Social Emotional Learning at PUFSD is built on the framework developed by CASEL (the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning), which identifies five core competencies as the foundation for lifelong wellbeing and success:

• Self-Awareness: Understanding one's own emotions, values, and strengths
• Self-Management: Regulating emotions and behaviors to achieve goals
• Social Awareness: Demonstrating empathy and understanding others' perspectives
• Relationship Skills: Building and maintaining healthy, supportive relationships
• Responsible Decision-Making: Making thoughtful choices that consider the impact on oneself and others

Monthly themes across K-12 are organized around these competencies. SEL-focused tips and resources for families are shared regularly through ParentSquare, and our community resource hub connects families to referrals and outside support when needed.

A foundational tool in our SEL work is the Zones of Regulation, a research-based framework that gives students a common language for identifying and managing their emotional states. The four zones are color-coded:

• Blue Zone: Low energy states — feeling sad, tired, bored, or sick
• Green Zone: Calm, focused, and ready to learn — the zone where students do their best thinking and learning
• Yellow Zone: Heightened alertness — feeling worried, frustrated, silly, or excited
• Red Zone: Intense emotional states — feeling angry, panicked, or overwhelmed

At PUFSD, we use the phrase "Getting to Green" to describe the goal of helping students recognize where they are and find their way to a regulated, ready-to-learn state. This is not about suppressing emotions, it's about building the skills to navigate them.

"Getting to Green" strategies include mindful breathing, movement, positive self-talk, self-advocacy, journaling, and talking to a trusted adult. These tools are introduced in the earliest grades and reinforced through middle and high school.

DBT gives people practical strategies for managing difficult emotions, navigating relationships, and making decisions that align with their values. These skills are useful for everyone, not just those experiencing a mental health crisis. Our program introduces DBT concepts in age-appropriate ways beginning in the elementary grades, and students build on that foundation throughout middle and high school.

What this looks like in practice:

In the younger grades, students learn foundational regulation strategies such as 4-7-8 breathing and journaling — tools they can reach for independently when they need to manage a strong emotion.

In the middle school advisory program, specific DBT skills are introduced at each grade level:

• Wise Mind is a concept woven through advisory programming in all grades. It describes the balanced state that integrates our emotions with our rational thinking. Students learn to recognize when they are in "emotion mind," when they are in "reasonable mind," and how to find the wise middle ground.
• DEARMAN is introduced in 6th grade as a self-advocacy skill. It gives students a structured approach to asking for what they need, setting limits, and navigating situations where they feel pressured without damaging their relationships in the process.
• FAST is taught in 8th grade as a tool for maintaining self-respect and integrity in difficult interpersonal situations, including when responding to microaggressions or bias.

Students don't just hear about these skills, they practice them, discuss them, and apply them to real situations they encounter in school and in their lives.