…That You Can Plan for SEL Day 2025
By Brittany De La Vega and Maurice J. Elias, Ph.D.
Reflecting on the success of this past SEL Day on March 8, 2024, it’s clear that social-emotional learning (SEL) continues to be a crucial component in shaping our educational landscape.
In 2024, the theme, “Empowering Today’s Students, Inspiring Tomorrow’s Leaders,” led hundreds of New Jersey schools to provide students with valuable lessons in social justice, wellness, civic responsibility and more.
As we look ahead to SEL Day 2025, let’s explore how equipping students with the ability to empathize and to understand and manage their emotions can embolden them to strive for a better tomorrow.
New Jersey schools leading our futures
New Jersey schools have been leading the way in promoting SEL, which has been spotlighted thanks to the dedicated efforts of groups like the Social-Emotional Alliance for New Jersey (SEL4NJ), a voluntary organization of educators, professional associations and advocacy groups committed to implementing evidence-based social-emotional competencies and character in schools.
SEL4NJ takes a lead role in gathering innovative SEL-related practices that our schools are implementing not just on SEL Day but throughout the academic year, and here are some prime examples.
James A. McDivitt Elementary School
During the school day, James A. McDivitt Elementary School in Middlesex County, routinely engages in promoting SEL practices. They start each day with Morning Meetings to give students some time to share similar interests and hobbies. During these meetings, students pass around a talking stick and greet each other in different languages, a creative practice of inclusivity and cultural appreciation. They also chant morning affirmations to start their day with a positive mindset. Check an affirmation out at
bit.ly/morning-affirm.
In the second-grade classroom, students get to choose how they’re greeted each day before entering and have an Affirmation Mirror to remind themselves of their worth and value, two simple but powerful practices that help boost their confidence and self-esteem. This chart provides students with options for how they want to be greeted: bit.ly/4dBQdu8.
Staff wellness is also a priority at McDivitt and, in SEL style, staff take a lead role. Vertical Teams focus on aspects of adult well-being and provide opportunities for staff to engage in activities such as restorative circles and wellness workshops.
The Communication Team hosts activities such as the “Talking Stick,” where the speaker answers questions like, “How can we support each other better?” to show staff how to listen and talk to each other effectively.
The Motivation Team brings in guest speakers, including Juan Bendaña, who gave an inspiring talk about finding the power within ourselves to model positive behavior for students.
The Wellness Team focuses on organizing Zumba and meditation sessions to help reduce stress. They even have a therapy dog named Jade, who brings smiles to staff and students alike.
Every day is SEL Day at James A. McDivitt Elementary School—just named as a State School of Character, where students and staff are empowered to be their best selves and help others do the same.
Berlin Community School
Berlin Community School, a K-8 school in Camden County, has been a hub of SEL initiatives.
For SEL Day 2024, middle school students took on a leadership role by creating SEL lessons to teach to the elementary students in their school. This hands-on experience solidified their own learning and empowered them to become teachers themselves.
Students also engaged in minilessons, each lasting 10-15 minutes, to deepen their understanding of SEL concepts where a scripted introduction helped set the stage for the day’s activities. This is the script: bit.ly/script-intro.
To further support SEL learning, Jennifer Parks, the elementary school’s designated SEL teacher, was inspired by her students to create a YouTube channel,
@JFamilyWellness, where resources are available for both classroom and home use year-round.
Berlin Community School does not consider SEL an abstract concept, but rather as a lived experience that encourages students to become compassionate, confident human beings.
Butler School District
Butler Public Schools in Morris County went all-out in the week leading up to SEL Day 2024, focusing each weekday on one of the five SEL tenets. This included using Instagram (bit.ly/butler-insta). Teachers were also given a choice board (bit.ly/butler-choice) with ideas on how to bring SEL into their classrooms beyond just that week.
The high school counseling department added a mindfulness bulletin board (bit.ly/butler-insta2) with various practices for students to take. Additionally, they partnered with local restaurants (bit.ly/butler-partners) to provide discounts to families, encouraging them to spend quality time together.
Butler High students engaged in the “SEL Day Challenge,” where they were asked SEL-related questions and won a prize for their answers, like journals, fidgets, stress balls and more.
In the Butler High School classrooms, teachers such as Shannon Neville-Greenwood implement SEL practices year-round. As a history teacher, Neville-Greenwood incorporates morning meditations, a March kindness competition, creative activities like writing “secret agent” narratives to check in with her students emotionally. (See
bit.ly/neville-greenwood.)
Business Education Teacher Lisa Chestnutt uses unique projects like the SEL SWOT (see bit.ly/sel-swot) and the Kindness Plan (see bit.ly/kindness-plan) to engage students in SEL and marketing concepts. She also brings Butler High’s therapy dog, Gucci, to school throughout the week for comfort and support.
Throughout the year, the Butler Public School District emphasizes the importance of integrating SEL into our daily routines to support student well-being.
These amazing examples of SEL practices across New Jersey schools showcase how teachers are taking creativity to the next level. At SEL4NJ, you can find more activities from some of the districts mentioned here and other schools throughout the state. New Jersey is also blessed with resources, such as the New Jersey Alliance for Social, Emotional, and Character Development (njasecd.org) and the NJDOE SEL webpage (bit.ly/doe-sel), that provide multimedia materials and support for bringing social-emotional and character development into classrooms every day.
Let’s plan to make the 2024-25 academic year into SEL Year for all of our schools, to ensure all of our students are prepared for the tests of life and not just a life of tests.
Brittany De La Vega and Maurice J. Elias write from the Rutgers University Social-Emotional and Character Development Lab and SEL4NJ. You can learn more at sel4nj.org.