness into a math or science classroom? There are many natural connections as students learn to persist through challenging events, work with others toward a common goal, select the best option among choices for a suitable outcome, show hope and perseverance, and take care of property. In this issue, we explore what classrooms look and feel like when SEL is woven into academic learning—and how you can make SEL part of your next math or science lesson, no matter what grade you teach.
Articles in this Issue

Achieving Math and Science Standards With SEL
All educators are familiar with educational standards, those guidelines that define what students should know and be able to do in different subjects and grade levels. Maintaining high expectations for…

Encouraging Students’ Natural Tendencies
I once taught a mixed-age kindergarten class that had both four- and five-year-olds. Each year my four-year-olds became the older fives, and we welcomed a new group of four year…

Leading the Way
How have the first weeks of the school year been for your community? Trey Veazey: I have found that it is important to be an honest leader, so I want…

A+ SEL in Action
A+SEL in Middle School Math By Lisa Sassaman SEL instruction in content areas is practical and beneficial to all members of the classroom community. Middle school math—it’s a topic that…

Thoughts, Emotions, and Mathematical Reasoning A Conversation with Dr. Alison Barnes
Learn how to assess a student’s perseverance in mathematical problem-solving by observing their reasoning processes and their movement within these processes from Dr. Alison Barnes, a principal lecturer and researcher…

Applying the Natural Learning Cycle
These two sample lessons are adapted from Kristen Vincent’s Make Learning Meaningful: How to Leverage the Brain’s Natural Learning Cycle in K–8 Classrooms. The book discusses a brain-based approach to…