Serna Elementary brings Social Emotional Learning into the library

It might look like some kind of yoga studio at first glance, but the room with dim lights and purple yoga mats is actually the Serna Elementary school library.

Eleven-year-old Tristan Barthel is one of the students who chose to participate in the day’s meditation session.

“It’s a form of being able to create calmness,” the fifth-grader explained.

The fifth-grader hopes to be a video game designer one day and said learning to meditate can help young people when they are adults.  

“When you are busy on something, you might have like a deadline really soon and you might be stressed,” Tristan said.

It’s all part a new initiative called ‘Feel Good Fridays’ started by school librarian Pam Beaufait to help students learn relaxation techniques, social skills and social awareness.

Beaufait has been at Serna for four years and previously taught first grade at Wetmore Elementary.

“I started it this year at Serna. I know Dr. Maika had talked about one of the big rocks for this year was social emotional learning, so I thought, let’s do it in the library. We’ve got some time on Fridays in the morning and they can come in and have that time to practice that skills and learn them,” she said.

Beaufait constantly communicates with parents and teachers and said the feedback has been encouraging.

“I think it’s really helping the kids not only in the classroom but really in life,” she said.

Mrs. Beaufait is happy to make a difference for the students at Serna. 

“I always wanted to be an educator from when I was little. I started as a teacher and decided to become a librarian mainly because I get to teach all of the kids in the school which is a really neat perk. I really think that kids need a lot of things, so we can provide them academically in the schools but we also can provide those social skills as well. I think that as they are growing up it’s a little harder nowadays, so I think it’s important for us to focus on them and give them the attention that they need,” she said.

To learn more about Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in NEISD, click here: https://www.neisd.net/Page/20111

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