Social Emotional Learning
Well, the road to h+ll is paved with the best intentions, right? That means even with the world's greatest lesson plans, sometimes the day just doesn't work out. That's what we need social and emotional learning for.
Start off with a mindful breathing video, talk about some moral dilemmas, and model for kids how to fail, how to make a comeback, how to put one foot in front of the other when you really, really, really don't want to.
BRAIN BREAK
PARTS OF THE BRAIN
This is a quick overview of the brain. Very informative, very easy to understand. This is a good starter video.
These are two handy dandy charts I like to print in my classroom to talk about how to trick your brain into being happy when it can't and what happiness feels like. When you are mindful of what your body and brain are doing, you can control it!
This video reviews some of the same information but then focuses on how anxiety and mess up your nice calm brain. This website has some good resources and readings for kids. (don't let kids run loose with the website: There is a section for teens about sex related mental health things but the parts for elementary kids is pretty good.)
I use these two videos before I start teaching about brain breaks, so students understand why they need to take deep breaths and have calming music before they move ahead. I need to deactivate their four F's...
PERSERVERANCE
This is a great video about perseverance. It's echoes the idea that everything is hard. You have to choose what hard you want.
“Marriage is hard. Divorce is hard. Choose your hard. Being in debt is hard. Being financially disciplined is hard. Choose your hard. Communication is hard. Not communicating is hard. Choose your hard. Life will never be easy. It will always be hard. But we can choose our hard. Pick wisely.”
Growth Mindset
This is the best video to show what growth mindset means. How a good first grader draw a butterfly? What would the best first grder draw? What kinds of limits are you putting on yourself? Watch this video and see what a first graders can do with the right kind of mindset, and the right kind of feedback.
Intensive Emotions
This is a great video talking about intense emotions: kids share their stories and it gives some tips for those overwhelming overemotions. Great Video from our great Vice Principal, Kim Shirk!
Guided Imagery
This is a video when everyone needs to just relax... voice is a little creepy but it's cool...
Daily Class Meetings
This google slides is meant to be like a number talks, runs the whole daily class meeting with some SEL for ya! Show kids the scenario, a real step by step thing... easy cheesy!
Professional Help