Dear Morningside Center friends,

While we at Morningside lead with hope, we know the new year has brought many challenges to the world—and so we also lead with empathetic lessons and practices to both take on these challenges and center our humanity. Today, we are centering the work of Dr. King, SEL skills and practices, and how to help our children as the climate takes center stage in Los Angeles and around the world. And don’t miss what-we’re-reading—we know these prescient pieces will help educators and learners move forward with knowledge and tools!

Once more, thank you to all who gave during our end of year appeal! If you want to help bring our work to more educators and learners, just click the button below—and forward this email to anyone who may want to join our beloved community, as always! Sharing is supporting!

Finally, be sure to follow us on Social where we are also sharing resources and growing community, while we learn from you. You can find us on: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Bluesky.

New & Featured on TeachableMoment

Sharing & Validating Feelings About the Los Angeles Wildfires

As the Los Angeles wildfires continue without full containment, students are most likely experiencing a range of emotions: fear, uncertainty, confusion, anxiety, sadness, and/or hopelessness. It is important that all feelings are validated and space is made to share questions, thoughts, and feelings about this tragedy.

Love, Art, Justice and Dr. King 

Come with us for a journey where students explore new angles on the life and ideas of Martin Luther King, Jr., and consider their own responses and (re)commitments to justice. 

Civil Rights History & Mythology – how much do your students know? ...Did the Civil Rights Movement involve only the South? Was it the product of a few great leaders? In this lesson, students learn about the Movement, explore mythologies surrounding it, and consider how sometimes "history" distorts the truth.

Dr. King and the Ongoing Fight for Economic Justice

Students watch videos with Martin Luther King, III and Rev. William Barber, co-founder of today’s Poor People’s Campaign, and discuss the continuing fight for economic and racial justice. 

What We're Reading

The SEL Skills Google, Microsoft, and Other Top Companies Want Schools to Teach

"Social-emotional skills are crucial to ensuring students are set up for success—both in the classroom and in their future careers. Our emotions act as gatekeepers to cognition, motivation, and attention, and [they] impact how we navigate our own thoughts and actions and interact with the world around us." By Mark Lieberman at Education Week

What SEL Adds to Our Understanding of Literacy Development in Young Children

"Reading the pictures first—literally reviewing the pictures in a children’s book before reading the text—does several things. First, it expands students’ emotion vocabulary. Second, it teaches them the grammar of emotion in a more accessible way than just learning it at the speed of life." By Maurice J. Elias at Edutopia

Supporting Neuroplasticity in Multilingual Learners

"It’s important for educators to recognize that the balance between support and challenge is not only about language but also about fostering cognitive growth. Productive struggle is the space where students encounter tasks that push them slightly beyond their comfort zone, requiring effort, reflection, and persistence to succeed." By Sarah Said & Thamir Aljobori at Edutopia

“Our feelings are our most genuine paths to knowledge.” 

― Audre Lorde