May SEL Lesson- Transitioning Up

3rd-4th Grade SEL Lesson: Transition and Moving Up

In 3rd-4th Grade, we will be talking about what are transitions, what does that mean overall, and more specifically with transitioning to 3rd grade. We will be taking time to talk  about what they learned this school year, what feelings they are having about ending the year, what things they are looking forward to in summer and in the new school year. Students will then take time to reflect on this school year and things they are looking forward to in 4th grade! In 4th Grade, students will create their Moving Up Fortune Teller and spend time talking with their classmates about how they are feeling and looking forward to moving on to 5th grade! Please check in with your child to see how they are feeling about moving on and things they are looking forward to!

In  5th grade students learned about their elective options for 6th grade at WISH Middle and started to draft what their elective options will be and then we met for our final meeting where students got to go into Infinite Campus to make their elective selections for next fall! It was a very exciting day for our almost middle schoolers!

April SEL Lesson- Managing Test Anxiety

3rd Grade: Managing Test Anxiety Lesson

With state testing right around the corner, students in 3rd grade will be taking the time to talk about what stress is, how it can make us feel, and ways that we can work through the uncomfortableness of it. Students will take time to consider the things that are in their control and the things that are not in their control, identify potential stressors, why it causes them to feel stressed, identify what tools they can use to cope and evaluate if it helps them. Student will then talk about new skills to help them manage their stress like creating a priority list of things they need to do and finally a Stress Plan to refer to in the future to help them manage their worry.  Please check in with your child to see what they came up with. 

4th Grade: Managing Test Anxiety Lesson

With state testing right around the corner, students in 4th grade will be taking the time to talk about what stress is, how it can make us feel, and ways that we can work through the uncomfortableness of it. Students will take time to consider the things that are in their control and the things that are not in their control, identify potential stressors, why it causes them to feel stressed, identify what tools they can use to cope and evaluate if it helps them. Student will then talk about new skills to help them manage their stress like creating a priority list of things they need to do and finally a Stress Plan to refer to in the future to help them manage their worry.  Please check in with your child to see what they came up with. 

5th Grade SEL Lesson: Moving on to Middle School!

In  5th grade this month students got a better understanding about what to expect in middle school as we connected the lessons from our study skills series to relate to being successful in middle school. Students got to learn more about the expectations around their grades, academic points, community service hours and 8th grade culmination requirements! We took time to break down how to earn grades from turning in assignments on time, EVEN if we didn't complete the entire assignment since everything is worth points. We also looked at what is academic points and how to earn academic points and what is community service hours AND how all of these things make students eligible to participate in 8th Grade Culmination activities and 8th Grade Culmination. 

3rd Grade Lesson: Growth Mindset: A Little Spot of Perseverance

In 3rd Grade,  students will talk about what it means to have a Growth Mindset vs. a Fixed Mindset. They will then do a read aloud about "A Little Spot of Perseverance" and talk  about the Power of Yet! We will talk about how a Growth Mindset have allowed famous people like Michael Jordan and Thomas Edison to be able to reach their fullest potential and make the impossible, possible. Students applied what they learned about having a growth mindset or a fixed mindset to figure how they could finish a drawing with given only line(s) from their partner. Please check in with your student about how they can get better at using a growth mindset vs. a fixed mindset.

4th Grade Lesson: Healthy Friendships

In 4th Grade, students will be talking about what are healthy friendships. We will be looking at what makes a friend and incorporate what are some values we would like in our friends and why those values are important, along with remembering to be ourselves when we are with our friends. Students will then do an activity to consider how they see their friends and how they can be a friend that shows encouragement, loyalty and trust and being yourself. Please check in with your student about what they remember. 

5th Grade: Study Skills Series

In 5th Grade, students are continue to learn about study skills to support them as they start to think more about moving to middle school.  We took a look at more in depth look at time management and talked about how to use this executive function skill. We also looked what it means to give our Best Effort, even when the task may be really challenging. Students practiced what it means to have a growth mindset and persevere through some brain teaser puzzles to see how they felt when they met a challenging puzzle, if they persevered on and gave it their best effort.  Please check in with your student to see what they remembered.

February SEL Lesson- Solving Problems

3rd Grade Lesson: Problem Solving Skills

In 3rd Grade, students will be talking about what is conflict or a problem. They will be learning about the "STEPS" that they can use to help them solve their problems with others . Students will be watching a short video called "Snack Attack" and breaking down what the characters are feeling, how their feelings can make it harder to work through a problem without calming down first and then breaking down the "steps" that they can use to help them to solve the problem the characters were facing in the short video and then thinking about how they can apply these same steps to helping them solve their problems in their daily lives.  Please connect with your child to see what they remember about how to solve problems.

4th Grade Lesson: Problem Solving Skills

In 4th Grade, students will be talking about what is conflict or a problem. They will be revisiting what they learned in 3rd grade and talk more in depth about learning about what they can use to help them solve their problems with others and taking time to consider another's perspective. Students took the steps they learned to apply it to a scenario to help them to solve the problem the characters were facing in and then students thought about how they can apply these same steps to helping them solve their problems in their daily lives.  Please connect with your child to see what they remember about how to solve problems.

5th Grade: Study Skills Series

In 5th Grade, students are continue to learn about study skills to support them as they start to think more about moving to middle school.  We took a look at what are learning styles and talked about how they can be applied to some different careers. We also looked at what Planning means and took a deeper look at this executive functioning skill and talked about how it can help in middle school and beyond. We practiced the skill of planning as students thought about an event they would like to plan. Please check in with student to see what they remember. 

January SEL Lesson- Communication

3rd Grade: T.H.I.N.K. Before You Speak

In 3rd Grade, students will focus on communication and T.H.I.N.K.ing before we speak. Students took time to think about if they have ever had someone not use kind words when they talked with them and how it made them feel. Students will then learn what the acronym T.H.I.N.K. means and how it can help to make sure we are saying things that will be more kind than unkind. 

4th Grade: Tone of Voice

In 4th Grade, students will focus on communication and the importance of our tone of voice. Students will also learn about how our tone of voice can impact others and how our voice can communicate more than just a message to others. Students took time to practice using different tones with their classmates to see the difference that can be heard when we change our tone of voice to say the same thing. 

5th Grade: Study Skills Series

In 5th Grade, we will using the second semester to focus on Study Skills as they finish out their last semester of elementary school and prepare to transition on to middle school. We will be meeting twice a month to go through various topics that will hopefully help students feel more confident and as they move onto 6th grade. Students will start off the series this month with learning about what Executive Functioning Skills are.

December SEL Lesson- Diversity

3rd Grade: Diversity and Inclusion

In 3rd Grade, students will take a look at what Diversity and Inclusion means. We will take time to talk about what makes us unique and what makes us the same and discuss what everyone thinks- is it better to be different or the same? Through a TedTalk we will see how respecting everyone's differences make us better people in our world. Students will create their own Unique Puzzle to showcase their difference and celebrate their individualities. 

4th Grade: Identity

In 4th Grade, students will take a look at what Identity means. We will take time to talk about our family and selves and see how we belong to various groups,  and how these groups are a part of us and none of them fully describe us and that is also true for other people, too. We also talked about how we can feel good about our identities without making someone else feel badly about who they are.  Students enjoyed learning about other's names and where they got their name from and what it means. 

October SEL Lesson- Friendships

3rd Grade Lesson: Sticky Friendships

In 3rd Grade, students looked at "Sticky Friendship Problems." Students played 4 Corners to consider if they have ever been in a sticky friendship problem, seen it happen, created a sticky friendship problem or not. Students then took time to learn about the different types of sticky friendship problems and then looked at different scenarios and worked to consider ways to help the character in the scenario to get "unstuck." It would be great to continue conversations with your child at home to help them become more confident in getting "unstuck."

4th Grade Lesson: Gossip & Rumors

In 4th Grade, students learned about the difference between Gossip & Rumors. Four random students were picked to try and get a container of mini pom poms and beads mixed with glitter out of the container into a clean container without getting glitter on their hands, clothes, the ground, and in the clean container in 2 minutes. Each team worked really hard to try to achieve the task, but inevitably failed as the glitter found its way onto their hands, clothes and ground, even with them trying really hard to be strategic. We then took time to learn about what the difference is between gossip and rumors and two rules to help if they find themselves in a situation that could lead to Gossip and Rumors. Please check in and see what your child remembers from our lesson this month!

5th Grade Lesson: Friendship- Boundaries and Problems

In 5th Grade, students learned about the different types of boundaries that may exist in friendships and the problems that could arise because a boundary has been crossed. We took time to talk about how these boundary lines are sometimes hard to define and to know when we may have crossed it. Students looked at different scenarios to figure out what boundary may have been crossed and also learned how to communicate more effectively with friends should a boundary be crossed. Please check in and see what your child remembers from our lesson this month!

September SEL Lesson- Meet the School Counselor

3rd Grade Lesson: Meet the School Counselor, Ms. Trisha  and Mr. Leo

This month, we will be reviewing the role of the School Counselor and students will also be introduced to our National University Counseling Intern, Ms. Leo Linares  (to learn more about Mr. Leo, please see link at the top of the page.  Students will also learn about where to find me and the counseling interns along with how to request to talk to one of us if anyone may need our help and support.

In third grade  students will learn what a School Counselor does through a game Tic-Tac-Toe and then everyone will get their own "My Counselor Cares" booklet to remind them about what School Counselors do.

4th Grade Lesson: Meet the School Counselor, Ms. Trisha  and Mr. Leo

This month, we will be reviewing the role of the School Counselor and students will also be introduced to our National University Counseling Intern, Ms. Leo Linares  (to learn more about Mr. Leo, please see link at the top of the page.  Students will also learn about where to find me and the counseling interns along with how to request to talk to one of us if anyone may need our help and support.

In fourth grade  students will learn what a School Counselor does through a game Meet the School Counselor Game Show!

5th Grade Lesson: Meet the School Counselor, Ms. Trisha 

This month, we will be reviewing the role of the School Counselor and students will also be introduced to our National University Counseling Intern, Ms. Leo Linares  (to learn more about Mr. Leo, please see link at the top of the page.  Students will also learn about where to find me and the counseling interns along with how to request to talk to one of us if anyone may need our help and support.

In fifth grade  students will learn what a School Counselor does through an interactive activity of Mission: Meet the School Counselor- where students will work in their table groups to solve 6 different mission activities together as a team!

September SEL Lesson- 

3rd-5th Lesson: Meet the School Counselor, Ms. Trisha  and the Counseling Interns

In 3rd-5th grade, students will be reviewing the role of the School Counselors with KahootIt! and students will also be introduced to our LMU Counseling Interns, Ms. Ms. Mariela Galvez (to find out more about them, please see link above). Students will also learn about where to find me and the counseling interns along with how to request to talk to one of us if anyone may need our help and support.  Students also got a little Meet the Counselor Flip Book to remind them what they can talk to us about and wrote our email addresses down in case they would like to connect with us. 

October SEL Lesson- 

3rd Grade Lesson: Healthy Friendships

In third grade this month, students will take time to talk about what makes healthy and unhealthy friendships and how this fosters in creating our community. Students will talk about tips for keeping healthy friendships and how it is okay to make new friends. In order to practice having healthy friendships, students will be take the time to make some connections by moving around  with one other through our style of  friendship "speed dating." Please check in and see how it went for them. 

4th and 5th Grade Lesson: Relationship Building

In 4th and 5th grade, we will be looking at relationships and taking time to talk about different positive character traits affect relationships as well as what traits in a relationship can help resolve and prevent friendship issues. Students will then take time to break up into small council groups to share about their own experiences with positive and negative relationships and how that has affected how they may feel and act. 

November SEL Lesson- Self Control

3rd Grade Lesson: Self Control

In third grade this month, students will take time to talk about what is self control, how to be in control of their thoughts, feelings and actions, and look at ways to use self control through a Prezi lesson.  Students will discuss as a whole class the ways we can loose our self control, how identifying our feelings can help us have better self control, the steps to thinking through our actions to have more control, and tools to cope when the feelings and thoughts are out of control. 

4th and 5th Grade Lesson: Self Control- The Marshmallow Test

In fourth and fifth grade this month, students will take a survey about their own self control and then they will be put to a small test of patience and self control. Should they pass the Marshmallow test- of holding on to their given marshmallow for 15minutes withouth eating it in any form, they will earn themselves a second marshmallow. During their test, we will take  time to talk about what is self control, how to be in control of their thoughts, feelings and actions, and look at ways to use self control through a Canva lesson.  Students will discuss as a whole class the ways we can loose our self control, how identifying our feelings can help us have better self control, the steps to thinking through our actions to have more control, and tools to cope when the feelings and thoughts are out of control. 

December SEL Lesson- Diversity, Inclusion and Appropriate Language (5th Grade)

3rd Grade: Diversity and Inclusion

In 3rd Grade, students will take a look at what Diversity and Inclusion means. We will take time to talk about what makes us unique and what makes us the same and discuss what everyone thinks- is it better to be different or the same? Through a TedTalk we will see how respecting everyone's differences make us better people in our world. Students will create their own Unique Puzzle to showcase their difference and celebrate their individualities. 

4th and 5th Grade: Diversity and Inclusion + Appropriate Language

In 4th and 5th Grade, students will take a look at what Diversity and Inclusion means. We will take time to talk about what makes us unique and what makes us the same and discuss what everyone thinks- is it better to be different or the same? Through a  video about Diversity and a TedTalk about Inclusion, we will see how respecting everyone's differences make us better people in our world. 

In 5th Grade, we will also talk about how words have an effect on others, even if we are not directly speaking to them. We will take time to focus in on appropriate use of language and reminding everyone to respect our differences and not to single out people for their race, ability, culture, or gender. 

January SEL Lesson-  Celebrating Kindness

3rd Grade: Celebrating Kindness

For the month of January, students will be reading along with the story Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett. Students will consider what it means to be kind and generous to others and themself and what they can do to act more like the main character, Anabelle from the story. Students will create a sweater craft to represent what they would create for someone else. Please ask your child(ren) to talk about the story and the sweater craft they created. 

4th-5th Grade: Celebrating Kindness

During this month, students in both the 4th and 5th grade will be taking the time to explore what it means to walk in someone else's shoes and how this ties to compassion, kindness and empathy. Students will consider how quick we are to pass judgement on others before really getting to know them and how that can make an incorrect impression about someone. Students will then take some time to consider 10 things that others may never know about them and add it to a digital shoe slide or the y will participate in a council circle to share about a time that they showed someone empathy or received empathy and how it made them feel to give or receive empathy. 

February SEL Lesson- Conflict Resolution and Social Problem Solving Skills 

3rd Grade Lesson: Problem Solving Skills

In 3rd Grade, students will be talking about what is conflict or a problem. They will be learning about the "STEPS" that they can use to help them solve their problems with others . Students will be watching a short video called "Snack Attack" and breaking down what the characters are feeling, how their feelings can make it harder to work through a problem without calming down first and then breaking down the "steps" that they can use to help them to solve the problem the characters were facing in the short video and then thinking about how they can apply these same steps to helping them solve their problems in their daily lives.  Please connect with your child to see what they remember about how to solve problems.

4th & 5th Grade Lesson: Bullying Prevention and Awareness

In 4th and 5th Grade, students will be revisiting the topic of Bullying  Prevention and Awareness and taking a deeper dive into how we are treating others after we have already talked about friendships, positive relationships and effective communication, gratitude, kindness , along with diversity and inclusion this school year. Students took the time to consider the four types of bullying and gaining a better understanding about how bullying can lasting effects through an activity of ripping up a piece of paper, and not having the ability to put the same piece of  paper back together like an untouched piece of paper. 

March SEL Lesson- Growth Mindset

3rd Grade Lesson: Growth Mindset: A Little Spot of Perseverance

In 3rd Grade,  students will talk about what it means to have a Growth Mindset vs. a Fixed Mindset. They will then do a read aloud about "A Little Spot of Perseverance" and talk  about the Power of Yet! We will talk about how a Growth Mindset have allowed famous people like Michael Jordan and Thomas Edison to be able to reach their fullest potential and make the impossible, possible. Students applied what they learned about having a growth mindset or a fixed mindset to figure how they could finish a drawing with given only line(s) from their partner. Please check in with your student about how they can get better at using a growth mindset vs. a fixed mindset.

4th Grade Lesson: Growth Mindset 

In 4th grade, students will be putting thier knowledge about a growth mindset or fixed mindset to determine what is going on in given scenarios.  Students will then consider what they do when they are learnign something new that may be challenging and recognize if they may use a growth or fixed mindset in the moment. Students will also think about how learning new things should be challenging or else it wouldn't be something new and partake in an activity while working in pairs. Students will have one person write out a fixed thought and then the partner will change the fixed thought to a growth mindset thought and vice versa. 

5th Grade Lesson: Growth Mindset 

In 5th grade, students will be putting their knowledge about a growth mindset or fixed mindset to determine what is going on in given scenarios.  Students will then consider what they do when they are learning something new that may be challenging and recognize if they may use a growth or fixed mindset in the moment. Students will also think about how learning new things should be challenging or else it wouldn't be something new, understand how having a growth mindset can support their success based on being kind and in control of their choices specifically as it relates to their executive functioning skills- specifically in relationship to their planning, organizing, task initiation, flexibility, self control, attention, time management, perseverance, and flexibility. 

April SEL Lesson- Managing Test Anxiety

3rd Grade: Managing Test Anxiety Lesson

With state testing right around the corner, students in 3rd grade will be taking the time to talk about what stress is, how it can make us feel, and ways that we can work through the uncomfortableness of it. Students will take time to consider the things that are in their control and the things that are not in their control, identify potential stressors, why it causes them to feel stressed, identify what tools they can use to cope and evaluate if it helps them. Student will then talk about new skills to help them manage their stress like creating a priority list of things they need to do and finally a Stress Plan to refer to in the future to help them manage their worry.  Please check in with your child to see what they came up with. 

4th & 5th Grade: Managing Test Anxiety Lesson

With state testing right around the corner, students in 4th and 5th grade will be taking the time to talk about what stress is, how it can make us feel, and ways that we can work through the uncomfortableness of it. Students will take time to consider the things that are in their control and the things that are not in their control, identify potential stressors, why it causes them to feel stressed, identify what tools they can use to cope and evaluate if it helps them. Student will then talk about new skills to help them manage their stress like creating a priority list of things they need to do and finally a Stress Plan to refer to in the future to help them manage their worry.  Please check in with your child to see what they came up with. 

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5th Grade SEL Lesson: Moving on to Middle School!

In  5th grade, we had TWO lessons this month to help prepare students to move onto middle school! We met early this month to talk about middle school electives and what the different electives are. Student even went on Infinite Campus to make their elective choices for art, music, movement and Spanish. Please check in with your child on what they picked and if they still need to complete their picks. Elective Choices will close Friday, May 24, 2024! For the second lesson, student will learn how to be academically successful in middle school and talk about different tools to start using to help them keep track of all of their tasks. Students will learn how to earn points that translate to earning good grades and being eligible for 8th Grade Culmination at WISH Middle School, specifically. Students will look at how their grades are academically tracked and will be given a resource on how to create S.M.A.R.T. Goals and a worksheet to think and create a S.M.A.R.T. Goal for next school year!

June SEL Lesson- No SEL Lessons this month, but we WISH all of you a restful, fun and Happy SUMMER BREAK!

Here is a family SEL toolkit to continue talking about social emotional learning throughout the summer months while everyone is together and spending more family time together. I have also added the WCA Counseling Presentation that has A LOT of links and resources for books and videos in different topics on Slides 15-37!

August SEL Lesson- 

3rd-5th Lesson: Meet the School Counselor, Ms. Trisha  and the Counseling Interns

September SEL Lesson-  

3rd Grade Lesson: What are Emotions & Feelings

In 3rd grade, students learned about the four main emotions and feelings are. They also got a chance to see parts of Pixar's Inside Out to see how Joy and Sadness learned that they needed each other to help the main character, Riley to experience her feelings and cope with them. Students then took time to understand that it is OK to feel all emotions and that it is important to know what our bodies may try to tell us when we feel positive or negative feelings. Students mapped out how their bodies experience feelings to help them better understand what their bodies may tell them when they are feeling such emotions. 

4th & 5th Grade Lesson: What are Emotions & Feelings

In 4th and 5th  grade, students discovered how human bodies can show different emotions that they may be experiencing through some somatosensory images. Students also learned what the four main emotions and feelings are. They also got a chance to see parts of Pixar's Inside Out to see how Joy and Sadness learned that they needed each other to help the main character, Riley to experience her feelings and cope with them. Students then took time to understand that it is OK to feel all emotions and that it is important to know what our bodies may try to tell us when we feel positive or negative feelings. Students mapped out how their bodies experience feelings to help them better understand what their bodies may tell them when they are feeling such emotions. 

October SEL Lesson- 

3rd Grade Lesson: Friendship and Bullying Awareness

In 3rd grade, students talk about the importance of friendship and what qualities they find important in friends. Students will also review what bullying is, the difference between reporting and tattling, along with how to be an upstander! Students will create a Wanted Friendship Ad and along with a poster about how to tell if bullying is happening.

4th and 5th Grade Lesson: Friendship and Bullying Awareness

In 3rd grade, students talk about the importance of friendship and what qualities they find important in friends. Students will also talk about the power of language and how certain words and/or phrases are not appropriate to use on our campus and are not allowed, along with how such words and/or statements can affect others, even those people who may only be walking by the conversation. Students will wrap everything back up by creating their own friendship recipe to showcase the qualities they believe a friend should have.

November SEL Lesson-  

3rd-5th Grade Lesson: Gratitude

For the month of November,  we will be focusing on "What is Gratitude?"  as we also recognize Gratitude Week on 11/14/22 to 11/18/22. We will be talking about what it means to be grateful and focusing on how appreciating everything we have and feeling grateful can lead to feeling more happiness.  Students will learn about what they are grateful for, but they will also learn about what their classmates are thankful for by creating their own Gratitude Dice and playing the game with each other. 

December SEL Lesson- Diversity & Inclusion

January SEL Lesson-  Kindness

3rd Grade: Kindness

For the month of January, students will be reading along with the story Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett. Students will consider what it means to be kind and generous to others and themself and what they can do to act more like the main character, Anabelle from the story. Students will create a sweater craft to represent what they would create for someone else. Please ask your child(ren) to talk about the story and the sweater craft they created. 

4th-5th Grade: Kindness

During this month, students in both the 4th and 5th grade will be taking the time to explore what it means to walk in someone else's shoes and how this ties to compassion, kindness and empathy. Students will consider how quick we are to pass judgement on others before really getting to know them and how that can make an incorrect impression about someone. Students will then take some time to consider 10 things that others may never know about them and add it to a digital shoe slide.  

February SEL Lesson- CONFLICT RESOLUTION/PROBLEM SOLVING

March SEL Lesson-  HAVING A GROWTH MINDSET

4th & 5th Grade: Growth Mindset

In 4th and 5th Grader,  we will look at the difference between having a Growth Mindset versus a Fixed Mindset. We will look at how our words help us with having a growth mindset vs. fixed mindset and how these thoughts contribute to how we face obstacles and/or challenges in our lives when they present themselves. We will learn about how we can take time each day to develop a growth mindset to help us persevere. Student will then take their knowledge and put it to a test to figure out if the scenarios given prove to have a growth or fixed mindset, and then they will try to come up with some goals that they thought they couldn't accomplish before and how they will be able to do so with a growth mindset.

April SEL Lesson- SELF ESTEEM

3rd Grade: Self Esteem

This month, students will be learning about what Self Esteem is, what is positive or high and negative or low self esteem along with how everyone is special and unique in their own way and how this makes our world even more amazing! Students will take the time to express how they can increase their self esteem with Positive Self Talk and take time to recognize just why they should love themselves through a digital self esteem project! I hope that you will be able to see your child's work that will be located on their Google Drive and that your child will be able to talk about what makes them so amazing!

May SEL Lesson- MINDFULNESS

3rd Grade: Mindfulness

This month, students will be learning about Mindfulness and what it means and how it can be beneficial. Students will be led through different mindfulness exercises to learn and experience different ways to be mindful. Students will look at different Grounding Techniques, a writing strategy and an easy breathing tool. After each activity, students will be given a moment reflect on how they feel after the exercise. We hope that everyone will take the tools with them to help through the last stretch of the school year and into summer and beyond. Please check in with your child about what they learned. 

4th Grade: Mindfulness

This month, students in the 4th grade will be focusing on what Mindfulness is and learning different ways to be mindful and how to incorporate these strategies into their daily routines. Students will learn how to be mindful through breathing, movement, eating, and will also get to try out a mindful meditation or two. Students will then create their own mindful beaded bracelet, where they will pick colored beads to represent different characteristics of themselves and learn to how to use their bracelet as a mindful tool. Students will learn to move take a colored bead and move it from one side to the opposite side and think about the characteristic they picked for that color bead and focus on a time they were able to show that trait and/or think of a time someone showed them that trait. We are excited to see what tools students will find helpful and use to help them push through the final stretch of the school year and into summer. Please check in with your child about what they learned.

5th Grade: Transition to Middle School

As we start to wind down the school year after state testing and WISHapolooza, students will be sensing the end of one of their big milestones. As the fun starts with the end of the year festivities, we will be taking the time to support 5th grade with transitioning to middle school and doing an overview of things to expect and things to come as they start their journey into middle school. We will be allowing them to ask questions about middle school and hopefully ease some initial nerves that they will have as they leave WISH elementary. We are sad to see them leave, but we are also very excited for their next adventure!

2021-2022 SEL Lessons 

September SEL Lesson- 

3rd-5th Grade Friendships and Bullying Awareness

3rd-5th Grade: Gratitude Lesson

For the month of November,  we will be focusing on "What is Gratitude?"  as we also recognize Gratitude Week on 11/15/21 to 11/19/21. We will be talking about what it means to be grateful and listening to a story about gratitude called "A Little Spot of Thankful."  Students will learn about what things they may be grateful for and creating their own Gratitude Stones to bring home over the fall break to remind themselves and others what they are grateful for. 

3rd-4th Grade: Diversity, Inclusion and Inclusive Language

This month we will be focusing on what diversity and inclusion means. We will be trying to make connections with classmates about their similarities and their differences, and celebrating how unique everyone really is. Students will watch a TED Talk about how awesome it is to be different and have friends who are different than us because it makes our world more interesting and fun! 

3rd-5th Grade: Kindness

This month we will be focusing on what Kindness is and ending the month with our annual participation in the Great Kindness Challenge. Students will discuss what it means to be kind, along with how kindness can affect our mental and physical well-being. Students will create an acrostic poem about what kindness means to them. Students will also learn what to do when others are kind and the power of positive affirmations. Students will create their own positive affirmation to decorate and use to remind them when they are faced with a challenge. 

3rd-4th Grade: Social Problem Solving/ Conflict Resolution

This month students will learn about social problem solving and conflict resolution, and what it is. They will focus on using the acronym "CALM" to remember the tools they need in order to work through their social problems. Students will put the tool to practice by coming up with a social problem and getting ideas from their classmates using the CALM tool to figure out how to solve their problem. Please check in with your child and see what they remember about the CALM tool to solve their problems. 

3rd Grade: Growth Mindset

This month, we caught up on Part 2 of February's SEL lesson as I was out for a couple weeks last month. We will be learning about what a Growth Mindset is, what happens in our brains when we use a growth mindset, and practice having a Growth Mindset. Students will learn about the ways a growth mindset can help  them achieve their goals and learn about a few famous people who used a growth mindset to achieve their goals. 

3rd-5th Grade: Self Esteem

This month, students will be learning about what Self Esteem is, what is positive or high and negative or low self esteem along with how everyone is special and unique in their own way and how this makes our world even more amazing! Students will take the time to express how they can increase their self esteem with Positive Self Talk and take time to recognize just why they should love themselves through a digital self esteem project! I hope that you will be able to see your child's work that will be located on their Google Drive and that your child will be able to talk about what makes them so amazing!

3rd- 5th Grade: Mindfulness

This month, students will be learning about what Mindfulness is and how this tool can be helpful as they go through their day. We will be tying together how mindfulness helps us in past SEL lesson, like how to manage big feelings and cope, how to solve problems and social conflicts, have a growth mindset as well as being kind to others and ourselves. Students will learn how to take a mindful breath by learning what "4-7-8" breathing is and practicing it altogether. Students will also learn a grounding technique called Senses Grounding and practice noticing different things based on their five senses. Students will also be taking time to discuss what distractions can make it challenging for them to be present in the current moment and figure out what they can do to try to be more focused on the "NOW" and less focus on what has already happened or what is going to happen. I hope that your student will be able to share what they learned and show you what these different tools are and how they work. 

3rd & 4th Grade

With the end of the year in full swing with field trips and awesome end of the year activities, May was our last meeting for third and fourth graders this year. I look forward to seeing everyone back in their new classes and grades as we continue with our monthly SEL lessons.

We are all so proud of how much these third and fourth graders learned this year through our SEL lessons!

 5th Grade: All About Middle School

With the end of the year near and everyone in full swing of closing out the school year with field trips and other fun end of the year activities, 5th grade was the only grade I was able to visit this month. We focused our time on learning about all the things they need to know to transition to middle school with some specifics about WISH Middle. Students got time to ask questions about their schedules, different classes, the importance of managing their time, a little bit about why their grades are important and a mini lesson on WISH Middle's Academic Point System. Looking forward to seeing everyone at 5th grade promotion and best of luck to all of them next year in middle school!