Social and Emotional Learning at Home

Try out some of these resources and activities for encouraging SEL at home!

Use these tips from the Center for Disease Control to talk to your child about their fears and concerns about the COVID-19. PBS Kids shares these tips for talking to littles about COVID-19.

Additionally, here are some social stories to help with explaining:

Emotional Check Ins

Emotions are a roller coaster for everyone right now. Taking the time to establish a daily emotional check in for your child allows proactive managing of any negative or challenging emotions that they may feel. Use this resource for some "if...then..." ideas for how to manage what they say!

Developing a schedule for your child is incredibly helpful for giving them predictability during this unpredictable time. This can also be very helpful for us as adults!! Here are some resources to help you with these tasks:

- - Blank Week Long Schedule
  - Filled in Daily Schedule (if you would like to edit this, please make a copy)
  - Week at a Glance
  - Home Schedule Pictures - 1
  - Home Schedule Pictures - 2
  - First, Then Board - 1
  - First, Then Board - 2

To Do Lists

In school, we spend a great deal of time working on goal setting with our students. We do this because setting goals, working toward goals, and meeting our goals is highly motivating and engaging. Here is a goal setting sheet that can be very helpful for doing this at home:

- - Daily Goal Setting Sheet
  - Another Sample Daily Learning Plan

Mindful Tech Use

Alternating between online activities and other non-digital activities, with other activities, helps promote mindful use of technology. Our filled in schedule (above) offers a great work/play/tech balance. Here are some other alternatives:

7 Ways to Encourage Mindful Tech Use at Home
Neighborhood Hunt with options filled in
Blank Neighborhood Hunt

Family Circles

Bring family circles into your daily routine to embed opportunities for relationship building and equal voice in your home. Circles are an incredible structure that your children experience in school often. Circles can be used for both light-hearted “get to know you” activities as well as deeper conversation topics, such as discussing worries.

Check out this visual for how to get started!

Journaling

Journaling is a great way for your child to express what is on their mind AND to practice their writing skills. Check out these links for ideas on how to get this started with them:

Behavior at Home

- - Activity/Task Expectation Matrix and Video Explanation

Don't forget your own social emotional health!!

See these 11 tips for staying calm these next weeks.
Try out calm.com! They have a free trial (unless you're also a teacher, then it's always free).
Check out this site for info around adult COVID-19 anxiety.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness practices are ways for all to slow down, be mindful of our feelings, and to support anxiety and stress reduction. See all of these links geared to elementary students.

Check out these resources for parents and educators to support social emotional learning related to COVID-19.

Crisis Text Line

Crisis Text Line - Every texter is connected with a Crisis Counselor, a real-life human being trained to bring texters from a hot moment to a cool calm through active listening and collaborative problem solving. All of Crisis Text Line's Crisis Counselors are volunteers, donating their time to helping people in crisis. Please feel free to provide this resource: Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741 from anywhere in the United States, anytime, about any type of crisis.

See link for more information.