Social Emotional Learning

3/12/2021

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

In When My Worries Get Too Big by Brenda Smith Myles, Ph.D. we will start to talk more about what we can do when we have bigger feelings and or problems. It is OK to have big feelings. And, it is OK to experience big feelings when we have small problems. At the same time, young children are still learning how to figure out the expected reaction to problems based on the size of the problem even if the problem comes with big feelings. There is a scale at the end of the book that provides a way to talk about the big feelings. In addition, the author shares some useful and easy worksheets and strategies to help navigate big feelings as well.

Things I Am Good At is the first of several work pages in "When My Worries Get Too Big!" Exploring the activities we enjoy and are good at gives us something to go back to when we start to worry or have strong feelings that are overwhelming.

Five Point Scale and Strategies from "When My Worries Get Too Big!" is a nice tool to help your child identify how strong their feelings are and offers strategies to help feel calm again.

Size Of The Problem - Feelings Word Bank Is a nice visual that comes out of the book Size of the Problem we just finished. Feel free to print and use at home to help navigate problems that come up. First, identify if it is a small problem - easy to fix, medium problem - will need adult help (something is broken for example), big problem - will need a lot of people and a lot of time to fix. I also tell the kids that a big problem is an emergency and even the adults will feel upset.

Here are a set of Relaxation cards that can be used to help navigate rough patches. I do recommend reviewing them, adding strategies that might be missing and having your child two or three "go to" strategies to have on hand. (It is very hard to pick a strategy when in the throes of upset!)

What Are They Thinking? Socially Skilled Kids

Here are a set of activities to help your child practice perspective taking. We talk about how we can make "smart guesses" about what a person might be thinking, what they might say or what they might do by looking for clues. Help your child look for the clues in the pictures to figure out what the people might be thinking. What do their facial expressions tell us? Where are they? Who might they be with? What rules might apply to that setting and group?

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 "Turtle Taps." Students are asked to sit tall in a chair and pretend the top of their head is a turtle shell. They are asked to tap the top of their heads lightly with their fingers and then think about how it feels. This helps us focus on the sensation. One can also tap their forehead lightly which, for some, can be calming.

Recreational SEL

More interesting and informative Mystery Science episodes! I hope you and your children enjoy them! Spring is almost here!

How is a Rainbow Made? Mystery Science

Why Do Beavers Build Dams? Mystery Science

Music!

Choose Your Own Adventure with Adam Parker - Anxiety What is anxiety? How does it feel in your body and brain? What do we do to help ourselves feel better? Adam Parker leads us in a mini lesson with, of course, a catchy song at the end!

Parent's Corner

10 Simple Everyday Ways to Improve a Child's Behavior and Mood An easy to incorporate list of strategies and activities that may help parent's at home! We've all had those moments...I hope this helps! (And, provides fuel for FUN!)