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< PreviousSeason 4 : Big Kids EditionSocial Emotional Learning 10 Resources for Educators Here are some additional resources to explore for growing social emotional skills. School’s Out Washington School’s Out Washington (SOWA) is dedicated to building community systems that support quality afterschool, youth development, and summer programs for Washington’s children and youth ages five through young adulthood. SOWA provides training for youth development professionals and it advocates for the Expanded Learning Opportunities field statewide. Dena Simmons: Without Context, Social-Emotional Learning Can Backfire Columnist Mary Jo Madda sat down and discussed with Dena Simmons, educator, TED speaker, and assistant director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, how educators should be working with kids to truly develop SEL skills. The resulting article explores ways that Social Emotional Learning (SEL) has become overly trendy and, in some programs, it is being taught just to “do it,” which defeats the intentionality of using SEL to actually enhance lives. Communities for Just Schools: When SEL is Used as Another Form of Policing Communities for Just Schools writes about the need to re-examine the way that social emotional skills are talked about and taught in schools. This article explores some programs in which social emotional learning skills are being taught in a way that tells children they must conform to certain ideals and not be their most authentic selves. SEL in Practice: A Toolkit of Practical Strategies and Resources This toolkit developed by the University of Minnesota Extension Center for Youth Development includes activities, templates, and tools organized around four ways to help support staff and children in SEL development. It’s designed primarily for those working with youth in middle school but, with small changes, the activities can be used for other age groups, too. Go Noodle Designed for kindergartners through fifth graders, Go Noodle is a tool that gives teachers and parents short interactive activities to get kids moving. Desk-side movement helps kids achieve more by keeping them energized, engaged, and motivated throughout the day. Lee & Low Books: Social and Emotional Learning Books Collection Support social and emotional learning with this collection of diverse books that build a positive sense of self and help children effectively apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, and establish and maintain respectful relationships. Season 4 : Big Kids EditionSocial Emotional Learning 11 I am Poem Worksheets Check out these fillable worksheets you can use with children to help them write their own “I Am Poems”. There are two versions of this activity to accommodate different reading and writing abilities, and communication preferences. I Am From Poem- Use this template to create your own “I Am From” Poem I am from (specific ordinary item) From and (product name) (product name) I am from the (place description) , , (adjective) (adjective) (sensory detail) I am from , (plant, flower, land-based, natural item) (description of above item) I’m from and (family tradition or practice) (family tradition or attribute) From and (something positive about yourself) (something you enjoyed as a child) I’m from (place of birth and family ancestry) , (a food item that represents your family) (another one) From ’s (loved one) (Specific story or detail about that person) The (location of family pictures, mementos, archives) (line explaining the importance of family items) Lesson Plan: I Am From Poem Fill in the blanks to create a poem about where you’re from. I am from and from (object) (loved one) The color and yummy (favorite color) (food) I am from and playing . (favorite place) (game) Draw a picture of your “I Am From” Poem “I Am From” Poem and Picture Two-Minute Tips are quick, simple, research-based strategies for ELO and Early Childhood Education (ECE) professionals. Each tip contains a short introduction, links the strategy to research-based outcomes, provides short practice tips for implementation, and a video of the strategy in action. Take a look at a couple of our Two-Minute Tips related to social emotional learning: Self-Regulation and Empathy. There are many more Two-Minute Tips available on the Cultivate Learning website. Click the links below to access these free resources. • Exploring Emotion • Mindfulness • Self Regulation • Self Talk • Empathy • Active Listening Check Out Some Two-Minute Tips Related to Social Emotional Learning Season 4 : Big Kids EditionSocial Emotional Learning 12 Specific Learning Goal or Skill-Building Focus Tell the children, “Today we are going to write an I am from poem. You will each have an opportunity to fill out your own poem, and if you wish you can share it with the group or a buddy. This will help us practice our language skills and learn more about ourselves and each other.” Preparation Print out enough “I Am From Poem” activity sheets for the number of children in your program. Print a few extras in case children want to make a second poem or need a fresh start. Gather writing or coloring materials; pencils, crayons, markers. Make your own poem to share with the children. Materials Needed Printed I Am Poem, pencils, markers, crayons. Specific Steps of the Activity Begin by sharing the learning goal and your model poem with the group. Then let children select either the writing-only or the worksheet with room for a picture. Ask each child to fill out the poem. When children have had enough time to finish their poem, ask if any volunteers would like to share their poem with the rest of the group. You can also break into small groups of 3 or 4 participants and give each child a chance to read their poem aloud and share what their words or pictures mean to them. Remind children to listen respectfully and without interrupting, to hear what their peers are saying. After children have had a chance to hear from each other, come back as a group and invite everyone to think about the poems. Ask them: What similarities did you notice? What parts of the poems were unique, or different from others? Children can share out loud or write their thoughts on another sheet of paper. If possible, offer to display completed poems in the program space. Grouping Strategy This activity can be done individually with a whole group discussion or in smaller groups of just a few children sharing their poems. . Additional Notes and Considerations Two versions of this activity are available to accommodate different reading and writing abilities and communication preferences. One option is a full page of writing. The second option is a shorter writing portion with half the page left for the poet to draw an image about the poem. Remind children that they all have unique cultures and backgrounds that are equally valuable and important. Let children have complete control over whether they share their poem with others and how much they share. Reflection and Discussion Questions • What was this experience like for you? • How did this make you feel? • What did you notice? • What did you learn about your peers? • Do you think you got to know somebody on a deeper level after hearing their poem? Lesson Plan: I Am From Poem Season 4 : Big Kids EditionSocial Emotional Learning 13 Specific Learning or Skill-Building Focus This activity builds important skills such as empathy, emotion awareness, and friendship skills. Tell children, “Today we are going to play the What Would You Do? Acting Game. We are going to break into groups and write out a skit about a time of high emotions or friendship problems. Then we will act out the skit for the rest of the group to watch. We’ll work together to identify solutions to the problems in each skit.” Preparation Gather materials in advance. Have a few ideas or skit suggestions for children who may be struggling to come up with ideas. Materials Needed Tape, journals, pencils, cards to write lines on, optional props like emotion bubbles and dress-up clothes. Specific Steps of the Activity Share the learning goal with the group. Then discuss what a high emotion or friendship problem might be. Give one example of each. Break children into small groups of 4-5 children. Make sure there is a writer in each group, or ensure a staff member is available to be a scribe. Have children write or dictate short, high-emotion or friendship problem scenarios and write their skits. Next, have the small groups take turns performing their skit. At the end of the skit discuss the following: what would you do? How would you feel? How could you help? Let the group decide on a solution and act it out. Grouping Strategy Form small groups of 4 to 5 children. You can randomly select small groups, or in mixed-age programs, consider intentionally pairing older and younger children together to ensure there is one writer per group. Additional Notes and Considerations Enhance this game by providing various props, like emotion word speech bubbles and costume materials. Providing journals in which children can write scenarios and resolutions will support their learning, too! Reflection and Discussion Questions As a group, discuss some of these reflection questions or ask participants to write down their thoughts. • What did you think of this activity? • What friendship qualities did they show in the skit? • What did the skits have in common? • What was the hardest part about coming up with a solution to the problem? • How can you show caring and respect even if someone is not your friend? • What should you do if you are acting with respect, but the other person is not? Lesson Plan: What Would You Do? Acting Game Season 4 : Big Kids EditionSocial Emotional Learning 14 Lesson Plan: Emotion Charades Specific Learning Goal or Skill-Building Focus Announce, “Today we are going to play a game called Emotion Charades. We’re going to practice our emotion words vocabulary. We’ll also see how well we are able to interpret someone’s feelings.” Preparation Write the name of a different feeling or emotion on each 3x5 index card. Try to balance the number of positive and negative feelings on the cards. Use a mixture of common terms (happy, sad, mad) and introduce complex words such as: frustrated, furious, nervous, proud, elated, and excited. Materials Needed 3x5 index cards (enough for each child to have at least one turn) with one emotion or feeling name written on each card. Specific Steps of the Activity Invite children into a large group. Begin the activity by talking to children about the importance of expressing our feelings. Explain the importance of understanding others’ feelings as well as their own. Expressing and understanding feelings and emotions is important when resolving conflict. Learning to understand the feelings of others helps us see things from their point of view and perhaps get along better. Sometimes we have to guess how someone is feeling based on their body language. That includes their facial expressions and their posture. Ask if anyone has played charades before. If yes, ask them to explain the general idea to the group. Explain, “We are going to take turns expressing the name of the feeling written on a card you choose. The rest of the class will guess what the emotion is. You can’t speak when you are acting out the emotion word. We will only have your body language and facial expression to guess from.” Demonstrate first by choosing any emotion you like. Start by passing both hands down in front of your face like a curtain. Once the hands have passed your chin, show the emotion. This hand gesture helps clear the slate and focus on acting out the intended emotion. If children don’t guess after about two minutes have the actor state the emotion word. If possible give every child a chance to perform. Don’t force anyone to perform. It is okay if not all children want to be an actor. Grouping Strategy This activity can be done as a whole group. If you have more than 20-25 children in your group you may want to split into smaller groups. Additional Notes and Considerations This activity can help open up communication, with and among children, about their feelings. It helps build their vocabulary and confidence in using the new knowledge. Consider including a picture of the emotion on the emotion word card to help children who either can’t read yet or don’t recognize the word. Reflection and Discussion Questions After all participants have had an opportunity to act out an emotion open up a discussion by asking: • Did you like this game? What was fun about it? What didn’t you like? • What did you notice about the game? • Did our group often guess the same words over and over? Which ones? What are some other words we could have used to describe….? • The last question creates an opportunity to help children think of more specific words to describe the emotions they might be feeling. • Adapted from Shapiro, A. (2003). Feelings charade. Morningside Center For Teacher Social Responsibility.Season 4 : Big Kids EditionSocial Emotional Learning 15 Specific Learning Goal or Skill-Building Focus Announce: “Today we’re going to make stress balls. Part of recognizing our emotions is finding ways to calm down when we have really big emotions. Stress balls are a good option for calming down when we have too much energy from being really excited, or frustrated, mad, or stressed out. We’ll each make our own stress ball that we can use to help ourselves build our calm-down skills.” Preparation Read about making Stress Balls. Gather all materials—enough for each child to make their own stress ball. Have either the children or a staff member blow up the balloon and then deflate it before you start. This stretches the balloon which makes it easier to fill it. Materials Needed 12 inch vinyl balloons, 1/2 cup of filler of choice: rice, water beads, legumes, cornstarch. Funnels and/or plastic water bottles with the bottoms cut off. Specific Steps of the Activity State the learning goal for the activity. Make a model of a stress ball (or multiple stress balls with different materials of choice) to show to the children. Pass a stress ball around. Talk about: What does it mean to be calm? How can a stress ball help you calm down? How does squeezing the stress ball make you feel? Invite children to make their own stress balls.To make stress balls: 1. Blow up the balloon and deflate it. 2. Pull the end of the balloon over the bottom of the funnel. 3. Carefully pour approximately one cup of the filler into the balloon. 4. Remove the funnel and tie a knot in the balloon. Try to get the knot as close to the base of the balloon as you can. 5. Stress ball is complete! Grouping Strategy Children will independently make their own stress ball so they each have their own at the end of the activity. Children can ask a friend or staff member for help if steps are challenging and require an extra hand. Additional Notes and Considerations Be aware of any allergies in your program. For example, opt for latex-free balloons and avoid stress ball fillers such as wheat flour that many people may be sensitive to. If you don’t have a funnel you can cut off the bottom of a plastic water bottle and use the opening of the bottle as your funnel. Adding a second balloon will give your stress ball an extra layer of strength, but it will also make your stress ball more firm when you squeeze it. Consider adding these materials to your sensory box or calm down/quiet corner. Discussing the lessons learned in this activity can be used as a tool for growth. Reflection and Discussion Questions Ask children to show you their thumbs up, thumbs down, thumbs sideways for if they liked, didn’t like, or only sort of liked making the stress ball today. • Can you tell me why you did or didn’t like it? • What did you learn about calming down today? 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It’s ok XSJIIPWEH[IEPPJIIPWEHWSQIXMQIW %WO8LIQ;LEX'EYWIH8LIMV*IIPMRKW )\EQTPI ;LEXQEHI]SYJIIPWEH# )RGSYVEKI*YVXLIV7IPJ%[EVIRIWWF])\TPSVMRK ;LEXXLI)QSXMSRMW'SQQYRMGEXMRK )\EQTPI ;LEXHS]SYXLMRO]SYVWEHRIWWMW XV]MRKXSXIPP]SY# Hillaker, B., Akiva, T., Jones, M., Sutter, A., Wallace, L., McGovern, G., Harris, J., Peck, S., & Smith, C. (2017). Program quality assessment handbook: Social emotional learning version. 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Books are a powerful tool to enhance our learning and expose ourselves to new perspectives. Here are some recommendations for further reading on safe environments and promoting a sense of belonging. Keep in mind that subject matter appropriate for older elementary and middle school children is not necessarily appropriate for younger children. We suggest that you keep chapter books for older children in a separate area that only they can access. This helps preserve the books for many readers to come, and ensures age appropriate access. Books for grown-ups: • The Whole-Brain Child by Daniel J. Siegel, M.D. and Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D. • El cerebro del niño (Spanish Edition) • Social Emotional Education and Attachment by Rafael Guerrero • Educación emocional y apego: Pautas prácticas para gestionar las emociones en casa y en el aula (Spanish Edition) • Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others by Connie Burk and Laura van Dernoot Lipsky • Raising An Emotionally Intelligent Child by John M. Gottman • Sing a Rhythm, Dance A Blues: Education for the Liberation of Black and Brown Girls by Dr. Monique Morris Books for kids: Read aloud: • I am Peace by Susan Verde • Yo soy Paz (Spanish Edition) by Susan Verde • When Sophie Gets Really, Really Angry by Molly Bang • Cuando Sofía se enoja, se enoja de veras (Spanish Edition) by Molly Bang • Charlotte and the Quiet Place by Deborah Sosin • Pensamientos by Alexis Ruginis, Janike Ruginis, & Nathalia Gaviria Chapter books for readers 9 years and older: • El Deafo by Cece Bell • Supersorda (Spanish edition) by Cece Bell • Healer of the Water Monster By Brian Young • Jo Jo Makoons: The Used-to-Be Best Friend by Dawn Quigley • Rules by Cynthia Lord Cozy Corner: Featured Books El Deafo by Cece Bell This semi-autobiographical graphic novel by Cece Bell discusses friendship challenges and the experience of being deaf. Reading and discussing this book builds problem solving, empathy, and relationship skills. I Am Peace by Susan Verde Kids get stressed out or have anxiety too. Practicing mindfulness can help manage these big feelings. This beautifully illustrated book talks about practicing self- regulation and helping our bodies calm down. Both books talk about the importance of celebrating differences and building friendships with people who are different from us. Sometimes, in an effort to be inclusive, we can find ourselves over-emphasizing how everyone is the same. While celebrating our similarities is important, so is celebrating the many ways we are different and unique. This is an invitation to see each person as a unique individual whom we can love exactly the way they are. Season 4 : Big Kids EditionSocial Emotional Learning 19 Library Time: I Am Peace I Am Peace teaches readers about mindfulness. Below find a mini-activity and some discussion questions suggested by author Susan Verde to offer alongside the book. Breathing Bracelet: Make a breathing bracelet with children to help them mindfully track their breaths. All you need is a pipe cleaner and ten beads. Demonstrate that a purposeful breath is in through the nose, out through the mouth. Explain that breathing bracelets help us focus on our breathing for 10 breaths. Each bead represents one breath. Model this by sitting with your eyes either closed or with a soft gaze, touching one bead, and taking a purposeful breath. Repeat this until all beads have been touched. After making the bracelets, discuss with participants: • How does it feel to use your breathing bracelet? • Where can you go if you need quiet space to use your breathing bracelet? • How do you let an adult know you need a breathing break? • When might be a good time to use your breathing bracelet? Adapted from from page 4 of the I Am Peace teaching guide El Deafo After reading El Deafo, try asking children some of these discussion questions, or encourage children to do some reflective writing: • Why do you think the author decided to make the story a graphic novel? • What are some of the ways in which everyday life is set up for people who hear well? How are some of those same things challenging or difficult for people who are hearing impaired or deaf? • How did Cece feel when she attended a school with other kids who were deaf or hearing impaired? What did she learn there? • In what ways did Cece have to stand up for herself, especially with her friends? How do you think she felt when she did that? • Did you ever have to stand up for yourself the way Cece did? How did you feel? • How does Cece change and grow throughout the book? Adapted from: Anti-Defamation League’s Book of the Month Next >