Search Results for: social skills

Using Games to Teach Social Emotional Skills

November 18, 2018 by pathway2success 6 Comments

Games can be the perfect tool to introduce and teach social emotional learning skills to kids and young adults. These are the skills that help kids become more self-aware, develop positive relationships, show empathy towards others, manage emotions, use self-control, resolve conflicts, and make positive decisions. If you need more background on SEL, make sure you read up on the basics of social emotional learning.

So often, educators are so busy teaching our curriculum and content that we sometimes leave these skills behind. It’s so important to make real time for them and incorporate them into many of the activities you already do! For kids who struggle with some of these skills, learning them can be real work. With that said, it’s important to make learning these skills meaningful, interactive, hands-on, and fun. That’s why teaching social emotional skills in the form of a game just makes so much sense!

Here are several games (some I’ve purchase and some I’ve developed myself) that target these critical social emotional learning skills:

1. Social Problem Solving Board Game

Why It’s Important: Social problem-solving is our ability to understand a social situation and use reasoning to deal with it in the most socially appropriate way. We really use these skills every single day. At school, kids might have to problem-solve what to do when someone isn’t nice to them or when they see someone else breaking a rule and aren’t sure what to do. At home, they might use them when an adult tells them to clean their room but they don’t feel like it at the moment.

How It Works: This game focuses on considering a social problem, thinking about what it matters, considering choices and consequences, and ultimately making a decision that is best in the moment. Kids will roll a dice and work through a game board, picking up a situation card for each spot they land on. My favorite part is that kids will also act out scenarios which can help them to generalize the social skills over time.

2. Team Pictionary

Why It’s Important: Teamwork is a critical skill for all ages. This is a skill kids and young adults use throughout the school day, but also outside of school, whether it is during a sports game or playing a game with friends at home. While learning to work together as a team, kids also learn other valuable skills including assertive communication, how to listen, turn-taking, doing a fair share of the work, and how to respectfully disagree with each other. These are not only school skills, but life skills.

How It Works: Split up into two teams. Let each team pick an artist who will draw for their team. Let the artists pick a card with a phrase they will have to illustrate on paper or on the board. Let both artists draw at the same time, while their team tries to guess the correct phrase they are drawing. The catch is that the artist can only draw images and not words, so team members must work together to come up with what the artist is drawing. The team that guesses the phrase first wins! The game can continue again and again, as different artists from the group should be chosen.

3. Social Communication Board Game

Why It’s Important: Simply put, kids need to be able to communicate well with others. That includes having small talk with a classmate in the hallway, understanding nonverbal cues, holding a full conversation with peers at lunch, and using our social filter before we speak. Our communication skills have a huge impact on how we get along with others and develop relationships over time.

How It Works: This game is ideal for all kids, but especially those with social language challenges. Depending on which space kids fall on, they will have to decipher social cues from a real life photo, discuss what they would do or say in a situation, identify how they should think before they speak, or say a specific phrase in a variety of different tones. Since there are over 150 unique cards, kids can just play again and again while practicing these skills.

4. Empathy Board Game

Why It’s Important: Considering and understanding the feelings of others is a foundational skill that supports social success. In order to know the “right” or socially appropriate response to situations, we must first really understand how others feel. Developing empathy isn’t easy for all kids, especially those with social challenges and autism. It’s important to highlight situations by stopping to think how someone else might feel or think. While thinking about how you might feel in a situation is a good start, t’s critical to target how someone else might feel. That’s because true empathy is really about understanding someone else’s thoughts and feelings, which can often be different from our own.

How It Works: Students will work in partners and small groups to get through an empathy game board. For a person’s turn, they will roll the dice and spin the spinner. Their spot on the game board and the spinner will tell them how to answer each card. For example, they might have to answer: Why does it matter? How might they feel? What might they be thinking? What might you do? Students might also have to act out what they would do in that situation. There are over 150 unique situations that help kids discuss and build empathy over real-life scenarios.

5. Social Charades

Why It’s Important: A huge component to social awareness is learning to identify and understand the social cues of others. These social cues, including our body language and facial expressions, often inform others how we’re feeling, what we’re thinking, and what our intentions are.

How It Works: Create a list of different actions or have the kids come up with them themselves. Any action will do! Some examples might be waiting at the bus stop, sharpening your pencil, listening to music, running in a race, taking notes in class, and so on. The idea is that kids will randomly choose one action and act it out for the others to guess. By acting out these scenarios, students will need to consider what social cues would be aligned with that activity. Best of all, this is a quick activity you can do with just a few minutes of class time left that kids will love.

6. Roll & Spin a Coping Strategy

Why It’s Important: Being able to manage our emotions is a critical skill. We all experience tough emotions, setbacks, or challenges along the way. It’s just a natural part of life. How we handle those difficulties can make a big impact on our success. That’s why it’s so important to explicitly teach coping strategies and skills to manage our feelings on the spot. Sometimes, kids cannot self-soothe without being explicitly taught these strategies. Kids and young adults need to learn they can take a quick walk, write in a journal, take deep breaths, and use positive self-talk to calm themselves and feel better in moments of difficulty. Additionally, it’s important that kids practice these strategies when they are already calm so that they can really use them when they are emotionally overwhelmed.

How It Works: Using a one-page board, students will take turns rolling and spinning. Depending on what they roll and spin, they will fall on a space with a coping strategy that they will have to practice. Once they practice that strategy, they can cover up the spot with a chip. Note that students can have their own boards or share if you have different colored chips. The first person to get one whole row across wins! Ultimately, the idea is that kids are practicing a wide variety of coping strategies, giving them access to more skills when they truly need them.

7. Feelings Uno

Why It’s Important: Self-awareness is a critical skill that helps individuals understand their own emotions. In this activity, students can improve their emotional vocabularies by discussing a variety of different feeling words and what they mean. It also helps to normalize talking about different emotions and being comfortable sharing how we are feeling in the moment. Getting kids talking about emotions is key.

How It Works: This game just adds a simple twist to your normal Uno game, which all kids absolutely LOVE! Using the Uno colors, discuss what each of the colors might mean. Blue can stand for feeling sad, tired, bored, or sick. Green stands for feeling happy, calm, focused, and in control. Yellow means feelings frustrated, worried, or nervous. Finally, red should stand for angry. Every time a student plays a color of a card, teach them to use an emotion word that matches the color, share a time they felt that way, or discuss when someone might feel that way.

8. Executive Functioning Challenge

Why It’s Important: Executive functioning skills are the processes in our brain that help us accomplish tasks. Sometimes we might think of these skills as only related to academics, but that’s actually not true. Our executive functioning skills help us use our self-control to stop and think before saying something inappropriate, our flexibility to consider different solutions for social problems, and our time management to make sure we meet a friend on time. When executive functioning skills are stronger, kids and young adults have greater chance for success in school and beyond.

How It Works: This game can actually be played two different ways: partners and small groups, or as a full class. The idea is that students work through a game board, answering a variety of executive functioning questions as they head towards the finish line. The game cards have students completing executive functioning challenges, acting out situations, naming executive functioning skills used in a situation, and proving their knowledge about the skills themselves. For the full class version, kids can work in teams, collaborating on the answers and getting “points” to win the challenge.

If you love the games I’ve put together, you can save by getting them as a whole set! This Social Emotional Learning Games Bundle gives practice with empathy, perspective-taking, executive functioning skills, communication, and more.

Use these games during break times, small groups, as an end of the week reward, or just a fun brain break. Kids will have fun but you’ll know you’re working on serious SEL skills that make a difference!

Teaching Social Emotional Skills With a Journal

May 14, 2018 by pathway2success 2 Comments

Social and emotional skills are foundational for kids to be successful in and out of the classroom. They involve everything: having a firm grasp of our values, recognizing our strengths and challenges, understanding social situations, developing strong relationships with others, managing our emotions, making responsible decisions, and so much more. Sometimes, as educator we might feel we don’t have time for teaching and practicing these skills in the classroom. Without a doubt, the expectations of educators are higher than ever and sometimes something has to give. With all of that said, social and emotional skills should not be lost. In fact, I would argue that we need to spend MORE of our time in schools highlighting and incorporating these skills throughout the day. When kids are socially and emotionally healthier, they do better academically, too.

One way to incorporate and discuss these skills while still working on other academic skills is through writing and journaling. With this, I’ve designed a Social Emotional Learning Journal with daily prompts throughout the year. That means I’ve already included 175 unique prompts organized by social-emotional skill. Everything is done for you for the whole year. It’s the perfect no-prep way to highlight SEL throughout the school year on a daily basis.

Here are some simple tips you can follow to help you teach social and emotional skills through writing:

1. Choose a Time Frame. You might choose to make Social Emotional Learning Journaling part of your morning meeting, advisory periods, or just a “do now” when kids walk in the classroom. Whatever you choose, stick with it! Remember that these skills are just as important as academic skills and they deserve time in your classroom.

2. Introduce Social-Emotional Skills. Let kids know what social and emotional skills are and why they are important. Explain that these are the skills that help us to be socially and emotionally healthy in our lives. The five main areas of SEL include: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationships, and decision-making.

3. Have Students Design a Journal. For students to really “own” their journal, I always feel it’s helpful to have them design or color a front page. This helps them take ownership of their journal and sets theirs apart from others. You can choose to have students use a binder to hold their journal pages together or use a composition notebook. I really love to bind all the pages together so students have the real feel of a journal, but anything will do!

4. Highlight One Skill Per Week. Giving each week its own skill will give kids time to understand that skill, while giving you time to reinforce it when you see it in the classroom. Start with self-awareness by covering strengths, challenges, building confidence, and understanding feelings. For self-management, cover topics such as planning, self-control, organization, and managing emotions. Social awareness highlights skills involving social expectations, social cues, and empathy. For relationships, you might discuss friendships, how to communicate effectively, and working with others. Finally, for decision-making, spend time writing about responsibility, peer pressure, problem-solving, and ethical decisions.

5. Ask Daily Questions and Talk About It. If you ask students about strategies they might use to manage their emotions, give time for the whole class to discuss first before writing. This is an important step to provide some background knowledge before kids take time to think on their own. You can choose to skip this step, but keep in mind that some learners might not know what to write without discussing the topic with others first.

6. Give Time for Independent Writing. Students will need a few minutes to journal and write on their own. This allows them to stop and think about the question, coming up with their own individual thoughts and responses. Best of all, with a journal, you have a written record of all the skills kids are learning and writing about.

7. Incorporate Partner and Class Discussions. Spend a few minutes letting partners talk or discussing the topic as a whole class again. This gives kids the chance for shared learning from their peers.

8. Reinforce Skills Throughout the Week. The best way to generalize these skills is to encourage them throughout your daily lessons and activities. For example, if you are working on organization and see you a student tidying their binder, let them know! If you are highlighting social expectations, discuss the social expectations before a test or quiz you are about to take. Take every moment and make it count.

If you love these ideas for teaching social emotional skills with a journal, give the Social Emotional Learning Journal a try with your learners!

If you’re looking for more ideas for SEL, read up on more ways to incorporate social emotional learning in your classroom.

12 Daily Social Emotional Practices to Try

January 18, 2021 by pathway2success Leave a Comment

Social emotional learning is the process that helps children and young adults learn valuable life skills such as empathy, friendships, confidence, self-control, self-awareness, and responsibility. These are just a few of the many critical skills and competencies that are learned through social emotional practices.

If we want children and teens to acquire social emotional competencies, we have to teach and practice those skills often. Further, these skills are so important that it’s easy to argue that learning about them should be part of our every day.

With that, it is so important for every educator and parent to have techniques, strategies, and practices in their own social emotional toolbox.

Here are 12 daily social emotional practices to incorporate:

1. Practicing Mindfulness

We all want learners to feel more calm, focused, regulated, and happy. Mindfulness is one of the best techniques to help cultivate these qualities with kids and teens. This is certainly a skill that needs to be taught, but it really can be fun to do so!

Teaching about mindful breathing is a great place to start. I love this as a SEL skill and coping skill, because it’s a technique kids and teens can do anywhere and anytime. Some of my favorite mindful breathing techniques include Shape Breathing and Bubble Breathing. There are so many to try!

Ready to start your mindful practice? Use this set of mindfulness activities to teach about mindfulness, why it matters, and how it can be practiced each day.

Teaching mindfulness helps kids and teens learn self-regulation.

2. Positive Affirmations

The words we say to ourselves can have a huge impact on our confidence and perseverance. There is no better way to start off each morning than with positive self-talk statements. Use this free positive affirmation activity to read positive phrases and develop your own individualized lists. It’s the first step in beginning a positive affirmations routine in your classroom (or at home).

3. SEL Journaling

SEL journaling is one of the most effective and efficient ways to teach social emotional skills. It’s easy to assign a journal prompt each morning for learners, have them respond in writing, and then discuss together.

So how can you start? You can come up with prompts and discussion questions that you know your students need the most at the moment. For example, if you need to work on positive decision-making skills, ask students to write about what it means to make a good choice and list off some positive choices they have made this week.

If you need more support and structure in a SEL Journal, you can use a Social Emotional Learning Journal filled with prompts for the entire year (and yes I have a SEL Journal for younger learners too!).

One of my favorite parts of a SEL Journal is that it becomes a record of the skills you have discussed and learned together. That means you can easily review a section if you need to work more on empathy, perspective-taking, responsibility, or any other skill.

4. Practicing Coping Strategies

When managing stress and tough emotions, coping strategies are key. These are the techniques we use to keep ourselves calm. One of the most important points to make about coping strategies is that they are unique for every person. One child might feel calmest during and after coloring, while another child might need to do jumping jacks. This is why practicing coping strategies on a regular basis is so important.

Use this free printable list of coping strategies to help children and teens discuss different techniques and what might work for them.

5. SEL Question of the Day

Discussions can be a powerful tool when it comes to learning social emotional skills. With a SEL question of the day, pose a question and chat about it. It’s really that easy. This can be a positive start to your morning or an activity you do while waiting for the dismissal at the end of the day.

For example, to start the conversation about diversity, you might ask, “What is something about you that is unique, special, or stands out?” It’s just one simple question but helps begin the conversation about how we can all be similar and different at the same time. Because kids and teens will be discussing the questions and interacting with each other, it can be a highly motivating way to integrate SEL skills too.

Some other examples of questions of the day might include:

Self-control is stopping, thinking, and making a good choice. Why is it important to stop and think about choices?
Having a growth mindset means knowing you can improve skills with hard work. What does determination mean to you?
What are some social expectations to follow when playing games or sports?
Relationship skills are the tools and knowledge we use to build relationships. What skills are important in relationships?

If you are ready to start using a question of the day to support SEL skills, you can grab this yearlong set of SEL questions to target skills from self-awareness through decision-making.

Social emotional learning question of the day

6. Greetings

Greetings help children and teens feel valued. While it’s a simple strategy, it’s one worth mentioning. Research shows that greeting children and teens at the doorway as they walk into the classroom sets an important tone. This simple action can increase student engagement, reduce challenging behaviors, and help kids feel a sense of belonging.

Use this free printable (and digital) greetings poster to remind kids and teens how they can greet each other each day. Add it to your morning meeting routine or just do it as students walk in the room.

Free greetings poster for morning meeting

7. Brain Breaks

No one can be “on” all of the time. That’s why brain breaks are so important. They are a semi-structured activity time to help children and teens move their bodies and calm their minds. Practice these tasks between activities or when you notice your students need a quick pause.

Some simple brain break ideas include:

Stretching or exercising
Playing a game like Simon Says or I Spy
Dancing to music
Coloring or drawing
Having a sing-a-long
Mindful breathing

One of my personal favorite brain break activities are these mindful brain breaks with a nature theme. It’s always helpful to try different brain breaks and see what works for your learners.

8. Relationship-Building Chats

Relationship-building is something that should be worked on throughout the entire year with kids and teens. A few relationship-building questions or discussion starters is a great way to support relationship-building while also conversation skills, empathy, and more.

Use this free list of relationship-building questions to always have something fun and engaging to talk about!

Free relationship-building questions list

9. Real-Life Scenarios

Help children and teens make positive choices and learn social emotional skills through real life experiences. To do this, give a scenario and ask, “What would you do?” Students can talk with a partner or small group and then share back with the class.

This is another favorite activity because not only can it be part of your everyday routine, but these cards are an excellent way to maximize instructional learning time too. Just have extra cards ready for when a lesson ends early or when students are late getting picked up.

Download these free social problem-solving scenario cards to get started discussing social skills with your learners.

10. Organization Time

In order for children and teens to do their best in the classroom, they need daily organization time. Sometimes, the day goes by extremely quickly, leaving students with messy binders, disorganized backpacks, and desks filled with things that should be other places.

Make it a daily routine to give 10 minutes of organization time at the end of every day. It’s a healthy way to support social emotional skills while also building executive functioning skills that we all know are so important.

Give daily organization time to support social emotional learning.

11. Morning Meeting

Morning meeting is a semi-structured time to welcome students and perform a group activity. This is a time that sets the tone for a positive climate, builds meaningful relationships, increases student confidence, and creates a community where all voices matter.

In addition to all of that, morning meeting is also one of the best and most natural times to teach social emotional skills. In just five steps in a morning meeting you can:

Start with greetings.
Introduce a SEL skill or topic.
Start a group discussion.
Do an activity or two together.
Reflect and get prepared before moving on for the rest of the day.

You can perform this five-step morning meeting process on your own, but if you need a little more structure and support, you might want to check out this yearlong morning meeting set to get started. It started as printable morning meeting cards (one per day) but also has digital slides to project or use when students are learning from home.

Morning meeting time to target SEL skills

12. Emotions Check-in

It’s healthy and normal to check in with emotions on a regular basis. We need to explicitly teach and practice this for learners to really understand that!

The steps to checking in with emotions include:

Pausing for a moment to breathe.
Asking yourself how you feel.
Saying the emotion words out loud or writing them.
Thinking about your feelings. Sit with them and let them be!
Ask yourself what you need.

Use this free 5-step emotions check in poster to get started!

Just a note that these are really just a few strategies for integrating SEL with kids and young adults. What’s most important is that you try a technique and stick with it to see how it works for you and your learners.

12 Reasons to Teach Executive Functioning Skills Explicitly

December 8, 2020 by pathway2success Leave a Comment

Executive functioning skills are some of the most foundational elements for academic and social success. They are the skills that help us to plan, stay organized, pay attention to important information, use strategies to get us back on track when we veer off course, be flexible when things don’t go our way, and persevere through challenges.

Executive functioning skills aren’t just an extra. They are the critical foundation that allows kids and teens (and yes, even adults) to be successful in the classroom and beyond. With that, they deserve attention.

Can executive functioning skills be taught?

Yes. Executive functioning skills are malleable. This means that we, as educators, can help kids and teens improve these skills over time.

The teen that struggles with bringing the correct materials to class can learn new strategies and techniques to help them be more organized. The student who acts out in aggressive ways when things go to plan can acquire stronger skills for self-control and flexibility. They can learn new coping strategies and improve their ability to problem-solve. The learner that zones out during important classroom instruction can practice strategies to check in with themselves, helping them improve focus over time.

These are just a few examples but they prove one simple point: executive functioning skills can be taught, practiced, and strengthened over time. Already set to get started? Here are some executive functioning resources to make your life easier.

Get started with an interactive executive functioning workbook.

When can executive functioning skills be taught?

As an educator myself, I know that time is valuable and precious in the classroom. Here are some ways to sneak in executive functioning instruction:

Advisory period – Arrange students in small groups that meet on a regular basis. Use this advisory time to work on all sorts of skills, including executive functioning skills.
Morning meeting – Plan time each day for morning meeting. Use this time to perform greetings, check-in about emotions, and teach valuable skills like executive functioning skills.
The 1st 10 minutes of class – If no other time is available, spend the first few minutes of class discussing and teaching EF skills to your learners. This works whether you teach math, science, reading, or anything else.
Academic tutoring support time – For learners who need academic tutoring support, add executive functioning skills instruction into what they are learning.
Health or life skills class – Since executive functioning skills are in fact life skills, it is completely logical to add them into a health or life skills time.

Why should executive functioning skills be taught explicitly?

Executive functioning skills require support, practice, and direct instruction. Here are 12 reasons why these skills should be taught explicitly:

#1 Executive functioning skills are shaped, not innate.

Kids and teens aren’t born with a toolbox filled with executive functioning skills. Instead, they are born with the capacities to improve them over time. While it’s true that some learners acquire these skills early on at home, through interactions with peers, and as part of the hidden curriculum, many learners do not.

These skills deserve time to be shaped and supported in the best ways possible. Quite often, that means explicitly teaching skills like how to organize your binder, study strategies, techniques to persevere through challenges, and how to keep your cool in times of stress.

#2 Executive functioning skills are life skills.

Sometimes when we talk about executive functioning skills, we only think of them through the lens of school when actually these skills are used our entire lives. We use planning and time management to schedule our daily and weekly responsibilities. We use organization and task initiation to keep a tidy space at home. We use self-control, flexibility, and perseverance to handle difficult decisions every day.

Executive functioning skills are not just academic skills, but life skills, and they deserve to be taught.

#3 Executive functioning skills build independence.

As educators, one of the main goals we have for learners is to teach them to be independent. Stronger EF skills can help with just that. These abilities help kids and teens make better choices, manage their time well, plan, and work through challenges. In essence, all of these abilities also help them become independent. Executive functioning skills don’t just help kids and teens in the moment; they empower them to make positive choices for the future.

#4 Executive functioning skills impact social development.

Social skills and executive functioning skills are linked, which provides another reason why EF skills should be targeted and taught. When learners have meaningful conversations with others, they need to use working memory to think about what they want to talk about and attention skills to stay focused. We also use self-control skills on a regular basis to make socially-sound choices. When we strengthen executive functioning skills, we are strengthening social skills too.

#5 Strong executive functioning skills support academic growth.

Think about all the executive functioning skills kids and teens use during the academic day: focusing on instruction (attention), keeping materials orderly (organization), starting work right away (task initiation), knowing what material to study for a quiz (metacognition), working through challenges (perseverance). The list goes on.

Strong executive functioning skills support academic growth. While it’s true that any educator can tell you this from personal experience, the research also supports the link between executive functioning skills and academic success.

#6 Some learners need to learn these skills explicitly.

I’ll be the first to say I’m a huge advocate for integrating executive functioning skills into the curriculum and what you are already teaching. This is efficient and often effective. Not all kids and teens pick up on this type of learning, though. Sometimes, skills need to be taught explicitly.

This means teaching exactly what organization is, what it looks like, when you should engage in the skill, and how to assess yourself as you go. When you think about it, there is actually a lot to learn for every single executive functioning skill! And since some learners will not pick up on all of these skills on their own, they need to be taught.

#7 Executive functioning skills are a component of social emotional learning.

Social emotional learning has gotten a lot of attention lately, and that’s a great thing. It’s worth mentioning, though, that executive functioning skills fit into social emotional learning quite well. That’s because they are skills related to self-management, decision-making, and self-awareness. Teaching executive functioning skills support social emotional learning too.

#8 Executive functioning interventions are critical for struggling learners.

Executive functioning skill instruction is truly helpful for every learner. With that said, struggling learners need these skills are a far greater level. These are the kids who forget their binders, misplace homework, and can’t focus in class. These are the young adults who get frustrated when the schedule doesn’t go the way they thought it would and give up when questions on a test seem too hard.

These are the learners who need executive functioning skills right away. When a learner struggles with executive functioning skills like organization, time management, and planning, we should take it as seriously as when someone struggles with reading or math.

#9 Research shows executive functioning skills are important.

Even though any educator can tell you that executive functioning skills are critical to academic success on their own, it’s worth mentioning that the research supports this too. Strong executive functioning skills can be an early indicator of academic success.

And this just makes sense, right? When learners are better able to manage their time, focus during lessons, and persevere through difficult tasks, they are going to do better academically. Executive functioning skills certainly strengthen all academic skills from reading to math and beyond.

#10 Teaching EF skills proactively can reduce academic challenges later on.

So often when we think of executive functioning instruction, we think of it as an intervention for struggling learners. While it’s true that learners who already struggle with basic executive functioning skills absolutely need this type of support (as mentioned above), sometimes this can miss the bigger picture.

By teaching executive functioning skills proactively, we can reduce academic challenges later on. It essentially gives kids and teens the building blocks they need to be successful from the start.

I’m an advocate for teaching EF skills early on, even in elementary school. Short stories can teach skills like planning, organization, and time management. Games like Jenga and Pictionary can provide practice with self-control, planning, and perseverance.

If you are looking for where to start, I developed executive functioning resources specifically for elementary learners.

#11 Learning skills for executive functioning requires lots of practice.

For kids and teens who lack strong executive functioning skills like planning, organization, and time management, improving them can often be a great deal of work. It’s important to carve out time to focus on teaching them. Kids and teens already have a lot going on with academics from learning new math skills to writing history papers. By dedicating some amount of time to executive functioning skills, it can provide that extra practice for learners who need it the most.

#12 Executive functioning skills teach positive study habits.

Planning for a long-term project, reflecting on progress, and getting organized before an exam – these are all helpful study habits kids and teens can take with them throughout their lives. Simply put, teaching executive functioning skills also teaches study skills and habits.

Are you interesting in starting to teach executive functioning skills? Use some of these articles and resources to get started:

Executive Functioning Skills Practice at Home

April 20, 2020 by pathway2success 1 Comment

Strategies for parents and educators to help support executive functioning skills at home. Post includes some free digital and printable resources, along with several tips for organization, attention, planning, self-control, and more. #pathway2success

Executive functioning skills are the processes we use in our brain to accomplish daily tasks. It’s true that we use a variety of executive functioning skills when completing academic work, but the truth is that these skills are actually life skills. We use them all the time in daily chores and tasks, from planning a meal to tidying up a room and so much more.

Use this article as a guide to give some ideas for practicing executive functioning skills at home. This has become increasingly important while students are home from school, but truly it’s important all of the time. These are simple strategies educators can suggest to parents to help kids develop stronger skills for planning, organization, time management, attention, and more.

If you need more background on these skills and why they matter, read everything you need to know about executive functioning skills here.

To get started, read through each of the executive functioning skills and some strategies to try them out at home.

Planning

Planning is making a road map to help achieve a goal. Students might plan for a long-term assignment or plan how to tackle a challenging homework page. We also use planning lots of times in real life outside of school, such as planning what to make for dinner for the week.

Some strategies to strengthen planning skills at home include:

Plan for a meal. Choose the meal you want to make, list out the ingredients, and review the steps before making it together. If you can, go ahead and make the meal together. The process of actually cooking a meal involves lots of skills from attention to follow the instructions to flexibility when something doesn’t go exactly as planned.
Plan a trip. Discuss what your dream vacation would be. Practice planning by thinking about where you would go, what time of year might be best, what you would bring, and more. Of course, this activity can be just for fun or really to plan a family vacation. That’s up to you.
List it out. Take one task, such as making a sandwich, and break it apart to all the small steps. Then, act it out following those steps. This can be a fun activity, because it’s easy to see how many small steps there are to every activity.
Fill the calendar. Try to think of as many events and activities for the year as you can. List them out on a yearly calendar ahead of time.
Make a daily checklist. Before starting the day, work together to come up with a daily checklist of tasks that need to get accomplished. After each task is accomplished, check it off!

Organization

Organization is developing and maintaining a system to stay neat and tidy. Learners might need organization skills to keep binders and supplies tidy. They also use organization when putting their ideas together before starting a project. Organization is also critical beyond school for keeping our homes neat and having systems in place to help us complete work efficiently.

Some strategies for organization at home include:

Organize a room. Choose one room or area of the house and organize it together. Doing an organization project together makes it considerably more manageable for everyone involved. You can even listen to music while you clean to make it more fun.
Sort and tidy. Choose something that could be sorted, such as a pile of clothes or a stack of books. Discuss how they can be sorted and work it out together.
Cut and paste organize. Make learning about organization a fun activity with a simple cut-and-paste craft. Use this free “Organize the room” activity to get started. Simply cut out the items and paste them onto the picture of the room where they should go. Of course, you can do this by taking a picture of any room, cutting out items in a magazine, and pasting them on the picture!

Practice organization with a free hands-on activity.

Task Initiation

Task Initiation is the process of getting started on tasks right away. This includes overcoming procrastination and staying motivated, even when it’s something we don’t want to do.

Some strategies for working on task initiation at home include:

Practice rocket ship 5-4-3-2-1. Discuss how starting, or initiating, a task is like a rocket ship blasting off. This is a strategy to help you get up and going, even when you’re not very motivated. Sit and count down 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. At the end of the countdown shout, “Blastoff!” and hop up.
Break down the task. Choose one daily task or chore that you need to accomplish. Break it down step-by-step. This can be a helpful strategy to “get going” when a task seems daunting or too long.
Make a reward list. Come up with small rewards to give yourself after you finish a task. These can be really simple rewards, like time watching your favorite show, time outside, getting to play videogames, or anything else. Identifying these incentives ahead of time can help us stay motivated and ready to go.

Time Management

Time Management is using techniques and strategies to make effective use of time. This involves having an accurate understanding of time, ignoring distractions, and working well when we need to.

Some strategies for working on time management at home include:

Estimate and compare the time. Take any task and estimate how long it might take to complete. Then, actually complete that task and compare the times.
Beat the timer. Choose any task, such as folding laundry or putting away groceries. Estimate how long you think it will take you to complete. Then, set the timer and try to beat it.

Self-Control

Self-Control is the process of stopping and thinking before making a choice.

Some strategies for practicing self-control at home include:

Practice coping strategies. It’s important to practice coping strategies when we are calm so we can use them when we are overwhelmed. Spend time practicing listening to calming music, exercising, coloring, and more.
Practice positive self-talk. Self-talk can be a healthy strategy to keep us calm and collected. Come up with some positive phrases that can help keep your cool. You can even make positive self-talk a morning ritual to start the day in a positive way.
Practice mindful breathing. One of the best ways to work on self-control is by practicing our breathing. Use these mindful breathing activities for kids and teens to get started.
Play games. So many different games align themselves to work on self-control skills, from Freeze to Simon Says. Read more about games you can use to practice self-control.
Discuss scenarios. Come up with problem-solving situations. For example, you might say, “You want to watch your favorite show, but your sibling is already in the room watching theirs. What can you do?” Think about the situation by discussing what the problem is, what your choices are, and how you might handle the situation. Use these free scenario cards to get started.

Practice self-control and decision-making skills with these free scenario cards.

Attention

Attention is being able to focus on a person or activity for a period of time. It also involves being able to shift focus and ignore distractions.

Some strategies for working on attention skills at home include:

Hold a conversation. Choose any topic to discuss, free of distractions for a period of time. Use these free printable conversation starters to get started.
Make a distraction list. Make a list of your biggest distractors. Then, come up with strategies to reduce or avoid them.
Work focused. Use a timer to set a period of time (such as 10 minutes) and do chores or other activities during that time. Try to stay focused and not get distracted while the timer is running.
Take a brain break. Practice spending time doing something calming, like deep breathing or mindful coloring to give yourself a break.

Use these free printable conversation starters to practice staying focused while talking.

Metacognition

Metacognition is thinking about your thinking. Using metacognition skills helps us consider what we know about a topic before we learn, check in with ourselves while we’re learning, and reflect to grow our skills.

Some strategies for working on metacognition skills at home include:

Talk, read, discuss. Choose a book (non-fiction books are the best for this). Talk about the topic and list off things you know about it. For example, if you are reading a book on airplanes, list off everything you know about airplanes. Then, read. Afterward, discuss what you’ve learned. Note that this same process can be done for any non-fiction videos, too!
Circle share. Choose any topic. Starting with one person, list off one thing you know. For example, if your topic is plants, you might list off that you know plants start as a seed. Then, go to the next person and have them list off something they know. Continue this for as long as you can to help create shared knowledge on a topic.

Flexibility

Flexibility is being able to deal with change effectively. It includes being able to “go with the flow” and change our approach when we need to.

Some strategies for strengthening flexibility skills at home include:

Change the ending. After reading a book or watching a movie, try to come up with an alternate ending or a different way the characters could have solved the problem.

Perseverance

Perseverance is working through to complete a goal despite challenges that pop up along the way.

Some strategies for working on perseverance at home include:

Develop a goal. List off a goal you want to accomplish. Then, list the steps it will take you to get there. Post this somewhere as a reminder.
Discuss problem-solving situations. Come up with “road blocks” and discuss what you might do. For example, you might say, “Imagine you are going to start a collage for an art project, but you can’t find the scissors. What can you do?”
Start a daily reflection time. At the end of the day, talk about one thing you did well and one thing you could improve. This practice of reflection helps encourage perseverance and growth.

If you need more ideas for practicing executive functioning skills at home and beyond, you can give these executive functioning choice boards a try! They are filled with ideas, strategies, and activities to practice executive functioning skills that kid and teens need.

10+ Social Emotional Activities for Home

March 13, 2020 by pathway2success 1 Comment

Social emotional learning isn’t just something that should be practiced and taught at school. SEL skills are life skills, of course! These include skills like empathy, self-control, and decision-making.

Before I even get started, while I was writing this post, I decided to also create a set of SEL printables you can send home with parents and families right away. Of course, if you’re a parent looking for extra activities, I would encourage you to use them on your own, too! They include four choice boards covering skills like responsibility, friendships, strengths, and managing emotions. You can download your free printable SEL activities here.

It’s important to mention that you don’t have to be an expert with social emotional skills to teach and practice them with kids. Even small activities, like reading books and playing games, can strengthen social skills and teach kids important skills along the way. This matters.

Whenever you are doing a new activity, it’s important to let kids know what skills they are working on. This makes every SEL activity more purposeful and targeted. For example, if you are playing board games, just briefly remind kids that they are working on important social skills like taking turns and showing fairness. This can lead to a good conversation about what those skills mean and why they matter.

Here are some SEL activities you can encourage parents to try, or do with your own children!

Empathy in Action

Skills targeted: Empathy, Perspective-Taking

How to try it: Spend some time watching a show or movie. At any given time, pause and discuss how the characters are feeling. You might ask: “How are they feeling?” and “How would you feel if that happened to you?” Use this conversation to build on considering how others feel, discussing social cues, and caring about their emotions.

Acts of Kindness Challenge

Skills targeted: Kindness, Empathy

How to try it: Use this free printable random acts of kindness challenge to encourage kids to be kind to others. For each kind act they do, have them color in the picture. Another option is to have them give an example of each kind act before they color it in.

Just Chat!

Skills targeted: Self-Awareness, Conversation Skills, Relationships

How to try it: Start by asking kids questions about anything from their favorite foods and activities to what three items they might bring on a deserted island with them. Many questions can help work on conversation skills, turn-taking, and self-awareness. You can start with this free printable list of conversation questions or consider these social emotional learning task cards to chat and focus on the skills more explicitly.

10+ free social emotional learning ideas to use at home for parents. #pathway2success

Mindful Breathing

Skills targeted: Mindfulness, Coping Skills, Managing Emotions

How to try it: Let kids know that they will be practicing mindful breathing. Explain that mindful breathing is just focusing on breathing in and out to help calm our minds and bodies. There are many different mindful breathing exercises to try out. One of my favorites is “Cool off the pizza.” In this activity, have kids pretend they have a hot slice of pizza in front of them. Slowly breathe in to smell the pizza and breathe out to cool it down. Another one of my favorites is bubble breathing. If you have bubbles on hand it is even better, but you can also pretend! Practice breathing in and out as you blow bubbles. Learn more about other ideas to practice mindful breathing.

Mindful Scavenger Hunt

Skill targeted: Mindfulness, Attention

How to try it: Explain that mindfulness is learning to focus on the present. This can help our minds and bodies feel calm and in control. On your own, create a list of 10 or 12 items you want kids to find. Note that this can be done inside or outside. For example, if outside, you might want them to find a plant, a pine cone, something blue, and something bumpy. If inside, you might want them to find something yellow, something in the shape of a square, and something that makes noise. You can create your own scavenger hunts (or skip the prep with the ones I’ve made), so it’s entirely up to you and what you have! Give kids time to find these items and have them write them down on a piece of paper to document them.

Kindness Share

Skills targeted: Kindness, Confidence

How to try it: Discuss what it means to be kind and give compliments. come up with some examples together. Then, have each person (kids and adults) write their name on a piece of paper. Pass that paper to your right. When you get someone else’s paper, write something kind and thoughtful about that person.

Organize It

Skills targeted: Planning, Organization

How to try it: Discuss what it means to be organized and how we know when something is organized and tidy. Gather a set of supplies for each child or team. Set the timer to a certain amount (five minutes, for example) and see if the child can return those items to the correct spot.

Mindfulness 5-4-3-2-1

Skills targeted: Mindfulness, Coping Skills, Self-Regulation

How to try it: Explain that kids will be practicing mindfulness, which is a skill that helps us stay calm and in control. Have kids look around their room to find 5 things they can see, 4 things they can touch, 3 things they can hear, 2 things they can smell, and 1 thing they can taste. This is a grounding exercise that can help manage tough emotions and provide a mental reset when needed. After giving it a try, you can move to another room and try the same. More free mindfulness activities and ideas can be found here.

Optical Illusions

Skills targeted: Perspective-Taking

How to try it: Find any optical illusions online or use this free printable worksheet. Have kids review the optical illusions. First, have them think about what they see and write it down. Then, share. Kids should quickly notice that what they see isn’t always what others might see. Explain how optical illusions are like situations; sometimes you and someone else can see the same situation in different ways. As a follow-up, kids can find their own optical illusions online.

SEL Read Alouds

Skills targeted: All SEL skills (varies depending on book)

How to try it: Choose any read aloud. As you read through the book, stop and discuss the social emotional skills embedded in the book. One skill that carries across all picture books, for example, is empathy. You can talk about how the character might feel, what they might be thinking, and how you can tell. Depending on which book you choose, many different social emotional skills can be discussed from confidence to decision-making and beyond. Grab this free printable SEL Read Aloud List to help you get started.

Board Games

Skills targeted: Turn-Taking, Sportsmanship

How to try it: Use any board games you have on hand, such as Monopoly or Candy Land. These games can help support a number of skills, including taking turns, having conversations, and showing good sportsmanship. Check here for some other ideas for social emotional games you can use.

Mindful Coloring

Skills targeted: Mindfulness, Coping Skills

How to try it: Set the tone with some calming music. Have kids color or doodle quietly as they breathe in and out. Note that you can use any coloring pages or books on hand, or grab these free printable mindful colori ng pages to start.

Charades

Skills targeted: Social Cues, Emotions

How to try it: Discuss that our body language and facial expressions can often hint at what we’re doing and how we’re feeling. Have each person or child come up with an activity, such as making a sandwich, and then act it out. See if others can guess the activity. Note that you can also do this with emotions, by having kids act out different emotions and seeing if others can correctly guess.

Journal Writing

Skills targeted: Emotions, Self-Regulation, Self-Awareness

How to try it: Explain that writing in a journal can help express our feelings and thoughts. Set the timer for 5 or 10 minutes, and have each person just write what is on their mind. Give time for kids to share their thoughts afterward if they want. Another option is to use open-ended prompts for kids to write about. You can learn more about mindful journaling here as well.

Inspirational Quotes

Skills targeted: Kindness, Perseverance, and many more

How to try it: Find a couple examples of your favorite inspirational quotes. This will vary depending on the age level of the children. For example, you might read, “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” Discuss the quote and what it means. Then, give a topic and have kids find or create their own quotes on that topic. Have them write them down and share them. You can even have kids design their own posters for the quote.

Practice Positive Affirmations

Skills targeted: Positive Thinking, Confidence, Self-Love

How to try it: Explain that positive affirmations are kind and supportive words we say to ourselves to lift us up. For example, before a big test, we might say, “I can do this!” Ask kids to think of their own positive words they might say. Use this free printable positive affirmation s list to have kids find their favorite positive self-talk statements. Practice saying them, writing them down, and creating cards for each of their favorites.

I-Spy

Skills targeted: Attention, Mindfulness

How to try it: This is probably a game you’ve played before, but it’s important to mention because SEL skills can be easily integrated! Start by saying, “I spy with my little eye….”. For example, you might spy something green. Have kids stay just where they are and look around for the item. Instead of just guessing, it’s helpful to have them ask questions that really cause them to think. For example, they might say, “is it something you can play with?” and “is it something you can write on?” After giving some time for questions, allow the child to guess what it is. Whoever guesses it right can by the next to spy something.

Need more ideas? I’ve put together a massive list of 100+ FREE social emotional learning activities, printables, ideas, and more. Use it for yourself or share it to help someone else in need.

Social Emotional Learning Resources for Elementary

Social emotional learning is the process for acquiring critical social and emotional skills, such as empathy, self-control, emotional awareness, decision-making, and more. Use these resources to teach and practice SEL skills with your elementary learners.

A complete yearlong social emotional learning curriculum designed for elementary learners. This includes 5 content-rich and engaging units covering skills from self-awareness to decision-making.

Integrate social emotional learning skills into your daily morning meeting with these no prep cards. The yearlong collection includes 5 sets for each domain of SEL.

Use this SEL journal to integrate social emotional skills and writing on a daily basis. The journal includes prompts and activities for an entire year.

Over 200 printable task cards filled with social emotional learning questions and prompts. These are perfect for conversation starters or group work.

Use these games to practice social emotional skills including empathy, perspective-taking, social problem-solving, and more.

Use art activities to teach social emotional skills in a fun and meaningful way. Over 30 lessons target skills from self-awareness to problem-solving skills.

Use this complete set of choice boards to practice social emotional learning in a unique way. Have learners choose their activities or assign them as you see fit!

A set of SEL posters highlighting a social emotional skill for every letter of the alphabet.

A set of 40 social emotional learning posters complete with “I can” statements for every skill. Post around the school as reminders or create a bulletin board together.

Need SEL resources for older learners? Check out these social emotional learning resources for young adults here!

Social Emotional Learning Resources

Social emotional learning is the foundation for kids and teens to feel safe, connected and respected. SEL skills cover five core domains: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationships, and decision-making. Here are some resources to help you get started with SEL skills for young adults:

A complete social emotional learning curriculum covering five core units for the entire year. It includes lessons, projects, task cards, pre/post assessments, and more.

Use these cards to integrate social emotional skills into your morning meeting time. They are simple, no prep, easy to follow, and fun for learners!

Integrate writing and social emotional learning with this complete yearlong SEL journal. Cover one section per day to learn about skills like growth mindset, self-control, coping strategies, and more.

Over 200 task cards and discussion starters to build social emotional skills with kids and young adults. Talk about one card per day, have partners discuss, or use at centers.

A set of social emotional learning games for kids and teens. Games can be the perfect way to learn about skills in a fun and engaging way.

A year’s worth of social emotional learning choice boards for kids and teens. Use as homework, early finishers, or morning work.

Use art activities to teach social emotional skills with these 40 interactive and creative lessons. Activities target confidence, strengthening relationships, managing emotions, and more.

A total of 40 unique social emotional learning posters highlighting critical SEL skills from empathy to organization.

Social Emotional Learning

What is Social Emotional Learning?

Social emotional learning, or SEL, is a framework to help kids and young adults learn critical skills, such as managing emotions, understanding healthy relationships, improving social skills, and making responsible choices. These skills are the foundations for success in all areas of our lives. Whether students are working in a small group to complete a math assignment, playing with peers on a soccer team, or starting homework for the night, social emotional skills are needed throughout every moment of a student’s life.

What skills does SEL target?

The five domains of SEL include self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationships, and decision-making. Each of these areas includes a number of skills that contribute to the whole child. For example, self-management helps learners develop skills for organization, planning, and self-control. Social-awareness helps kids understand expected behaviors, perspective-taking, and empathy. All of these skills play a huge role in a child or young adult’s everyday success.

Self-awareness is having a clear and accurate understanding of ourselves. That includes understanding strengths, working through challenges, recognizing emotions, and considering future aspirations.

Self-management means taking responsibility for our own choices to work towards goals. It includes using self-control, developing positive study habits, managing emotions, and persevering through challenges.

Social awareness is having an understanding of the social world. That means understanding the social expectations, reading social cues, perspective-taking, developing empathy, and celebrating our differences.

Relationships are the positive connections we have with others. It involves understanding healthy relationships, effectively communicating, working with others, developing friendships, and using conflict resolution to solve problems.

Decision-making is using strategic methods to make positive choices. It includes developing responsibility, problem-solving, navigating through peer influence, owning choices, and choosing healthy habits for the future.

Why is it important to teach SEL?

Simply put, social-emotional skills are life skills! Kids and young adults require these skills to be successful socially, emotionally, and academically. No matter where students’ skills are, they can be improved and strengthened with practice.

Most importantly, the research supports teaching social emotional learning in the classroom. Implementing SEL strategies and programs has shown to improve academic performance, reduce behavioral problems, and promote positive social behaviors. By integrating social and emotional skills into every day, we can build stronger, healthier, and more successful learners.

How can I start teaching SEL?

You don’t need to be an expert in social emotional learning to teach and practice these skills! The most important thing is just to choose one way to get started. There are many different strategies for teaching social emotional skills. Here are just a few you can start off with:

Using literature. By using literature, you can read texts and short stories that highlight critical SEL skills, like empathy, friendships, and decision-making. You can select a text specifically for a skill you want to target, or just integrate SEL discussions into your curriculum and what you are currently reading.

Morning meeting. Starting the day with a morning meeting gives kids and young adults a space to share what is on their minds, talk through challenges, and learn social skills that matter. Have your students sit in a circle, do a greeting, and talk about important topics. Lead the discussion by asking questions. Having a morning meeting every day builds relationships and sets the stage for success.

Journaling. Be intentional about integrating SEL and writing by journaling about SEL skills. Start each morning having learners write about a specific skill. For example, you might ask students to list ways that they calm down when they are upset or have students write a story that demonstrates respect.

Play games. Using games can be a proactive and fun way to teach social emotional learning skills. Many games can be used as tool to teach these skills. For example, you can use Jenga and Blurt to teach self-control, while using Pictionary or any review game to target teamwork.

Explicitly teach lessons. While integrating skills into the curriculum is helpful, being explicit with your instruction is even more powerful. Spend 10 minutes a day targeting one social emotional learning skill. Talk about what it means, why it matters, and give practice to help learners generalize those skills. Use a complete SEL curriculum or grab the free introduction to SEL workbook below to get started.

As a Pathway 2 Success member, you will get updates on blog posts and access to exclusive free resources, like the Introduction to Social Emotional Learning Workbook. Just enter your email address below to join as a Pathway 2 Success member!

Where can I find more information?

Learn all about social emotional skills with some of following blog posts:

15+ Benefits of Social Emotional Learning in the Classroom

January 15, 2019 by pathway2success 1 Comment

Social emotional learning isn’t just a fancy buzzword in education. It’s an approach that integrates critical life skills into the school curriculum to help learners reach their individual potentials. There are huge benefits to teaching social-emotional skills and incorporating them into what educators are already doing.

The research indicates that implementing a social-emotional approach in schools can make a real difference. A meta-analysis of research indicated that students involved in SEL programs made gains socially, emotionally, behaviorally, and academically (Durlak et al., 2011). While more research is needed, one thing is clear: Teaching social and emotional skills pays off.

If you want to teach social emotional learning in your classroom but aren’t sure how, I have created an entire yearlong SEL curriculum. It is composed of five core units, each with several lessons and activities to teach the skills kids and young adults need. There are a number of significant benefits to integrating SEL into the classroom. It’s very much worth the time and effort. Kids do best when they know how, so let’s teach them the skills to get there.

Here are just a few benefits to social emotional learning in the classroom:

Improves school and class climate. Kids and young adults need to feel safe, respected, and supported in order to do their best. Incorporating SEL into your classroom encourages all of those things and more, helping to create a more positive learning community for all.

Increases student motivation. Kids and young adults want to do better when kids feel good about themselves, their teachers, and school. Integrating skills for social emotional learning can help encourage learners to be themselves, feel more accepted, work towards goals, be willing to take risks, and just love learning. More motivation is always a good thing.

Teaches problem-solving skills. Learners need strong problem-solving skills in all areas of life. A huge benefit to social emotional learning is that much of it focuses on managing situations and problems in everyday life. If you get stuck on a math problem, what can you do? If you get in a fight with a friend, how might you handle it? If someone asks you to do something you don’t want to do, what could you say? All of these questions are discussions that might be taking place when SEL is integrated into the classroom.

Reduces behavior problems. So often, behavior problems are the result of skill deficits. In the words of Ross Greene, kids do well when they can. Once we teach skills for problem-solving, working with others, and managing emotions, we are likely to see student behavior improve.

Helps students set and meet goals. A big part of self-management is creating specific and measurable goals for the future. Goal setting is important in all areas of life, whether someone is making a goal to improve their math grade or identifying steps to get their dream job.

Gives a space to talk about mental health. Mental health is extremely important and often not talked about enough. Talking about social emotional learning gives kids and young adults the venue to talk about their feelings, thoughts, and needs. It should be healthy to talk about mental health.

Teaches study skills and habits. Time management, organization, and planning are important skills that need to be developed over time. It’s easy to assume that all learners have these skills automatically, but it’s often not the case. Best of all, these are skills that can be easily taught in harmony with academic curriculum, whether it is math, reading, music, science, or anything else.

Encourages empathy. Empathy is one of the most foundational social skills, and sometimes it is overlooked. Quite often, kids and young adults need to be explicitly taught how to think about the feelings and thoughts of others. Once they can do this, students are much more effective at maintaining relationships, resolving conflicts with peers, and showing kindness to others.

Teaches teamwork and collaboration. In order to be success now and in the future, kids need to learn how to work well with others. Social emotional learning skills help students learn how to work collaboratively with partners and small groups. That includes working with people who aren’t your friends, problem-solving through disagreements, being a good team player, and more. Of course, these are all skills that are critical to success in the classroom, too.

Improves academic performance. Sometimes educators think of SEL skills as completely separated from academics, but that’s actually not true. A number of social-emotional skills actually encourage and allow students to perform better academically. Just a few of those skills include goal setting, planning, staying organized, managing time, problem-solving, cooperating, working in groups, and much more.

Improves self-regulation skills. Being able to managing our own thoughts, feelings, words, and actions is paramount to social and personal success. SEL can help learners understand self-regulation so they can learn to manage their own behaviors in positive ways.

Teaches responsible decision-making. Without a doubt, decision-making is a critical life skill. Learners need to know how to understand choices, think about consequences, consider how choices impact them and others, and ultimately make a positive choice they are proud of. These skills don’t come easily, though! So often, learners have to make tough decisions without “easy” solutions or answers for them. This is why practice in this area is so important, and can truly pay off in the end.

Teaches disagreeing respectfully. Kids and young adults need to learn how to disagree respectfully as a critical social skill. This is an ability they will use in the classroom when working with peers, with friends outside the school walls, online, and more.

Increases personal self-awareness. It is important for learners to have a strong understanding of their own individual strengths and challenges. Self-awareness is having a clear and accurate view of oneself. When students understand themselves, they are better equipped to have a clear vision for the future and make better choices to reach those dreams.

Encourages perseverance and resilience. While these skills are similar, they are different enough to highlight and discuss. Perseverance is the ability to push through challenges, while resilience is being able to get back up after a failure or defeat. Both skills are critical for student success in and outside the classroom.

Improves confidence. All kids should feel good about themselves and who they are as individuals. In many ways, helping kids and young adults to feel more confident can help them become the best versions of themselves.

Improves relationship skills. We all want our learners to have better relationship skills. That includes understanding healthy vs. unhealthy relationships, developing skills to be a good friend, maintaining relationships, conflict resolution, repairing relationships, and more. Not only does it benefit the students in your classroom to get along with each other, but these are also life skills for the future.

Improves attendance. Some research has indicated that kids and young adults in SEL programs actually have improved attendance. This just makes sense; If kids feel more positive about school and have the skills to succeed, they are more likely to be prepared to come each day.

Teaches coping skills. All kids and young adults experience emotional distress from time to time. Managing emotions can be tough, especially if learners don’t have the tools to do it effectively. An important component in social emotional learning programs is teaching kids and young adults how to managing those feelings and cope with them in the best ways.

Creates a feeling of community. A positive school community is critical to help all learners succeed. By building relationships and talking about topics that really matter to kids, they are more likely to bond with each other and educators in the room. This creates a strong sense of community, acceptance, and support.

If you want more strategies for integrating social emotional learning in the classroom, check out this list of over 100 free SEL resources and ideas!

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