SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING
Years ago I would get some disapproving looks when I mentioned how much classroom time I dedicate to social emotional learning. “What about the curriculum! You’ll never get through it all if you don’t start right away!”
But I did get through it all, sometimes with time to spare. Why? I found that if we solidified expectations for kindness, inclusion and self-management early, and spent a LOT less time on disruptions through the year. Plus, we were shaping future citizens; it’s not [Read More…]
Books That Teach Friendship and Social Skills
Our class spends a LOT of time learning social skills, problem solving, friendship and conflict resolution. This helps to create a peaceful environment where learning can thrive, and we do not have to spend the majority of our time solving interpersonal conflicts. We use interactive lessons from The Kindness Classroom SEL curriculum, along with many of the books listed below to reinforce concepts.
Click on any cover to see details of the story.
Llama Llama Time To Share by Anna Dewdney
Franklin Plays the [Read More…]
Teaching Empathy and Kindness: A Book List
The Social Skills Idea Bank is a series of related posts, each dedicated to sharing strategies for teaching a particular social skill.
As teachers, our strength lies in sharing our ideas, experiences and strategies!
This is a growing list, and you are invited to contribute in the comments section. We hope you will, because there’s nothing like a good idea shared between teachers to make our jobs easier.
This post is about books you can use to teach empathy in the classroom
Let’s get started!
How do [Read More…]
Teaching Social Skills: Growth Mindset Classroom
Welcome to the Social Skills Ideas Bank!
The Social Skills Idea Bank is a series of related posts, each dedicated to sharing strategies for teaching a particular social skill.
As teachers, our strength lies in sharing our ideas, experiences and strategies!
This is a growing list, and you are invited to contribute in the comments section. We hope you will, because there’s nothing like a good idea shared between teachers to make our jobs easier.
This post is about simple ways to guide students to growth [Read More…]
S.T.E.M. and Growth Mindset
Here’s some real talk about my experience using STEM in the classroom.
When I am coordinating S.T.E.M. curriculum for grades 1-5, I observe many students exploring the STEM process who are truly engaged with hands-on learning.
For the most part, students LOVE it!
However…
Sometimes I also see students who are not yet comfortable with taking risks.
Some students are not emotionally equipped for dealing with the disappointment that arises when their great idea doesn’t quite work out the way they wanted.
Other students feel threatened by other students [Read More…]
Teaching Gratitude and Kindness
How do you teach the concept of gratitude to your students? Many young learners don’t realize how much they have to be thankful for. They may not realize that not everyone has the things they have. Teaching appreciation for these things is an essential part of being a well-rounded person, so it’s well worth the time!
GRATITUDE AND KINDNESS CLASS BOOKS
We do a whole class project based on Random Acts of Kindness.
This is a simple page to send home with students. The [Read More…]
Strategies for Teaching New Concepts To Anxious Students
When introducing a new topic of learning, especially in math, I notice the anxiety levels in some students rise significantly. The more anxious students in my class begin to fidget and look uncomfortable when they see something unfamiliar because it falls outside of their comfort zone for known success.
These students are afraid to try and fail; since school is all about introducing new concepts and embracing the learning process, this is quite a problem. Here are some strategies I use in [Read More…]
Brain Breaks for the Classroom
Most teachers I know use brain breaks of some sort.
There is a lot of great research behind the idea of taking a few minutes out of your work block to refresh and move, before starting back again.
To me, brain breaks are like resetting your computer so it’s much more efficient when starting up again on the next task!
There’s a lot of fascinating research around how movement affects student learning.
Here are a few things I use the most through [Read More…]