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Comprehensive Social Emotional Learning Program (SEL): Curriculum

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Comprehensive Social Emotional Learning Program (SEL): Curriculum

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Our Mission: To improve the lives of children, families, and educators everywhere.

PATHS® Training LLC is the original authorized worldwide provider of training and technical assistance for the curriculum, the research-based and proven-effective social and emotional learning (SEL) curricula for children in preschool through grade 6. Since its establishment in 2000, our company has provided high-quality workshops throughout the United States, as well as internationally.

On this web site, you will find information on the training services offered by PATHS® Training LLC, our trainers, and how to contact us to create a customized training and technical assistance plan for your school district or organization.

All of our trainers are highly experienced curriculum users who have undergone rigorous training and oversight to assure the highest fidelity of program implementation possible; as a result, our workshops help to maximize positive outcomes. Trainers understand the scientific basis, including developmental neuropsychology, on which the curricula are built, as well as practical considerations that contribute to successful implementations in the real world.

Program Materials

curriculum kits and supporting materials are published and distributed exclusively by the Channing-Bete Company, Inc. Clicking on the following link will take you to the publisher's website where you will find a comprehensive multimedia guide to the program, as well as additional information:

Thank you for your interest in and training!and the
PATHS® Training LLC logo are trademarks and service marks of Channing Bete Company, Inc.

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PATHS™ - Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies

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Our Mission: To improve the lives of children, families, and educators everywhere. PATHS® Training LLC is the original authorized worldwide provider of training and technical assistance for the curriculum, the research-based and proven-effective social and emotional learning (SEL) curricula for children in preschool through grade 6.

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Early Childhood Curriculum and Teacher Training Program that Develops Social, Emotional and Behavioral Skills in Children

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Early Childhood Curriculum and Teacher Training Program that Develops Social, Emotional and Behavioral Skills in Children

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Al's Pals: An Effective Early Childhood Curriculum and Teaching Approach

Al's Pals: Kids Making Healthy Choices is a nationally recognized, resilience-based early childhood curriculum and teacher training program that develops social, emotional and behavioral skills in children 3 to 8 years old. The Al's Pals interactive lessons and teaching approaches help young children learn to:

Express feelings appropriately

Use kind words

Care about others

Use self-control

Think flexibly

Accept differences

Make friends

Solve problems peacefully

Cope in positive ways

Make safe and healthy choices

Understand that tobacco, alcohol, and illegal drugs are not for children

How It Works

The Al's Pals curriculum has 46 lessons lasting 10-15 minutes each. The Wingspan-trained classroom teacher conducts two lessons a week, in sequence, over a 23-week period. Designed specifically for the early childhood years, the lessons use guided creative play, brainstorming, puppetry, original music, role plays, and movement to delight young minds and engage them in the development of social-emotional competence.

An original hand puppet named Al serves as a positive role model. Along with puppet pals Ty and Keisha, Al engages children in developmentally appropriate activities that build positive social skills and healthy decision-making. Al's Pals applies resilience research to practice, preparing children to face life's ups and downs. Each lesson has specific resilience-based learning objectives and includes narratives, puppet scripts, songs, and activities that use real-life early childhood experiences.

Between the lessons, educators use teaching approaches learned in the Al's Pals training to help children practice and generalize skills in daily classroom interactions. An Al's Palsclassroom - with posters, photographs, music, "Al's Place," and other reminders of positive social behavior - becomes a caring environment of cooperation, respect, responsibility, and healthy decision-making.

Interactive Core Training

Al's Pals training is provided by Wingspan, the developer and national distributor of the program. The core training is required for all educators who will deliver the program.

The training features:

Real-life application of the concepts of resilience and protective factors to early childhood education and settings

Effective delivery of the Al's Pals curriculum

Teaching approaches and strategies that guide prosocial behavior and peaceful problem-solving

Wingspan offers training in two formats: 1) face-to-face training conducted over two days in centralized locations arranged by Wingspan as well as on-site in local communities or; 2) live, online training consisting of four sessions, each lasting approximately two hours, scheduled over a period of several weeks. Wingspan National Outreach Specialists can help determine an appropriate training plan to meet your local needs.

Comprehensive, Easy-to-Use Curriculum Materials

Curriculum materials are distributed only upon completion of the core Al's Pals training. Each classroom requires its own curriculum kit. Contained within a puppet house, the kit includes an array of developmentally appropriate materials designed to convey prosocial concepts through daily classroom activities as well as in the lessons:

Two complete sets of the 46 lesson curriculum

Three original puppets

Easy-to-follow puppet scripts

Twelve original songs on CD (Click here to order the CD)

Oversized songbook

Thirty-eight color photographs of real-life situations

Fourteen sets of parent letters (also available in Spanish)

Calm Down and Problem-Solving posters

Two children's books

Eight different "Al-a-Grams" (colorful school-to-home message pads, recognizing positive behavior, also available in Spanish)

Color certificates of program completion for the children

Parent Involvement

Listen to comments from an Al's Pals parent.

Ongoing communication with parents is built into the Al's Pals curriculum. Teachers regularly send home curriculum letters from Al to update parents about skills the children are learning and suggest home activities reinforcing these concepts. "Al-a-Gram" messages recognize children who display specific Al's Pals skills such as using kind words or stopping and thinking and are sent home to inform parents about the children's progress.

Al's Pals partners are encouraged to conduct the companion parent education program, Here, Now and Down the Road... Tips for Loving Parents to engage parents in supporting children's social-emotional development. This strengths-based program offers parents practical strategies to reinforce Al's Pals concepts at home and fosters positive relationships between parents and their children.

Booster Curriculum for Older Children

To help children retain the Al's Pals gains, a nine-lesson booster curriculum reinforces Al's Pals skills for second and third grade children who previously completed the core curriculum. The interactive booster lessons offer opportunities for role-play, brainstorms, group interaction, written work, and music to help children integrate the positive social skills into their regular behavior patterns.

The Unique Role of Guidance Counselors, Prevention, Mental Health and Other Specialists

Prevention specialists, guidance counselors, and other mental health specialists often spearhead the initiative to bring Al's Pals to their community, school, or organization. They provide guidance in funding procurement, training coordination, monitoring fidelity of program implementation, and evaluation efforts.

After completing Wingspan training, specialists may opt to co-deliver the program with the trained classroom teacher and offer suggestions on how to enhance Protective Factors at school and home. When resource specialists deliver the lessons, it is essential that the classroom teachers still participate in Wingspan training. The Al's Pals training prepares the classroom educator to infuse the program's values into the classroom environment and seize opportunities between the lessons for children to practice and generalize newly acquired skills, when the specialist is not present in the classroom. Some specialists spend five hours a week or more in a classroom working with the children. To learn more about effective adaptations of the Al's Pals model in settings like this, click here to contact an Outreach Specialist.

Al's Pals Overview | Results and Recognition | Program Settings | Getting Started With Al's Pals

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Early Skill Development Curriculum| Richmond, VA| | Wingspan

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Al's Pals: Kids Making Healthy Choices is a nationally recognized, resilience-based early childhood curriculum and teacher training program that develops social, emotional and behavioral skills in children 3 to 8 years old.

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Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Program With an Emphasis on Self-Regulation

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Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Program With an Emphasis on Self-Regulation

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Second Step is a program rooted in social-emotional learning (SEL) that helps transform schools into supportive, successful learning environments uniquely equipped to encourage children to thrive. More than just a classroom curriculum, Second Step's holistic approach helps create a more empathetic society by providing education professionals, families, and the larger community with tools to enable them to take an active role in the social-emotional growth and safety of today's children.

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Online Course for Promoting Self-Regulation

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Online Course for Promoting Self-Regulation

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Megan McClelland

Megan McClelland is the Katherine E. Smith Professor of Healthy Children and Families in Human Development and Family Sciences at Oregon State University. She serves as Director of the Early Childhood Research Core at the Hallie Ford Center for Healthy Children and Families at Oregon State University. Her research focuses on optimizing children's development, especially as it relates to children's self-regulation and healthy development.

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Red Light, Purple Light: A Self-Regulation Intervention Program

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Megan McClelland Megan McClelland is the Katherine E. Smith Professor of Healthy Children and Families in Human Development and Family Sciences at Oregon State University. She serves as Director of the Early Childhood Research Core at the Hallie Ford Center for Healthy Children and Families at Oregon State University.