Social Emotional Learning at SMS

On Wednesday, February 7th, our whole school engaged in our second school-wide SEL event. The purpose of the day was for students and staff to foster connections and build relationships as they set aside their reading, writing, and math. Celebrate Sedgwick Days are an initiative coming from one of our school goals: "to create a joyful and equitable school environment in which students, families, and staff feel a sense of belonging and community!"

As we built upon our first Celebration, this day including grade level assemblies featuring the Blues and Beyond Band. The Blues and Beyond brings a cross-cultural performance that teaches history through the lens of music. Professional musicians and historians combined in their presentation to teach about the roots of American music and where it all came from (West Africa to New Orleans to the blues to soul). During their performance, The Blues and Beyond used music as the vehicle to tell the history of America from the 1600's to present day, spotlighting ancient West African roots music and progressing all the way to Hip Hop and Modern Day Pop.

Students had the opportunity to write their own Blues songs during Advisories in advance of the Celebration day and hear those lyrics performed by the band during the assembly! Below is video of the 7th grade Blues as performed by The Blues and Beyond!

The day also featured a variety of activities, including: escape rooms, cookie decorating, board games, painting, making friendship bracelets and kindness cards for CCMC, minute-to-win it games, karaoke, minecraft, Chinese New Year activities, knitting, creating Rube Goldberg machines, making valentines for veterans, creating a group mural, playing "how well do you know your teacher" kahoot, and extended gym time with peers from across teams.

One of the highlights was an outstanding performance by the Sedgwick Step Team, which opened each grade level assembly!

I liked this Celebrate Day more than the first one because we got to go across teams and see all of our friends and talk with them, which we don’t always get to do. There was a lot more variety in activities that met student interests. It was a fun day! ~ Lila

I liked the freedom of choice that we had…we had choices for the activities we did. It was the perfect balance of intense and casual while playing the sports. I personally played Matball. The band was cool and the performers were super into it. There was more freedom since the routine of the day was changed up and we got to be with different friends and in different classes. ~ Iggy and Niklas

"The Blues and Beyond musical performance was incredible." "The blues band was great. I think this was an exceptional way for students to learn about Black history through music."

"I loved that students had the flexibility to select their own activities."

"Being able to be active with students in the gym."

"I loved that I saw students smiling."