School Partners

  • Nooksack Elementary Kindergartners Skillfully Shine During Their Problem-Solving Class Meetings

    Nooksack Elementary Kindergartners Skillfully Shine During Their Problem-Solving Class Meetings

    Phi Bean is a kindergarten teacher at Nooksack Elementary School in Everson, WA, part of the Nooksack Valley School District. She has been teaching kindergarten there for seven years and knows firsthand the importance of social-emotional learning for kids this age. We asked Ms. Bean to share the impact of working with BELONG Partners in…

  • TRANSFORM BIPOC Youth Circles at Dimmitt Middle School As an organization that strives to uplift racial equity in all that we do, we were thrilled this year to be able to bring a program called TRANSFORM (Trauma and Racism Addressed by Navigating Systemic Forms of Oppression using Resistance Methods) to our community. TRANSFORM is a…

  • Building a Community of Belonging at Midway Elementary

    Building a Community of Belonging at Midway Elementary

    Collaborative Solutions for Emotional Growth Meet Midway Elementary, a Vibrant and Diverse School  Located in the Highline School District, Midway Elementary is a vibrant example of diversity and resilience. The school’s principal, Lyon Terry, leads a team dedicated to educating 570 students from pre-K through 5th grade. Their unique dual language program teaches all students…

  • Fostering community and collaboration between new & seasoned educators 

    The BELONG Partners District Model is a comprehensive approach to school transformation that focuses on building capacity and sustainability within a school district. Through this train-the-trainer model, our experienced facilitators work closely with regional coaches hired by a district to implement the BELONG Partners approach in their schools. One of our original District Model partners…

  • BELONG Partners District Model Schools Hold 2nd Annual Convening in Medford, Oregon

    The BELONG Partners Model currently includes 11 schools from across 4 counties and 5 school districts in southern Oregon. This spring we co-hosted our second annual convening of twenty-five educators, representing our eight Whole School Partner schools in Medford, Oregon. They came together to collaboratively reflect on their practice, celebrate their accomplishments, and initiate plans…

  • Campbell Hill Classified Staff use Data and SEL Strategies to Help with Transitions and Recess

    Campbell Hill Classified Staff use Data and SEL Strategies to Help with Transitions and Recess

    The classified staff of Campbell Hill Elementary, in Renton, WA, works hard every day to be sure that students know they are safe, belong, and matter in the unstructured spaces like the school playground and cafeteria. This team of educators meet monthly to align their practice, continue their learning about social emotional learning and trauma-responsive…

  • School Discipline Data Points to the Need for Self-Regulation Skills

    School Discipline Data Points to the Need for Self-Regulation Skills

    Terminal Park Elementary School in Auburn, WA is one of our Whole School partners. They have an active Data Team made up of staff who are leading the implementation of Sound Discipline work at their school. Data Teams in our partner schools gather and analyze discipline data – which is documentation of when a student…

  • Auburn School District’s All-Staff Wellness Day Lays Foundation for a Culture of Care

    “SEL is about preparing students and staff for quality instruction, quality learning, and quality interaction, because that’s where we are spending all of our time.” – Assistant Superintendent Rhonda Larson, Family Engagement & Student Success Dept Thursday, September 1, we were thrilled to spend the ENTIRE day with Auburn School District Staff during their first…

  • Graduation – Sound Discipline’s Identity and Values

      What is the story of the 2021/2022 school year? Heads nod when I sum it up this way – this was a year like no other. The return to in-person learning as the pandemic raged on meant doing the best we could under constant stress, strain, and uncertainty. Teachers and administrators worked harder than…

  • Orcas in the C’s at Lakeridge Elementary

    For so many schools, it has been a tumultuous two years from school-on-a-screen to in-person learning. This is definitely the case for Lakeridge Elementary in the Renton (Washington) School District. For new 1st graders, school was in constant transition. Starting kindergarten on Zoom, they learned what it meant to be part of a classroom community through…