SELspace

SEL Topic: Relational AggressionRelational aggression is an important topic when students are learning the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships.  "My Secret Bully", by Trudy Ludwig, is an excellent book to introduce the topic and promote a conversation about how we can encounter bullying in friendships and strategies to cope, survive, and thrive. This unit consists of discussion questions, reading comprehension pages, a reading comprehension mini assessment, a template for good

SEL Topic: Self ManagementThis unit explores the topic of big emotions, outbursts, flipping your lid and the brain, the anger iceberg, mindfulness strategies, button pushing, and the analogy of the volcano when it comes to big emotions. There are student activity pages to accompany these big ideas. 16 pages

SEL Topic: Gender Stereotyping"Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress" by Christine Baldacchino is the perfect introduction to gender stereotyping and gender identity. Young Morris is faced with the hardship of gender stereotypes when he loves wearing the tangerine dress in the dress-up center. This unit includes discussion prompts, reading comprehension pages, a mini reading comprehension assessment, an anchor chart, and a vocabulary building word search with extension activities.

SEL Topic: Self-Awareness; Self-ManagementOur internal voice has an incredible impact on how we present and face the world. Explicitly teaching students to incorporate and practice positive self-talk as well as shutting down negative self-talk are important self-awareness and self-management skills. The concept can be abstract for younger students. Fortunately, there are many great read alouds that help promote a helpful "inner coach" and hush the "inner critic". This unit includes discussion a

SEL Topic: Bragging and BoastingThe book “Better Than You”, by Trudy Ludwig, is an excellent book to introduce the topic and promote a conversation about bragging. It provides insight, understanding, and strategies to help students when they are faced with this form of arrogance. This unit contains discussion prompts, reading comprehension pages, a mini reading assessment, and a vocabulary building word search with extension activities.

SEL Topics: Identity, Self Awareness, Social Awareness, DiversityThe family we are a part of and grow up in is very much a part of who we are. Families come in varying sizes and structures. Their uniqueness contributes to our identity. In this unit, students will explore the concept of a family, its diversity, and how they can contribute to the well-being of individuals and communities. Students will look at their own unique family, the uniqueness of other families, their role in their family, a

SEL TOPICS: Self Awareness; Identifying Emotions; MindsetsNone of us live in a state of joy all the time. It may be the goal of some, but for the average person more reasonable goals are to notice sparks or moments of joy, appreciate them, and find routes to get there as often as possible. The purpose of the JOY project is to introduce students to the concept of joy, emphasize its uniqueness for each individual, educate on the connection between gratitude and joy, and extol the overall health be

SEL Topic: Responsible Decision MakingExploring the meaning of rights and responsibilities as well as their relationship is an important step in establishing a healthy functioning classroom community. Students need to understand that it is not just about what they are entitled to but that they have responsibilities tied to each right in order for their community to thrive. Cocreating expectations and norms early in the year helps everyone know what will be accepted and what will not. Tying an ex

SEL Topic: Self Awareness, Social Awareness, Self-ManagementThis unit explores the topic of emotion identification and classification. It addresses emotional literacy and provides students with practice in looking at the nuances and granularity of emotions. A mood meter check-in and 48 emotion cards are included to help students practice identifying and classifying emotions. There are several different ways in which the "emotion cards" can be used to further support emotional fluency. The unit a

SEL TOPICS: Identity and Self-AwarenessExploring our identity starts with reflecting about who we are and having the opportunity to tell our story. Autobiographies give the opportunity to combine self exploration with writing skills. There is nothing more empowering than using your voice to tell your unique story. This unit provides the prompts and templates for students to create an autobiography. There are 10 chapter choices. Students can pick and choose what they'd like to have in their auto

SEL Topic: Trouble TalkTrouble Talk is a good topic for a class discussion early in the school year, especially if you are establishing class norms or expectations. It can be a good segue into discussions about thinking before you speak, the impact of words, empathy and kindness, point of view, and learning from your mistakes. The book “Trouble Talk”, by Trudy Ludwig, is an excellent book to introduce the topic and promote a conversation about the destructiveness of negative communication. This

SEL Topic: Self-Awareness, Culturally ResponsivenessOur identities are always in fluid motion. We aren't the same person today as we were a year ago. It is always a good time to reflect on who we are and how we would like to continue to grow.  This unit includes lessons and student pages related to the factors that influence our identities, identity markers (visible and invisible),  and our internal self-worth banks. Identity poem templates and art activities are also a part of this rich in cont

SEL Topic: Life BalanceFinding balance in life is a quest we are all faced with. Sometimes it takes getting pushed out of our comfort zones to discover where equilibrium lies. In the book, "The Couch Potato", written by Jory John and illustrated by Pete Oswald, the Couch Potato discovers that there is a whole world outside his perfectly designed house. A power outage forces him out of his comfortable indoor space to the natural outside world with real people, real scenery, and real interactions.

SEL Topic: Self-CareThe book “The Good Egg”, written by Jory John and illustrated by Pete Oswald, explores how other people's behavior can impact our own well being even when we are doing everything possible to please everyone and be "good". The Good Egg experiences extreme stress that affected both his mental and physical health. He ends up not only developing some coping strategies to help, but coming to terms with the fact that some things will always be outside of his control. This unit cons

SEL Topic: Perfectionism and Self TalkMaking mistakes is an essential part of learning, but to perfectionists, it can feel like the end of the world. In a society where being the "best" drives the masses (be it marks, sports, appearance, you name it...), the need to achieve, compare, and be better than others has become an area of non-stop pressure. The book “Too Perfect”, by Trudy Ludwig, explores the pressure and the downfalls of being a perfectionist and highlights the importance of being kin

Have your students critically think about the ultimate superhero that is needed in today's world! Students can present their super hero and even have a super hero off persuading the class why the world needs their superhero the most! This activity can also lead to some great creative writing with each student's superhero as a lead in the story.