Academics

Social & Emotional Curriculum

“Empathy, Compassion, and Respect. 
A Community Together, We All Connect
Responsibility and Love, Words We Know Well
Learning and Sharing, Our Futures We Foretell”
-IDS School Song

IDS is fully committed to collaboration with students and their parents to create a safe, respectful, and joyful learning community for all our families.



 
Teachers in Preschool through Grade 4 use an evidence-based approach to teaching and classroom discipline that focuses on student engagement, positive classroom community, and meeting the developmental needs of children. The Responsive Classroom is not a curriculum but rather a set of practices that are founded on the belief that students learn best when social and emotional competencies (cooperation, assertiveness, responsibility, empathy, and self-control) are integrated with the development of academic competencies ( growth mindset, perseverance, learning strategies, and academic behavior).

A Responsive Classroom begins with a Morning Meeting each day, invites students to help develop the rules for the classroom rules, incorporates quiet time for individual reflection, and pulls students together at the end of each day for a closing circle. An important component of a Responsive Classroom is the use of positive teacher language which helps students meet expectations with growing confidence, competence, and autonomy.
When students make the transition to Upper School in Grade 5 they are assigned to an advisor who meets with a group of 8 students who start and end each day together. In order to prepare students for the social and emotional challenges of secondary school, IDS has adopted the Second Step social curriculum which is taught to advisory groups once a week.

Topics discussed in the Second Step curriculum include:
  • Empathy and Compassion for others
  • Bullying Prevention
  • Emotional self-regulation
  • Problem Solving
  • Substance abuse and prevention
115 Laurel Brook Road
Middlefield, CT 06455
Phone: 860-347-7235 | Fax: 860-347-8852
ids@independentdayschool.org