Help students explore family, belonging, kindness, and community through the heartwarming world of Surf Soup®: The Chick Inn.

This engaging Social Emotional Learning (SEL) companion guide is designed to accompany the children's picture book Surf Soup®: The Chick Inn: A Story of Family, Foster Care, and Forever Love by Donna Kay Lau.

Through the story of Momma Hen and the Chick Inn, students discover that families can be formed in many different ways. As mysterious eggs arrive from across Surf Soup® Island, Momma Hen welcomes each one with kindness, creating a loving home where every child belongs.

This resource provides developmentally appropriate opportunities for students to discuss emotions, relationships, empathy, inclusion, gratitude, and community while building literacy and creative thinking skills.

Included Activities

✓ Reading Comprehension Questions

✓ Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Discussion Prompts

✓ Foster Care & Family Diversity Conversations

✓ Belonging and Inclusion Activities

✓ Creative Writing Prompts

✓ Art Projects

✓ Family Tree of Love Activity

✓ Kindness Feathers Classroom Project

✓ Build a Nest STEM Challenge

✓ Mother's Day Extension Activities

✓ Character Education Connections

✓ Family Discussion Take-Home Questions

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• Explore the meaning of belonging

• Understand that families can be formed in many different ways

• Develop empathy and compassion

• Practice gratitude and kindness

• Build self-awareness and social awareness

• Strengthen communication and reflection skills

• Participate in creative and collaborative learning activities

Social Emotional Learning Skills

• Self-Awareness

• Social Awareness

• Relationship Skills

• Responsible Decision-Making

• Empathy

• Community Building

• Gratitude

• Inclusion

Perfect For

• Preschool

• Kindergarten

• 1st Grade

• 2nd Grade

• 3rd Grade

• Homeschool

• School Counseling

• Character Education

• SEL Lessons

• Foster Care Awareness Month

• Adoption Awareness Month

• Mother's Day

• Family-Themed Units

• Library Programs

Resource Type

• Reader's Guide

• SEL Activities

• Discussion Guide

• Writing Activities

• Art Activities

• Printables

• Literacy Extension

• Character Education Resource

Grades

PreK–3

Subjects

Social Emotional Learning

Character Education

Reading Comprehension

Writing

Art

School Counseling

Family & Consumer Sciences