RoseThread Learning · “Human thinking first. Technology in the background.” Dr. Mathy
The new RoseThread Connect · Now in Early Access
Teach your content. Intentionally build human skills.
Our missionMake Social and Emotional Learning intentional in every high school classroom, threaded right into your content.
- Ready to use, 20 minute activities for high school classes
- Your academic content paired with CASEL's SEL framework
- Not one more thing on your plate: one activity a week, inside the content you already teach
- Self-grading quizzes: a quick check for understanding in Google Forms for every activity in every course, graded automatically, so you see who learned it without grading a thing
8 subjects · 10 activities free · No credit card
What Social and Emotional Learning is, and how we build it into the classes teachers already teach.
Why RoseThread
Intentional, not accidental, in every high school classroom.
RoseThread Connect helps high school teachers build students' human skills on purpose, inside the content they already teach. Teachers choose one 20 minute activity a week that connects to what they are already teaching, so SEL is not one more thing to fit in. It is threaded into core teaching, planned and named, every week.
Each activity fits inside a regular class period and teaches your academic content while students practice a human skill.
Each week, choose one activity that fits what you are already teaching. It is not extra. It is SEL threaded into your content, with an activity for every week of the year.
Every activity names one of the five skills from CASEL's SEL Framework, so students know what they are practicing, try it with a partner, and reflect on it.
Our song
Thread It Through
A little song about teaching your content and threading SEL through all you do, with the five skills from CASEL's SEL Framework, one 20 minute activity at a time.
Words, music, and animation made with AI tools for RoseThread Learning.
RoseThread Connect
Find it. Print or Project it. Teach and Reflect.
Choose one activity each week that fits what you are already teaching. Search by subject, course, topic, book, or standard, in English, Spanish, or French. Every standard is written out, so you always know what you are teaching to.
Grades 9 to 12. Spanish 1 to 4 and AP, Heritage Spanish, and Mi Semana reflections; French 1 to 4 and AP with Ma semaine speaking routines; Integrated Math I to III, Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, Pre-Calculus, and Calculus (AP Calculus AB); English 9 to 12; Living Earth, Chemistry, Physics, and Earth and Environmental Science; World History, US History, Government, Economics, Geography, and Ethnic Studies; Art 1 and 2, Photography, Theatre, Choir, and Dance; and PE Course 1 and 2 with a PE journal page. My Week routines for every course. Constantly being updated.
- A short read aloud introduction that names the skill and why it matters
- Timed steps, suggested teacher language, and a partner or group talk task
- Individual reflection with an appropriate share
- English learner and accessibility supports: word bank with Spanish translations, sentence frames at three ELD levels, graphic organizer, step by step checklist
Click a page to see it full size.
See sample Workbook and Guidebook pages for every course
RoseThread Connect supports universal classroom instruction within Tier 1; it is not a complete MTSS system. Activities are original materials informed by CASEL's SEL Framework. RoseThread Learning is not affiliated with or endorsed by CASEL.
Free professional learning
SEL With Intention: The Five SEL Skills in High School Content Classes
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is the process through which young people and adults build and use the skills to understand themselves, manage emotions and reach goals, show empathy, keep supportive relationships, and make caring, responsible decisions. CASEL, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, is the nonprofit founded in 1994, the year the term was introduced. Its SEL framework names five core competencies and is one of the most widely cited SEL frameworks in the country.
Why naming them out loud matters
In a doctoral interview study of 12 California high school teachers (Mathy, 2026), teachers described skills aligned with all five competencies already present in their classrooms, but rarely named. Teachers described SEL training as necessary but not enough: it raised awareness without showing what to do in a Chemistry, Spanish 2, or US History class. This course is designed to close that gap with four teacher moves: name it, show it, practice it in the content, and reflect on it.
Free certificate and badge when you finish.
The course takes about 30 minutes on your own. Leading a school? The staff meeting takes 20 minutes, and a 40 minute PLC session follows a few weeks later.
What the research actually says
Durlak et al. (2011), Child Development. The course also covers Taylor et al. (2017), Cipriano et al. (2023), and what the research does not tell us, including how little of it comes from high schools.
More free professional learning
Become an Impact Study School
Apply to be an Impact Study SchoolInterested in helping us make content specific SEL integration practical for high school classrooms? Join our first Impact Study Schools. Accepted teachers receive free access to the activities in their subject for a full semester, try approximately one relevant activity each week, and share honest feedback.
Why this matters, in depth. For schools, districts, and teachers who want the full picture, including how a school or district impact study works. About 3 minutes.
What participants do
- Try about one relevant activity per week during the semester.
- In the first four weeks, complete up to four brief classroom use feedback reports (about 3 minutes each), then one exit survey (about 3 minutes).
- Positive ratings are never required. An activity that turns out to be unsuitable still counts when you genuinely try it and report what happened.
What you get
- Free access to every activity and weekly set in your subject for one semester.
- Impact Study Schools and districts can include every activity in every subject.
- No payment card, no cost, and no paid participation. Your honest feedback shapes what we build next.
After the impact study
- Free full access ends when the semester impact study ends unless explicitly extended.
- No payment card is collected and no one is charged automatically. A paid subscription afterward is optional.
- Activities you deliberately unlock with your free credits stay yours. Impact study access does not permanently unlock the catalog.
Teachers
Teach high school and want to try one activity a week for a semester? Tell us about your classes. It takes about 3 to 5 minutes.
Schools and districts
Interested in becoming a free Impact Study School or district, for at least one semester? Tell us about your teams and timeline.
The forms open in Google Forms in a new tab. Accepted teachers sign in to RoseThread Connect later to activate impact study access.
Help build practical, human centered learning.
RoseThread Learning is building tools and activities that help educators connect academic learning with intentional human skill development. We're interested in collaborating with educators, reviewers, researchers, implementation specialists, and technical partners.
Curriculum development
Educators who can create original, standards aligned activities with explicit SEL objectives, student communication, reflection, and usable classroom materials.
Curriculum review
Subject specialists who can check academic accuracy, standards alignment, age appropriateness, practical directions, and classroom fit.
Accessibility and learner supports
Educators with expertise in English learner instruction, special education, accessible materials, and differentiation.
Training and implementation
Facilitators who can help teachers use RoseThread Connect and support school adoption through workshops, demonstrations, and implementation coaching.
Research and evaluation
Researchers, faculty, independent evaluators, and doctoral students interested in feasibility, implementation, and later outcome studies. Doctoral collaborations require appropriate chair and institutional involvement.
Technical and curriculum partnerships
Developers, designers, publishers, and other partners who can support reliable access, search, content management, and future integrations.
These are not currently funded positions, and expressing interest does not guarantee compensation or employment. Please do not send substantial unpaid sample work. Scope, compensation, rights, and responsibilities are confirmed before any work begins.
Built by a high school teacher and former district MTSS leader. More about us →
About RoseThread Learning
Human First Learning: human thinking first, technology in the background.
We build educational technology that protects the human work of learning and teaching, and quietly connects it to the digital systems schools depend on.
Students think first
Students do the cognitively important work themselves, by hand when that serves learning best.
Teachers stay in control
Tools that give teachers time back for the human work of teaching, while their professional judgment stays at the center.
Built for real schools
Designed by an educator and school leader to fit the systems schools already use.
Also from RoseThread Learning
In development
InkClass
Keep the paper. Digitize the workflow. Students write with a real pen on real paper, and their work connects to the digital tools schools already use, so teachers spend less time managing paper and more time teaching.
Learn about InkClassSpeaking and PD
Keynotes, workshops, and series on relationship centered schools, MTSS and PBIS, and AI in the classroom. English and Spanish.
See speaking topicsTierReady
MTSS implementation support that site and district teams can actually run. Now inviting founding districts.
Learn about TierReadyThe SSCC Practice™
Steady, Scan, Connect, Close: a daily practice for better human connection in the moments that matter most.
Explore the practiceGet in touch
Teachers, schools and districts, partners, researchers, and investors: tell us what you need and we will reply by email.
