Hawks Prairie Early Learning Classroom Emphasizes Social-Emotional Skills

In Lacey, a preschool classroom is demonstrating how social-emotional learning can create a calm, collaborative environment for young students.

Teacher Fiona Kranz leads a class of 3- and 4-year-olds at Hawks Prairie Early Learning Center, part of ESD 113's Early Learning Program. In her classroom, she has implemented Conscious Discipline — a trauma-informed, evidence-based social-emotional learning curriculum — to help her students build skills and relationships. 

On a recent September morning, ESD 113 board members and superintendent Flip Herndon watched students go from outdoor time to name-writing practice and then to free-play centers, relying on the social-emotional skills they practice every day to transition smoothly from activity to activity. These skills are exactly why the students in Teacher Fiona's class are being celebrated by our Board of Directors this month for being In Their Element.

"“There’s a lot of this in Fiona’s classroom [social-emotional learning],” Center Director Trista Houdyshell said. “She has really taken to the Conscious Discipline learning really well.”

Building Skills Through Structure

In Kranz’s classroom, students move between activity centers—playing in the kitchen area, arranging dollhouses, using fidgets in a quiet corner, or building with blocks and trains. The calm atmosphere reflects the classroom's focus on routines, structure, and emotional regulation tools.

The room includes a calm-down station with Conscious Discipline strategies like S.T.A.R., which stands for "Smile. Take a deep breath And Relax.” Students readily share toys and communicate with classmates and visitors, demonstrating the social skills they’ve developed.

Connecting Emotions to Learning

Recent lessons have focused on identifying emotions using the A Little Spot book series. As part of their lessons, students created an art project to show what feelings look like for them. 

“We read the first book, and it’s all of the emotions tangled up, and then it breaks down and there is a book for each emotion,” Kranz said. “We talk about what it might look like, and we practice making space for it, what you might feel.”

Beyond the classroom, social-emotional learning resources are integrated throughout the center, giving students consistent tools to help them regulate emotions, connect with classmates, and navigate their early education experience.

These early skills prepare students to enter kindergarten with confidence and build strong relationships with peers and teachers.

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The ESD 113 Board recognizes one student group each month with the In Their Element Award. This honor celebrates programs where students explore, create, and lead. It amplifies student voice and student-led activities that engage young people in meaningful ways.