In my first few years of teaching, I felt like I spent so much time helping my students navigate conflict resolution. Which I think has so much value, however, I kept losing out on valuable teaching time because nearly every day when we came in for recess there was a new playground conflict that needed to be resolved.

As I moved on to teaching older grades, there was less playground tattling, but more students shutting down or not knowing how to voice their feelings and struggles. I also saw challenges in communication when students would work in groups.

I've always felt that teaching these important life skills (communication, problem solving, expressing our feelings) are far more important for life than any content area I could teach. But still, it would some days consume my time for a science lesson or bleed into our math.

All this got SO MUCH BETTER though, when I started incorporating Social Emotional Learning (SEL) lessons into my daily teaching. It only takes about 15-20 minutes of our day, and has allowed our other subject area times to really be focused on those subjects!

Here are some of my favorite activities to do during SEL time!

Person of the Day

I can't take credit for this idea - I saw a teacher post about it on Tiktok. But I started doing this with my class this year and they LOVE it! I choose one student to be the "person of the day," then we follow this format:

• What do we know about them? (the class takes turns sharing things they know)
• What questions do we have for them? (the class can ask them anything)
• Question of the Day - I give a "this or that" question and the students all predict what they think the person of the day will answer! Then, we reveal their answer!

This is such a great community builder. It's a good way for students to ask and answer questions. It gives each student the chance to feel seen and known by their classmates and their teacher. Bonus: it's free & requires no prep!

SEL Craftivities

This has been one of my 6th graders favorite things we do over the years! Especially as they get older, their chances to express their creativity and design/color/draw in school become less and less. These activities that I've created incorporate life lessons and SEL discussions, while also giving the students the chance to express their creativity. A recent favorite of my class was the "Special Edition Shoes" activity, where we discussed self identity and self expression, then the students had the opportunity to design their own sneakers to represent them!

You can find the Special Edition Shoes activity here or you can grab the entire bundle and get various other activities for the year as well!

Re-Regulation Time

For my class, our SEL time is right after recess and right before Social Studies. I used to find that students had a hard time transitioning from the playground - all wound up from the game of pickup basketball at recess - back into their learning environment. So I started teaching the students some breathing exercises, as well as other ways we can calm our bodies and re-regulate for our learning.

Most days, I will read a story to the class (we've been working through a chapter book together, for fun), and the students have the following options while I read:

• Come to the carpet & listen to the story
• Stay at their desk, put their head down if they want
• Focus on breathing/relaxing/re-regulating
• Drawing
• Journaling
• Playing with legos or other play

Our classroom is calm and quiet during this time. I also teach my students the importance of just being still at times during the day. Screen time is not a choice when we do this, and I want my students to relax and forget about their assignments and schoolwork during this time. Studies show how important play and creative time for students is, so this is what I like to focus on during this time.

Classroom Meetings

We also will use the time to have a Classroom Meeting some days. Here is the structure of our meetings:

• Greeting - we toss a ball around greeting a classmate we haven't said hello to yet
• Good News / Bad News - go around in a circle sharing anything we want during this time
• Classroom discussions - we discuss what is going well for our class, where there is area for improvement, then we set a goal for the entire class (for the week or month)

Community Building Games

One of our favorite games to play as a class is categories! Students stand in a circle and we pick a category (fruits, colors, cereals, sports teams, etc). Students go around in a circle and must name something in that category that has not been named yet. If a student can't think of one or repeats one, (s)he sits down. This is a great way for us to focus on our listening skills and taking turns!

Another game we love is fish bowl. In this game, students write down a proper noun that all/most of the class would know (ie McDonalds, George Washington, Disneyland, Spiderman, etc) and all those items go into a bowl or cup. The class is split into two teams. Each team selects a spokesperson for round 1. Team A will have their spokesperson come up to the front of the room and I will set a timer for 60 seconds. Team A's spokesperson will go through as many of the names in the jar as possible, getting his/her team to guess using any clues or words (s)he can think of. Team A earns a point for each word correctly guessed. After team As time is up, Team B will go. The teams continue this back and forth until all names from the bowl/cup have been correctly guessed. Then, all words go back into the cup for a second round. The 2nd round is played the same way; however, this time no words are allowed - only acting. For the last round, only a 1 word clue can be given for each word. Whichever team has the most points at the end wins.

When we play games like this, we have conversations around cheering on our teammates and using positive encouragement only. This game also fosters good listening skills and good sportsmanship.

Those are some of the ways I foster Social Emotional Learning in my classroom! Let me know if you have any specific questions about any of these strategies! If you use one, I'd love to know! Tag me or message me on social media @learningwithlauren

Have an amazing rest of your week, teacher friends!

Xoxo,

Lauren