Activities to Support Social Emotional Learning
Inclusive Welcoming Routine
Smile warmly and greet each person by their preferred name.
Whole-group greeting activities.
Morning circles.
Interactive “do-nows,” such as peer-to-peer homework help
Welcoming/Inclusion Activities
Four Corners - Students Reflect on a statement, image, or prompt and move to a "corner" that matches their choice.
Greeting Frenzy - Students introduce themselves or greet everybody in the room as fast as they can in a specific amount of time to boost class energy.
Name and Motion - Students stand in a circle and interact to learn each other's names and activities they enjoy.
One, Two, Three, CLAP! - Partners stand and engage in a counting and clapping focusing activity. The facilitator guides the reflective process with questions.
Mix and Mingle - Students move around the room and share ideas with a partner or small group.
Synectics - Students brainstorm ideas using sentence stems related to images projected to the class.
What's New - Students practice active listening while sharing something new with a partner.
Engagement Strategies
Think, Ink, Pair, Share (Silent time to reflect, time to write, partner discussion, group share)
Attention Signal - Bring the group's attention back to the facilitator after an engaging activity by giving a signal.
Card Sorts - Students write answers to questions on index cards or sticky notes.
Clock Partners - Each person has Clock Buddies Handout to fill names of fellow students in corresponding slots for use when choosing partners throughout week.
Engaging with Data - Students reflect on material by making predictions, descriptions, interpretations, and implications.
Fishbowl - Students split into two groups are seated in circles, with outside circle facing inside circle. The outside circle listens while the inside has a discussion then switch. Fishbowl Worksheet
Gallery Walk - Small groups of students rotate from poster to poster, stopping to view, discuss, and add ideas at each station.
Give One, Get One, Move On (Go, Go, Mo) - Students write ideas on note cards then mingle, exchanging note cards and moving to new partners.
Jigsaw - Small groups discuss different articles. Reorganize groups so each new group has one of each original group. Students teach new group about article. Article: 4 Things you Don't Know About the Jigsaw Method
Maître d' - Students form "tables" where they "dine" (exchange ideas) with variety of tablemates.
Pass it On - Students silently share their ideas with each other.
Save the Last Word - Students follow established protocol to share and discuss their responses to a text or video clip.
Brain Break: Meet In the Middle - Students are paired with a partner standing on the opposite side of the classroom or hallway, facing each other, and follow directions to meet in the middle.
Brain Break: Mindful Minute - Refocus and reengage students by having them focus on a simple action (breathing, ringing tone, nature sound).
Brain Break: Team Quiz Hustle - Students must do movement activities (10 jumping jacks, imaginary jump rope for 30 seconds, 20 karate chops) before flipping a paper over to reveal a team quiz question.
Optimistic Closure
Future Me - Students write a letter to their "future self" about what they learned from that day's lesson and their takeaways. Encourage students to offer themselves "Sage advice and heartfelt aspirations". https://www.futureme.org/
Human Bar Graph - Students form human bar graph by standing in a line that best represents their current level of understanding.
I Am Curious - After a lesson, ask students to reflect on something they are curious about as a result of the lesson.
My Next Step - End class by asking students to make a commitment to take immediate action.
One-Minute Accolade - Invite students to reflect on current experience as a group for a set amount of time with the challenge of seeing how many students you can hear from.
One Takeaway I'm Going to Try - Ask students to consider and name a take away (idea, strategy, tool, action step) that they want to try out.
One-Word Whip Around - As students a question and have each student provide a one-word answer.
Suit Yourself - Students reflect on then share valued takeaways from the experience using playing card suits as a focus area.
UFO/Energy Ball - Participants form a circle, hold ing hands as they make connections, causing the "energy ball" to light up.
Check-In Early and Often
Stay in tune with the well-being of each student and the overall mood of your class so you can provide support as needed.
Have a plan for what to do when a student expresses they are really struggling (ie talk with teacher, referral to school counselor, call parents, etc.)
In- Person:
Journaling about experiences. Writing letter to future self or past self.
Student Self-Referrals: Make a clear, easy way for students to reach out to you for help. Some ways could be filling out self-referral slip in your classroom, filling out a google form, having "office hours" where students can talk to you virtually or in-person.
Post-It Check-In: When students enter your class in the morning, have them place a post-it note on a mental health check-in chart. This can be anonymous to gauge where the whole class is or you can have students write their names on the back. See Picture Below:
Behind the Scenes SEL
Relationship Mapping: Work with your grade-level team to examine which students have trusting relationships with adults at your school. The aim is to identify students who do (or do not) have positive and stable relationships with adults in school & to connect at every student who does not currently have a positive and trusting relationship with an adult mentor. See Virtual Relationship Mapping Plan Here
Connect with Families:
Send Letter or Email to Let Families Know to Expect To Hear from You.
See Email/Letter TemplateCall Every Family to Check In
See Phone Call Script TemplateSend Home a Survey to get Info About How Parents Prefer to be Contacted, What Supports they Need, and What Concerns they Have
Parent/Caregiver Survey Template