2025 Exchange poster presenter Andrew Hagman, principal of Momentous School in Dallas, Texas, along with Kelly Richmond, Director of Product Strategy and Sales at Momentous Institute, which works with young people and families to provide research-backed and evidence-embedded mental health services and education, offer a sneak peek at his presentation: Prep Your PreK Garden for a Kindergarten Bumper Crop!
We have a lot to be proud of at my school, Momentous School in Dallas, Texas.
- Our students consistently outperform our local district in kindergarten MAP reading and math results.
- Our kindergarten students score above the national average on SELweb, an assessment of SEL competencies.
- Seventy-four percent of our families qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and over half speak primarily Spanish at home, which makes our assessment results even more impressive through an equity lens.
In our poster presentation at the Exchange, we’ll be putting the spotlight on these accomplishments and how we achieved them by focusing on specific SEL domains in PreK3, PreK4, and kindergarten.
The SEL Domains
Back to topWe focus on the SEL domains of safe relationships, self-regulation, awareness of self, understanding others, and changemakers. We focus on these domains every year through the 5th grade, but the early childhood years are critically important for establishing this focus.
Here’s a bit about each domain:
- Safe relationships—Without this, you won’t go far; it underlies all other efforts. Our emphasis on safe relationships begins with home visits before the first day of school. It’s a friendly visit with a book gift and a get-to-know-you activity (Think how your five-year-old self would have reacted if your teacher came to your home!). Morning meetings and closing circles build community within the classroom, and we emphasize the importance of routines because of the psychological safety they provide children.
- Self-regulation—Starting in PreK3, we teach about the brain to provide a sense of control and to facilitate self-regulation. We look at the role of the amygdala, hippocampus, and pre-frontal cortex in creating and responding to big feelings. We use songs and activities to demonstrate that their brain controls their actions. We share strategies for self-regulation, including breathing’s effect on dysregulation and how to properly use the tools in a calm-down corner. We also use games to teach body control and impulse control.
- Awareness of self—We foster an understanding of the power of gratitude for self and sharing with others, and we use books like Beautiful Oops to reinforce the role of optimism. Our kids learn about grit and resilience with the power of “yet” and positive self-talk.
- Understanding others—We develop our kids’ ability to understand others’ perspectives through activities that involve individual choice and respecting others’ choices, and we foster empathy by acting in caring ways to help someone feel better.
- Changemakers—We encourage our kids to be changemakers through kindness and generosity (filling others’ buckets) and to practice compassion through service projects.
The Positive Impact
Back to topOur students’ success extends beyond MAP and SELweb results; they average a 94 percent high school graduation rate, 82 percent college enrollment rate, and 50 percent college graduation rate (in comparison to 81 percent, 52 percent, and 29 percent in U.S. low-income students, respectively).
We want all our kids to be ready to maximize any opportunity before them, and by preparing the soil in the early childhood years with quality social and emotional learning, we help produce a harvest that benefits everyone.
To learn more about this and other other great SEL topics, be sure to register for the 2025 Exchange, November 4-6, in Minneapolis, Minn.
The views in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of CASEL.
Andrew Hagman is the principal of Momentous School in Dallas, TX, a private, PK3-5th grade elementary school with a 90% Latino and 74% economically disadvantaged population. The 2025-2026 school year is Andrew’s 31st year in education.
Kelly Richmond is the Director of Strategy at Momentous Institute. With over 20 years of experience, she has collaborated with organizations around the world to embed mental health informed practices into education systems and leadership development.
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- How I Discovered a Treasure Trove of SEL in Nonfiction Picture Books
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