Collective Belonging – Elementary
Build classrooms that center belonging, connection and inclusiveness
August 3rd | Oakland, CA
9:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Coffee, snacks, and lunch provided
Belonging Starts Early
Elementary-aged children need explicit support navigating gender and racial identity development, navigating emotions, fairness and connection across differences—often without the language or support to process what they’re experiencing. Girls, and especially girls of color, frequently receive messages that shape how safe, valued, and visible they feel in school spaces.
Collective Belonging – Elementary equips educators with practical social-emotional learning tools to build calmer, more connected classroom cultures where every child feels seen, supported, and able to thrive. Through experiential dialogue, reflection, movement, and play-based practices, participants gain strategies they can immediately apply to foster inclusion, emotional regulation, empathy, and accountability in developmentally appropriate ways.
This training is designed to help educators move beyond simply talking about belonging and begin creating the conditions where every child can feel seen, valued, and supported.
What You’ll Experience
During this training, you’ll engage in:
- Experiential community-building activities
- Guided reflection on identity, care, and connection
- Movement and play-based practices designed for elementary learners
- Brave Space practices that support belonging and accountability
- Translation moments that connect adult learning to classroom application
- Practical strategies for emotional regulation, empathy, and repair
What You’ll Receive
Participants will walk away with:
- A stronger understanding of how belonging supports learning, wellbeing, and connection
- Practical SEL strategies for helping elementary students name emotions, build empathy, and practice repair
- Tools for creating shared agreements and inclusive classroom norms
- Developmentally appropriate ways to support emotional regulation in the moment
- A deeper awareness of how race and gender bias can shape classroom dynamics and discipline patterns
- Action steps for creating change at the individual, interpersonal, institutional, and systemic levels
- Girls Leadership’s Brave Space Groundwork framework, All Kinds of Powerful Questions, and grounding practices
What Makes This Training Different
Participants don’t just learn about belonging. They experience it.
This one-day training blends reflection, movement, dialogue, and play to model the same practices educators can use with elementary students. Participants explore how gender and racial bias can show up early in classroom communities and gain concrete tools to interrupt harmful patterns while strengthening connection, emotional awareness, and repair.
The training is grounded in Girls Leadership’s Brave Space practices and K–12 SEL approach, with a focus on helping educators create environments where every student can cultivate wellbeing, voice, and power.
Why Collective Belonging
Collective Belonging – Elementary gives educators practical ways to build classroom cultures rooted in care, inclusion, shared accountability, and emotional safety.
“I think one of the most valuable aspects of the training was how safe the space felt. I was entrusted into an unfamiliar environment with all unfamiliar people and yet we opened up to each other in a way that felt natural. Additionally, the ability for the facilitators to be able to read a room was so inspiring and insightful.” – Past Collective Belonging Participant
Bring belonging centered SEL practices to your elementary classroom or youth program. Register Today!
Cost
$300 – Sliding Scale. Price includes food and beverages.
We recognize that access to professional development funding varies. Our sliding scale offers you the opportunity to pay the amount that aligns with the funds that you have available to cover the cost.
Have Questions?
If you’re not sure whether this training is right for you, or if you need additional information before registering, please email us at info@girlsleadership.org.
