Social Emotional Learning
At Miquon, learning is deeply social. Every day, children practice listening, collaborating, solving problems, caring for others, and understanding themselves alongside reading, writing, mathematics, science, and the arts.Children learn best when they feel known, valued, and connected. When children trust the adults around them and feel a sense of belonging within their classroom and school community, they are more willing to take academic risks, ask questions, persevere through challenges, and share their ideas with confidence.Because Miquon teachers know each child well, they are able to support both academic growth and social-emotional development with care and intention. This work is imbedded into classroom routines, relationships, play, problem-solving, and the many moments that make up a Miquon education.
Learning Together Every Day
Social and emotional growth is built into the rhythm of each day through classroom routines such as Morning Meeting, Responsive Classroom practices, and the Fly Five curriculum, which provide children with a shared language for understanding themselves and one another.
Just as important are the countless moments that arise naturally throughout the day.
A disagreement during a game, frustration over a challenging project, or uncertainty about joining a group all become opportunities for reflection, conversation, and growth. Rather than moving quickly past these moments, teachers help children identify their feelings, consider different perspectives, and work toward solutions together.
Children learn that mistakes, misunderstandings, and conflicts are not interruptions to learning—they are opportunities to practice empathy, resilience, communication, and problem-solving.
Learning to Listen, Understand, and Repair
Conflict is a natural part of being in community. At Miquon, children are guided to slow down, listen carefully, express themselves honestly, and work together to repair relationships.
Visitors often notice how comfortably Miquon children talk about their emotions and how thoughtfully they navigate disagreements. These skills develop over years of practice with teachers who model calm communication, respectful disagreement, and collaborative problem-solving.
Morning Meeting is one of the anchoring routines that nurtures these skills. Children greet one another, share something from their lives, participate in cooperative activities, and strengthen their classroom community. One favorite tradition involves passing a ball of string across the circle while sharing a kind word for a classmate, gradually creating a web that reminds children that each person is connected and valued.
Shared lunches, classroom work, creative projects, outdoor play, and games provide additional opportunities for children to negotiate, compromise, include others, and build friendships in authentic ways.
Buddy Time:
Building Community Across Ages
One of the ways children experience Miquon's close-knit community is through Buddy Time. Throughout the year, classes are thoughtfully paired across grade levels—perhaps a Preschool class with Fourth Grade or Kindergarten with Fifth Grade—and meet regularly to learn, play, and spend time together.
Each Buddy Time experience is unique. Teachers design activities that reflect the interests and ages of their students, so one visit might include reading together, writing letters, tackling a building challenge, creating art, exploring materials like Magna-Tiles or pattern blocks, spending time together on the playground, or hiking Miquon's campus.
While the activities change, the purpose remains the same: building meaningful relationships across ages.
For younger children, Buddy Time offers the comfort of having older role models who know them by name, celebrate their successes, and help them feel connected to the larger school community. Older students develop confidence as mentors while practicing empathy, patience, leadership, and responsibility in authentic ways.
These friendships extend beyond Buddy Time itself. Every Friday at all-school assembly, buddies sit together—a tradition many children eagerly anticipate each week. It is a familiar sight to see younger students sitting beside or nestled with their older buddies as they listen, sing, and celebrate together. Throughout the year, buddies greet one another around campus, stop to chat on the playground, and share special moments during school events.
Over time, these cross-grade relationships help create the kind of community Miquon is known for: one where children of every age feel known, valued, and connected.
Good of the Group:
Children Shape Their Community
At Miquon, children are not simply members of a community—they are active contributors to it. Through traditions like Good of the School and Good of the Group, students learn that their ideas matter and that caring for a community is everyone’s responsibility.
Good of the School
Once per quarter, students in Grades 2–6 gather for Good of the School, a dedicated Friday assembly focused on strengthening the school community.
Each meeting, a small group of sixth grade leaders takes the stage of the Playbarn to facilitate the gathering. They invite students to share problems they have noticed around campus, listen carefully to different perspectives, and guide the community toward thoughtful solutions.
Through this process, students experience what it means to participate in a community where everyone has a voice. Sixth graders develop leadership, confidence, and responsibility as they guide the conversation, while younger students learn that their observations and ideas can help shape the school they share.
Good of the Group
Inspired by Good of the School, classrooms gather every other week for Good of the Group meetings. These smaller, child-led conversations provide space for students to celebrate successes, raise concerns, and collaborate on solutions within their own classes.
Students practice listening with care, expressing themselves clearly, considering different perspectives, and finding ways forward together. Leadership opportunities rotate so that every child has the chance to facilitate discussion, take notes, or help guide the group.
Whether speaking up about a school-wide concern or working through a classroom challenge, children learn that being part of a community means both having a voice and making room for the voices of others.
Skills That Last a Lifetime
When children feel supported socially and emotionally, their academic engagement grows. They become more confident learners, thoughtful collaborators, resilient problem-solvers, and caring friends.
The skills children practice at Miquon of communicating clearly, understanding different perspectives, navigating challenges, and contributing to a community continue to serve them long after they leave elementary school.
Our goal is not simply to help children succeed in school today. It is to help them advocate and care for themselves, each other, and the wider world.
