Here at Isabella Bird, we care deeply about the social and emotional wellness of our students.

First and foremost, we strive to build a positive school climate at Izzi B. We utilize Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) strategies throughout the school with teaching of expectations and visual reminders of expectations throughout the school. We reward our students for meeting these expectations with frequent positive praise and Dragon Scales. Dragon Scales can be used to shop from our school store – The Dragon Lair.

Every month, we hold a school-wide assembly led in part by our amazing Student Council. We get students excited about coming to school by celebrating student accomplishments, showcasing homeroom classrooms and recognizing Dragons of the Month at every assembly. We also use assemblies to introduce the next month’s social-emotional learning topic.

Because we understand the importance of intentionally teaching social-emotional skills, we provide multi-tiered social and emotional supports at Izzi B. This means ALL students receive intentional social-emotional instruction and we take great efforts to identify students who may need additional support. 

So what does this look like?

More About Our Skills Development for General Education Classrooms

• Second Step Curriculum to teach skills for interaction, conflict resolution, empathy for others, making friends, and many other topics that develop over the years. 
• Daily Morning Crew Meetings where we connect with our crew through discussions, practicing social skills, focusing on social and academic goals and goal achievement, playing games that connect us and build our crew cohesion.
• Restorative Justice Practices: A program that is aimed at resolving disciplinary problems and is based on respect, responsibility, relationship-building, and relationship-repairing. Read a great article explaining this and mentioning DPS.

Riding the Waves

• Fifth grade students work through this curriculum in their crew. Lessons address healthy emotional development, depression, and anxiety.