Social Emotional Learning

1/22/2021

Suggested activities can be repeated and you can choose what to enjoy at any time during the week.

I hope you enjoy them!

Mindfulness

Mindfulness exercises can be done at any time! I generally guide the students in the beginning and sometimes at the end of each lesson. These brain based exercises can help bodies and brains remain calm and focused. This year's series of mindfulness exercises largely came from a collection titled "Little Renegades."

We've practiced "Fox Ears", "Mindful Owl" and "Bear Breath". This month we will be practicing "Grateful Tiger". Sit in a comfortable position. Take a deep breath in and think of something or someone you are thankful for. You may wish to close your eyes. Sit in silence for a brief moment and allow yourself to focus on that which you are thankful for.

Gratitude is a warm feeling of thankfulness towards the world, or towards specific individuals. The person who feels gratitude is thankful for what they have, and does not constantly seek more. (This is something people sometimes struggle with in our culture.) Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships.

Here are additional ways to exercise gratitude:

  1. Each day, think of 3 things you are grateful for.

  2. Start a gratitude journal or a gratitude jar. (In my home, we call this the "Positivity Jar.") Write down positive experiences each day in the journal or on a small piece of paper and put that in the jar. At the end of a period of time (week, month or year), go back and review the events, people or things you are grateful for. This is also a very nice family exercise. Take turns reading and reflecting on the grateful moments to each other.

  3. Practice gratitude rituals. Some people say grace before a meal. Others might simply pause for a moment and reflect on the positive events or shared experiences during the day. Or, offer some kind of "thanks" before going to sleep at night.

Interestingly enough, a daily gratitude practice has been shown to significantly increase one's happiness and physical health. It may even help improve sleep, boosts immunity and decrease the risk of disease.

Book Club

This video clip gives a good introduction to our next set of lessons, Size of the Problem We have been practicing using our "I Messages" to communicate how we feel and this can be an important first step when starting the problem solving process. Another important component is identifying the size of the problem so that we can match our reaction to the size of the problem. Is it small, can we solve it ourselves? Is it medium, will we need adult help? Is it large, is someone at risk of getting hurt? Do my feelings match the size of the problem?

Size of the Problem - We Thinkers! Series Social Problem Solvers Here is a You Tube preview provided by Summer Tigert of our next couple of lessons. (This clip is twenty minutes long and you may want to break it up into two parts.) If you are able to join your child and listen along, there are a lot of opportunities to pause and help your child make connections with events in the past and talk through them. (And, yes, COVID-19 is a big problem that requires a lot of time and a lot of people working together to solve it. Even adults have strong feelings about it.)

50 Coping Tools for Kids - Poster Here is a printable poster with 50 strategies a child can use to help cope with strong emotions.

The Breaking News by Sarah Lynn Reul This was a big week for news and it would not be surprising if little ears and eyes caught glimpse of some scary words or images. If you are comfortable with this story, it provides a lovely way for children to seek and find comfort during scary times.

Recreational SEL

Here in Adam Parker, Home School Psychologist - Expressing your Feelings our favorite School Psychologist walks us through the best way to express our feelings so that others can listen and then, together, you can work together on solving problems. Use this Emotion Thermometer when watching the clip. And, of course, Adam Parker leads us in song!

Butterfly Life Cycle Here is a mindful and fun side activity on Pinterest. Enjoy!

Music!

Dave Matthews and Grover Sing about Feelings

Join Dave Matthews and Grover on Sesame Street sing about finding the words for our feelings! Turn on closed captioning to read along. This will most certainly bring a smile to your face. Enjoy!