Empathetic skill development through emotion recognition, cultural diversity appreciation, and bias confrontation. Targets multi-perspective analysis to support respectful interactions and complex social responses.
Students present their collages to small groups, articulating why they chose specific activities. Peer listeners practice affirming others' choices.
Using a collage format, students select and paste images of their favorite activities onto a personal poster. This visual aid serves as a concrete reference tool.
Students sort images of activities into 'high energy' fun (running, dancing) and 'calm' fun (reading, coloring). The class discusses how different times of day might need different types of positive activities.
Learners engage in a sensory station rotation to discover which sights, sounds, and textures make them feel good. They classify experiences as 'things I like' versus 'things I do not like'.
Students learn to identify the physical sensations associated with happiness and excitement through guided movement and mirror exercises.
Empowering students to identify and communicate their personal triggers using a 'remote control' metaphor.
Connecting the five senses to memories and emotional responses.
A puppet-led exploration of how past memories can influence present feelings about safe objects.
Introducing the concept of 'triggers' through startle responses and sudden surprises.
Students explore simple cause-and-effect scenarios to understand that feelings have specific origins.
The sequence culminates in the creation of a shared classroom agreement that establishes norms for noise, space, and sensory support.
Students identify high-stress transition times and brainstorm proactive routines to maintain sensory regulation when moving between activities.
The class practices whole-group regulation techniques like synchronized breathing and chair yoga to understand how collective action affects the energy of the room.
Students explore how sensory preferences vary between individuals and practice perspective-taking to understand and respect classmates' different needs.
Students conduct a hands-on audit of their classroom to identify environmental sensory triggers and discuss how these factors impact their ability to focus and stay calm.
A performance-based assessment where students dramatize social scenarios using the scripts and strategies learned throughout the unit.
Building resilience by teaching students how to respond positively when a peer says 'no' and how to find alternative activities.
A step-by-step approach to sharing and turn-taking, focusing on the social narrative of asking, waiting, and returning toys.
Students learn and practice verbal scripts to politely join peer activities using puppets and small group simulations.
Students explore the concept of personal space using the 'Space Bubble' metaphor to understand appropriate physical distances during social interactions.
A culminating event where students plan and execute a simple shared activity (like a dance party or snack share). They reflect on how doing things together feels different than doing them alone.
Students learn to identify when a friend does something good and how to celebrate them (clapping, cheering). This shifts focus from self-gratification to finding joy in others' success.
Small groups work together to build something (block tower, art piece). The focus is on the positive feeling of achieving a goal together rather than the final product.
The class engages in silly activities designed solely to produce shared laughter. They discuss how hearing others laugh makes them want to laugh too, introducing the concept of emotional contagion.
Students learn simple scripts and gestures to invite peers to join a positive activity, practicing inclusion and social courage.
A concluding circle time where students share compliments and favorite memories to reinforce their community bond.
Students look for small ways to help others and reflect on how acts of kindness improve their own emotional well-being.
Students engage in silly activities to discover how shared laughter acts as a physical release and mood booster.
Pairs of students work together to build blocks while focusing on positive interactions like high-fives and encouraging words.
Students learn and practice simple scripts for asking a peer to play, exploring the feelings associated with inclusion.
Students reflect on their learning by creating a visual narrative of emotional change. They celebrate their new skills as 'Mood Heroes' who can help themselves feel better.
Using role-play and scenarios, students practice empathy and behavioral activation by helping characters navigate disappointments through positive activity choices.
Students identify and select specific actions to include in a personal 'coping toolkit.' They practice retrieving these 'tools' to handle common stressors or worries.
Students act as scientists to test how physical movement and silly actions change their internal energy and mood. They observe the immediate cause-and-effect relationship between action and emotion.
Students explore the metaphor of feelings as weather and learn that just as weather changes, so can their moods. They observe how 'sunshine' activities can help clear away 'cloudy' feelings.
Students synthesize their learning by creating a personal Digital Citizen Pledge and earning their Super Citizen badges.
Students practice the "Stop, Walk, and Tell" strategy to respond to unkind behavior or scary content online, focusing on seeking help from trusted adults.
Students learn to identify kind and unkind digital behaviors, focusing on the feelings of others behind the screen and the basics of cyberbullying prevention.
Using the toothpaste analogy, students learn that online actions are permanent and practice the "Think Before You Click" strategy to manage their digital presence.
Students explore how digital actions leave trails by connecting physical footprints to their digital history, emphasizing that computers remember our paths.
A collaborative art project where individual family squares are combined to symbolize the classroom community as a family unit.
Students use engineering and symbolic play to build a physical structure representing their home, reinforcing the concept of shelter and shared space.
Students share and illustrate special routines and traditions that make their family unique, fostering cultural awareness and narrative skills.
A project-based lesson where students create a visual representation of their family unit, focusing on relative size and identifying key members.
Students explore diverse family configurations and learn vocabulary for family roles while using finger puppets to represent their own homes.
Students compile their portraits, preference charts, and name art into a portfolio. They present one page to a small group, practicing verbal communication about their identity.
Students use ink pads to examine their fingerprints with magnifying glasses, learning that no two patterns are exactly alike. This reinforces the biological concept of individual uniqueness.
Students investigate the letters and sounds in their own names, discussing the importance of names as personal identifiers. They decorate their names using materials that represent their personality.
Students participate in a sorting activity where they categorize foods, colors, and games into 'Like' and 'Don't Like' piles. They compare their results with a partner to visualize similarities and differences in preferences.
Students use mirrors to observe their physical features and create a self-portrait that accurately represents their unique appearance.
A culminating session that reviews all SEL skills and celebrates students' emotional growth.
Practices active listening skills to better understand friends and resolve misunderstandings.
Teaches assertive communication using 'I statements' to advocate for personal needs respectfully.
Focuses on the importance of kind words and actions in building a supportive community.
Introduces a step-by-step approach to solving social conflicts with kindness and fairness.
Students engage in a free-play session where they are rewarded with tokens for maintaining their role and topic for consecutive turns. The focus is on sustained, reciprocal dialogue within the chosen scenario.
Students learn how to shift play themes naturally. Instead of abruptly changing games, they practice saying, 'Let's change to...' or 'Now the store is closed, let's go to the park,' treating the transition as a bridge.
During a structured play scenario, the teacher introduces a 'distraction' (a new toy or noise). Students practice acknowledging the distraction briefly but then using a 'return phrase' (e.g., 'Anyway, back to the game') to resume their play theme.
Students practice role-playing specific characters (e.g., Cashier, Shopper). They learn that the Cashier talks about prices and food, not about their new shoes or what they watched on TV, to keep the game fun.
Students apply their skills in short peer-to-peer interactions using finger puppets and designated topic cards for focused practice.
Students act as 'directors' to fix broken conversation scripts, suggesting relevant alternatives for the puppet's off-topic mistakes.
Students learn the concept of reciprocal communication by visualizing questions and answers as a game of catch, focusing on direct answering.
Students use visual scenes to judge whether the puppet's comments match the visible context, using 'Thumbs Up' and 'Thumbs Down' to vote.
Students meet Benny the Bear, a puppet who gets mixed up about topics, and practice identifying off-topic comments using a physical 'Stop' sign.
Students explore a dramatic play center (Grocery Store) and identify tools and words that belong there by sorting objects into 'Grocery Store' vs. 'Not Grocery Store' piles.
Students create personal maps of their own emotional triggers, normalizing that different events affect people in different ways.
Using puppets, students practice identifying triggers and using verbal strategies to respond appropriately to social antecedents.
Students learn to recognize the physical warning signs their bodies give them after a trigger occurs but before a big behavior.
Students classify common classroom scenarios as triggers for different emotions, building a vocabulary for cause-and-effect.
Students observe a character's emotional shift during a story and identify the specific moment or cause that changed their feeling.
