SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING
INFORMATION + ACTIVITIES
SEL Competencies
https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/what-is-the-casel-framework/
Self awareness-
“I am” collage- (middle school and high school)
-Strength exploration worksheets- (m.s. And h.s.) https://www.therapistaid.com/worksheets/strengths-exploration.pdf
Self management-
-Creating manageable and attainable SSP goals with students that would help strengthen their self management skills could be a goal that focuses on organizational skills. For example- “student will improve their organizational skills by utilizing an academic planner to keep track of their daily homework assignments.” OR “Student will strengthen their stress management skills by joining the mindfulness club and working out after school on a weekly basis”.
-(middle school and high school) Activity to strengthen distress tolerance skills (you can also use the activity as a template to have a conversation with the student about distress tolerance skills vs. helping the student go through the worksheets during a check in)
https://www.therapistaid.com/worksheets/dbt-distress-tolerance-skills.pdf
-(middle school and high school) Activity to help manage stress and/or anxiety
https://www.therapistaid.com/worksheets/relaxation-techniques.pdf
-(ages 4-10 years) The Nervous Mouse- it is an interactive lesson/story that talks about the nervous mouse, what anxiety is, and the mouse uses several coping skills throughout the story to teach younger children.
https://www.therapistaid.com/interactive-therapy-tool/nervous-mouse
Therapist aid also has numerous other interactive tools for children 4-10 years old on various topics- depression, anger, anxiety,emotions cards, etc. but you need to sign up to access the interactive tools. I think it is free to sign up.
https://www.therapistaid.com/interactive-therapy-tools/none/children
Social awareness-
The following activity can be done under a group setting which may assist in creating dialogue on the changes one has gone through this past year (pandemic). The facilitator can also ask the group how they dealt with the changes in a positive/productive manner.
https://www.centervention.com/dealing-with-change/
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Advocates can use the following prompts with students that enjoy journaling or you can use the prompts to lead a conversation on the feelings and perspective of others. .
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Write about a time when you disagreed with a friend/family member and you handled it poorly. What could you have done differently?
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Write about a time when someone else's perspective changed your opinion.
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What is the benefit of having multiple perspectives on a subject?
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List five social issues that have impacted you and/or your community.
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List and describe three events in your life that have influenced how you relate to other cultures.
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Write a short story that has two perspectives of the same event.
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What are the stories you don’t know enough about and would like to know more of?
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What is your vision for “social justice”?
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Whose voices will you listen to when it comes to social justice?
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Whose voices have power?
https://www.learningtogive.org/resources/everyday-sel-reflection-prompts
Relationship skills-
The following activity is a great activity for group work, which we call emotional charades. Students pick an emotion from a hat and act it out. The class will need to guess the emotion. The facilitator can ask follow up questions to the class such as who has ever felt that way before? How did you address it?
https://www.centervention.com/eye-expressions-how-we-communicate-with-our-eyes/
-The ‘Human Knot’ is a great exercise for groups because it prompts teamwork, communication, and bonding. Having students form a circle and stretch their hands in the middle. Then students will cross their hands and grab someone else’s (note: do not grab the person’s hand next to you). The object of the game is to have everyone return back to their original circle without having had to let go of the person's hand who they grabbed.
-Communication activity- Drawing Twins
https://slco.org/contentassets/63ede82024fa41b885ad13c265121522/eu_communicationdrawingtwins.pdf
Responsible decision making-
Using restorative questions to help facilitate students in reframing their thoughts and choices in order to improve their responsible decision making.
-Restorative Questions I (to respond to challenging behavior) What happened? What were you thinking at the time? What have you thought about since? Who has been affected by what you have done? In what way? What do you think you need to do to make things right?
-Restorative Questions II (to help those harmed by others’ actions) What did you think when you realized what had happened? What impact has this incident had on you and others? What has been the hardest thing for you? What do you think needs to happen to make things right?
-Vision Board- Have students create a vision board of things they want to do in the future. Suggest thinking ahead in a day, a month, and in years. Have students decorate their vision boards to reflect their goals and interests.
https://theartofeducation.edu/2020/10/27/50-activities-that-support-social-emotional-learning/
RESOURCES
SEL Apps
All ages: Calm app - You do have to pay for it but it is not very expensive. It offers guided meditation, sleep stories, and relaxing music. It can also help teach children, adolescents, and adults how to meditate and do deep breathing exercises.
SEL Websites
Different Ages: https://www.therapistaid.com/
Different Ages Available: https://www.centervention.com/social-emotional-learning-activities/
SEL Parent Resources for Home
NAMI Basics- 6 weeks parent/caregiver course for parents that have children struggling with mental health symptoms.
https://www.nami.org/Support-Education/Mental-Health-Education/NAMI-Basics
SEL Activities, examples, pics
Coloring Pages: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Printable_Coloring_Pages_for_Adults_-_Free_Adult_Coloring_Book.pdf
Self-esteem Thumball :