Social Emotional Learning

2/5/2021

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

I hope you enjoy them!

Book Club

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.)

Here is a packet of activities if you wish for your child to get some extra practice. Please feel free to help your child think through the tasks you choose to do. Model thinking out loud so they follow your thoughts. This is a tough concept for most young children to grasp so please feel free to come up with concrete examples. You may also choose to print out the Size of the Problem pyramid for future reference to help your child navigate the problems that come up at home.

Size of the Problem - Activities in Black and White

Size of the Problem - Activities in Color

Stop Skill is a simple way to slow down the problem solving process by following these steps and, most importantly, observing feelings on the inside as well as what is happening on the outside of oneself. Following these steps allows people to work on problems together and in a mindful manner.

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."

This month, our mindfulness exercise is "Racoon Freeze." Students are asked to sit tall in a chair, take a deep breath in and wiggle, wiggle, wiggle their shoulders - then FREEZE! and let the air out. Sit as still as you can and don't move a muscle. Then repeat two more times.

Recreational SEL

Adam Parker, Homeschool Psychologist - Staying Calm shares a couple of easy strategies to stay calm when facing a problem.

Read it! Trace it! Write it! February's Emotions Worksheets Here is an activity that will help practice using emotional vocabulary. There are several options to choose from but please feel free to modify and help your child as necessary.

Google Arts and Culture is a very fun and interesting page to explore with your child! Enjoy the tours and activities together and learn about other places around the country and around the world. Here you will learn about yourself, tap into your creative side and learn about others.

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!