I Soar with Wings Children's Book
"WINGS helped me feel good about people and myself."
Our Approach
How WINGS brings youth development to life.
Three Pillars: Culture, Adult Skills, Curriculum
Program Culture
A culture where social emotional learning can thrive is one that provides a safe and healthy place for kids to learn and grow. Critical for any social emotional learning initiative, it's also a significant contributor to the quality of learning that can take place.
The WINGS Way:
When you walk into a WINGS program there is an unmistakable energy, we call it a vibe. We want children to feel like WINGS is their home away from home, a place where they belong, feel safe, and are wholly cared for. WINGS is a safe place for kids to learn how to take responsibility for their choices and actions, manage their emotions, and deal with conflict - a place where making mistakes is okay, even encouraged. In this supportive environment, kids identify their strengths and weaknesses, feel empowered, and are fully engaged.
Our goal is to:
- Encourage everyone to become the best version of themselves
- Create a community where everyone is valued
- Make learning FUN!
Adult Social and Emotional Skills
To effectively teach social and emotional skills, you must first possess your own skillset. Adults who model emotional intelligence provide the critical foundation for trusting and positive relationships to be formed. When adults are skilled in the core social emotional competencies, they are supportive and engaging, take responsibility for their choices and actions, manage their emotions, deal with conflicts, and are open to feedback.
The WINGS Way:
At WINGS, we teach more by our actions than by our words. Extensive training helps staff develop their own emotional intelligence and social and emotional skills. Everyone who works at WINGS completes a full week of life skill focused professional development as well as four shorter training sessions throughout the year. We model social emotional skills in the way we engage with youth and in the way we interact with our peers – we call it Letting Your WINGS Out. You are aware of your emotions, able to deal with life’s surprises, responsible for your choices and actions, respectful of different perspectives, supportive and trustworthy, and kind and caring.
“Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.” – James Baldwin
Comprehensive Curriculum
A comprehensive curriculum provides explicit and implicit skill-building opportunities across all five core competencies of SEL: self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, social awareness, and relationship skills. A comprehensive approach helps kids gain confidence, self-control, and empowers them to be problem solvers and make positive choices.
The WINGS Way:
At WINGS, we make learning fun through kid-friendly language, lessons, and activities that are woven seamlessly throughout program time. Our evidence-based curriculum is made up of ten learning objectives, two objectives for each of the five competencies, supported by corresponding lessons, activities, and games. The objectives and lessons are reinforced in small teachable moments that occur throughout the day, everyday, to apply lessons in real-time.
Words to Live By
I Soar with Wings Children’s Book
Easy and fun to learn, the pages of I Soar with Wings equip kids with the language to navigate life’s ups and downs.A Day in the Life at WINGS
Watch WINGS After School
In this video, hear from WINGS Leaders, alumni, students, parents and teachers about the tremendous impact our afterschool program has on the lives of those involved. Mix a supportive environment, caring adults, and social-emotional smarts, and you grow wings to fly.