California K–6 social-emotional learning standards

Students name their personal characteristics and life experiences and have an increasingly accurate basic sense of self. Students are aware of their own likes and dislikes.

Students recognize, label, and understand basic emotions in themselves and know that more than one emotion can be experienced at once. Students are aware of how emotions can affect their body.

Students name people, places, and ideas that are important to them. Students can describe their own family traditions.

Students understand acceptance versus exclusion and how they help or harm others.

Students identify ways to help and practice helping others at school, home, and other settings.

Students reflect on experiences as the causes of certain emotions. Students recognize the purpose of emotions and name simple ways their emotions influence their decisions and behavior.

Students are aware of, and distinguish between, their wants and needs. Students can name their strengths such as skills, knowledge, or talents.

Students believe in their capacity to learn and that they are capable, important community members. Students practice having an optimistic outlook.

Students practice noticing their emotions, where they experience them in their bodies, and using those signs to choose strategies to express feelings in helpful ways. Students practice strategies that help them to sustain joy and feel calmer, patient, focused and energized.

Students identify situations and relationships that calm them. Students understand and begin to practice how to be physically healthy in ways that are within their control.

Students identify and practice strategies they have used or can use to stay hopeful and “bounce back” from challenges.

Students understand the purpose of feedback and can listen to and accept simple, constructive feedback.

Students understand and practice maintaining others’ stated emotional and physical boundaries.

Students identify personal and collective goals and name simple steps to achieve them.

Students begin practicing self-monitoring thoughts and actions and asking for help to stay motivated and focused. Students are aware of their body during active listening. Students are able to identify when they are focused and paying attention.

Students keep their spaces and belongings organized with guidance.

Students discuss similarities and differences between themselves and others and different social and cultural groups.

Students recognize and name emotions in others using verbal and physical cues. Students describe how others may feel in a variety of situations and show empathy for others’ experiences.

Students contribute to creating and maintaining shared agreements that guide their interactions with others and their environment. Students show kindness toward people of all backgrounds and experiences.

Students describe what it means to be a helpful community member. Students can identify people in their learning environment and family that can support them when they need help.

Students name groups or communities they are a part of and their qualities. Students demonstrate pride in belonging to their groups or communities and take action to make others feel welcome.

Students describe and demonstrate fairness toward others. Students can describe how rules can benefit some people over others. Students cooperate and play with peers respectfully.

Students name ways that they can contribute to or participate in groups and communities and how they can be helpful, fair, compassionate, and respectful to those in other groups or communities.

Students begin to identify inappropriate requests and situations. They understand they can say “no” and respect when others say “no” to them.

Students practice ways to be a leader and contribute to groups in their learning context.

Students identify what it means to be a good friend. Students demonstrate gratitude toward others.

Students show willingness to learn about the cultures of others. Students take pride in their own culture and share information with others.

Students identify and talk through a problem and generate solutions with others.

Students can effectively apologize by recognizing what happened and owning their own actions.

Students communicate their own ideas, wants, and needs without negatively impacting others.

Students recognize all people have the right to be treated fairly. Students understand the difference between tattling and reporting and know when it is important to report something to an adult.

Students express curiosity and openness to new people and situations. Students are interested in new experiences.

Students demonstrate honesty and fairness and can explain the importance of both to relationships. Students explore caring and ethical actions on behalf of our planet.

Students describe personal and social problems and can name possible solutions with support.

Students understand why safety rules exist. Students can describe physically unsafe behaviors and choices in their learning and home environments. Students can demonstrate safe behavior.

Students identify ways that they can help and why it is important to be a helper at home, at school, and in other settings. Students begin to explore the concept of citizenship and what it means to be a good citizen or participant in a democracy.

Students can explain and begin to practice stop, think, act strategies.

Students can name the likely consequences of their actions with support. Students explore cause and effect and how choices can have impacts far beyond themselves.

Students understand how some aspects of their personal and social identity can change over time and be shaped by themselves, others, and their experiences. Students show confidence and pride in their identity without needing to feel superior to others.

Students recognize the intensity of their emotions and can name increasingly complex emotions. Students identify when they feel stressed or anxious.

Students articulate their beliefs about topics that are important to them, their family, and their learning community.

Students are able to reflect on their own experiences of inclusion and exclusion and of being excluded and excluding others.

Students describe their roles and contributions in the different settings in which they participate. Students identify characteristics and habits they have and how they may affect others in their learning community.

Students recognize how their emotions are information they can choose to harness and use. Students understand that there are no “bad” emotions and that their feeling states can be changed intentionally.

Students articulate their needs in constructive ways. Students begin to develop a sense of personal purpose and feel that their lives are important and meaningful.

Students are more accurate in their perceptions and gain confidence in their own thoughts and well-founded opinions but are open to trying and listening to new and different ideas.

Students practice self-monitoring and harness and express their emotions in authentic and constructive ways by identifying, articulating, and using emotional regulation strategies that work for them. Students use diverse strategies to express themselves effectively in different social and cultural contexts.

Students know and use simple stress management practices. Students engage in mental and physical health promoting activities in ways that are within their control.

Students describe different types of adversity and what they can learn from others’ stories of overcoming difficult experiences, resilience, and remaining hopeful in the face of challenges (e.g., current and historical characters).

Students welcome constructive feedback and understand and use varied strategies to give feedback to peers.

Students perceive social cues and resist impulses in order to maintain the explicit or implied emotional and physical boundaries of others.

Students identify short- and longer-term personal and collective goals that are meaningful to them and demonstrate strategies that work for them to achieve those goals.

Students use personally relevant strategies, like self-talk, to get and stay motivated. Students can identify distractions and know and apply simple solutions to overcome them.

Students practice managing their own time, organizing their materials, and gathering what is needed for a task or activity.

Students identify opinions versus facts about people and groups who are similar and different from themselves. Students name specific strengths and assets of individuals from diverse groups.

Students name ways people’s identities and experiences may lead to different emotional reactions. Students show curiosity about and strive to take the perspective of others based on what they know about that person or group. Students show empathy and compassion for others.

Students recognize healthy and safe boundaries in interactions with others in their family, learning community, and beyond. Students identify strategies to build and maintain trust.

Students identify appropriate, trusted people to seek support from based on their specific needs and recognize ways they can support others.

Students demonstrate acceptance and inclusion of those who are different from themselves and value the contributions of the members of a diverse group.

Students can work cooperatively in a diverse group of peers. Students identify their own basic rights and the rights of others. Students begin to understand how bias, prejudice, stereotypes, and racism can play a role in how people act and make decisions. Students can give examples of how these issues can disrupt or harm groups in our society.

Students explore the importance and power of community participation and service. Students collaborate with others to identify ways to contribute productively to their learning community.

Students show progress in discerning and resisting inappropriate requests and demonstrate multiple strategies to navigate negative social pressure.

Students understand that leadership skills can be learned and explore being leaders in ways that are important to them.

Students identify characteristics of friends and types and levels of friendship. Students identify why they are grateful for the people in their lives and proactively show gratitude in different ways.

Students celebrate differences in other cultures. Students identify and demonstrate strategies to show respect for other cultures.

Students use constructive strategies to communicate their perspective and listen openly to the perspectives of others to solve a problem.

Students practice acknowledging their role in a conflict, how others were hurt, what they could do differently in the future, and how to repair harm and move forward constructively.

Students can communicate assertively and respectfully. Students advocate for their needs and compromise with others.

Students recognize all people have the right to human dignity and justice. Students demonstrate upstander strategies, such as distraction and removing targets from bullying situations.

Students understand the importance of curiosity and practice staying open minded when meeting diverse groups of people or in new situations.

Students demonstrate honesty and integrity in their interactions with others and insist on fairness from peers and adults in all contexts. Students begin to understand and explore the consequences of unethical actions to our planet.

Students generate multiple feasible solutions for personal and social problems and identify when help is needed to solve a problem.

Students develop an understanding of the common good and how it contributes to collective well-being. Students explore the benefits and responsibilities of democratic citizenship.

Students know and regularly practice decision-making strategies and use critical thinking to identify choices that result in the best outcomes for all involved.

Students anticipate consequences of their own and other’s actions with increasing accuracy. Students identify the impact of different activities and opportunities on themselves, their relationships, and learning contexts.

Students identify and explore their different social identities, including race, ethnicity, language, gender, and ability. Students begin to explore the concept of intersectionality. Students cultivate a healthy, well-grounded sense of self- confidence based on their strengths.

Students examine and reflect on the underlying causes of emotions. Students recognize the difference between emotions and feelings. Students work to label, with specificity, their feeling states.

Students explore the concept of values: how they are formed, how they reflect our identity and experiences, and how they are applied. Students start to examine how personal perspectives and values can be challenged.

Students begin to identify their prejudices and biases and how those might impact their behaviors toward others related to being inclusive or exclusive.

Students begin to identify what they need from communities they belong to and assess if their needs are being met. Students are aware of the ways they are or are not meeting the needs of others in their learning community.

Students recognize the connection between their thoughts, emotions, and behavior based on brain science. Students recognize how they express their emotions may be influenced by their culture and experiences.

Students develop a sense of personal power and can identify and use their personal, social, and cultural assets in healthy ways.

Students examine and reflect on how beliefs about themselves and about learning intersect (mastery orientation versus performance orientation) and the impact on their optimism and confidence.

Students explore the difference between emotion suppression and management and how to channel emotions productively. Students work on reframing feelings before acting on them.

Students describe how stress affects their choices and actions and practice multiple strategies to manage stress. Students choose, take ownership of, and engage in activities that promote their mental and physical health.

Students consider various paths through individual and collective adversity. Students reflect on their sources of inner strength, hope, and what they look for in supportive relationships.

Students seek out and make changes based on constructive feedback and demonstrate contextually appropriate ways of giving feedback to peers, educators, and others in their learning community and family.

Students reflect on their changing boundaries to support their growth and well-being. Students also examine and reflect on healthy boundaries within different cultures.

Students identify and work toward incremental personal and collective goals in pursuit of longer-term, achievements. Students identify and commit to roles in achieving collective goals. Students begin to examine how to balance personal and collective goals.

Students can create and follow routines, independently adapt to challenges and distractions, and apply perseverance strategies that work for them.

Students take an active role in managing their time, activities, and responsibilities.

Students reflect on how social identities (e.g., cultural, racial, class, gender, linguistic, ability) impact the way people view and interact with others, including those from diverse groups.

Students explore differences in emotional expression and communication norms across cultures and communities and how differences can contribute to misunderstandings, but also provide opportunity for growth. Students respond compassionately to others’ experiences and demonstrate care and concern.

Students co-construct all aspects of relationship-centered, just, and caring learning environments, including shared agreements and norms for engagement. Students question the inclusivity of the curriculum.

Students know when and where to proactively seek resources and supports and begin to understand the interdependence of members of a community.

Students reflect on how to build an accepting and inclusive learning community. Students collaborate to identify barriers to belonging for all individuals in their learning community. Students question the norms of groups and systems in healthy ways.

Students examine and reflect on how individuals act on their explicit and implicit bias, how some policies can contribute to injustice, and the damaging impact this can have on others and our society. Students explore intent versus impact.

Students accurately recognize inequities and community needs and collaborate with adults and peers to take action on real world issues in support of a more inclusive, caring, healthy, and just community.

Students examine and reflect on how they make decisions, how their peers influence these decisions, and how to better navigate peer-pressure situations.

Students explore different types of leadership and recognize that different leadership capacities, skills, and styles are needed in varied contexts. Students increasingly take on leadership roles and reflect on and identify areas of improvement.

Students examine and reflect on the changing nature of friendships and other relationships and the importance of a diverse peer network. Students recognize characteristics of healthy and unhealthy relationships. Students reflect on effective communication within a relationship and the potential impact technology can have on communication and relationships.

Students explore different cultural practices and world views. Students begin to develop skills for communication and interaction across cultures. Students recognize the importance of a lifelong commitment to reflection and self-critique as the foundation of cultural humility.

Students work with peers and adults to come up with mutually acceptable solutions that address underlying concerns on both sides.

Students proactively use restorative approaches, including restorative questions in conflicts. Students increasingly take responsibility for harm they may cause and look for opportunities to repair relationships. Students practice forgiveness.

Students learn and practice nonviolent communication strategies. Students use their strengths to: improve communication; voice opinions directly, with tact; and advocate to have their wants and needs met. Students engage in respectful negotiation.

Students examine and reflect on the concept of microaggression. Students understand allyship and the bystander effect. Students understand that allyship is a continuous process that includes ongoing self-reflection.

Students intentionally practice curiosity and approach diverse groups with open-mindedness. Students seek out new experiences from which they can grow.

Students understand the concepts and importance of ethics and can apply them in their personal and learning contexts. Students understand their role and others’ roles in the ethical use of our planet's resources.

Students apply an improvement- orientation and perspective to personal and social problems and can facilitate problem-solving conversations among peers.

Students differentiate and honor their own and others’ physical, emotional, and intellectual safety and know how identity impacts safety. Students adhere to learning environment safety standards and increasingly assess risk for themselves.

Students explore their own role as a caring citizen and resident and their social responsibility to participate in our democracy to advance collective well-being. Students reflect on the role of civic leaders and elected representatives.

Students deepen their understanding of critical thinking and how to use discernment in making judgements and decisions. Students apply these skills with media messages and online sources.

Students anticipate the most likely consequences of their own and others’ actions. Students identify the impacts of choices on their short- or longer-term goals and on their wider community, country, and the planet.