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Social awareness helps children cope in new situations and increases their emotional wellbeing. It helps them recognise how their emotions and behaviour influence their interactions. They also use empathy to recognise the mood of others and consider different points of view to build positive and diverse relationships.

Benefits of social awareness include increased:

self-reflection of actions and goals

empathy through perspective-taking

self-management

responsibility of personal actions and consequences

self-esteem and self-confidence

academic and recreational achievements

use of strategies to avoid or negotiate negative situations or behaviour.

In another post, Social Awareness Activities and Resources for the Classroom, I have put together books with resources, short videos and online resources.

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27 of the Best Picture Books about Social Awareness

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Social awareness helps children cope in new situations and increases their emotional wellbeing. It helps them recognise how their emotions and behaviour influence their interactions. They also use empathy to recognise the mood of others and consider different points of view to build positive and diverse relationships.

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There is no doubt that social and emotional learning is the gateway that unlocks academic learning. While SEL may feel like one more thing to squeeze into a time-crunched classroom, it doesn't have to be, especially if you intentionally pair SEL with experiences in the language arts block. Here are 10 ideas to try.

1. "I Need My Teacher to Know" activity

Research has proven time and again that the number-one predictor of success in school is the relationship between teacher and student. To build this relationship, begin with a letter (or a conversation with the littlest learners) asking students to share with you what they most want you to know about them. This will reveal a whole lot of unexpected, sometimes emotional, insights to you and, in turn, build relationships and an affirming classroom community.

2. Study SEL vocabulary words

Vocabulary that is grounded in SEL also builds comprehension skills. Some of my favorite words to study with students are: resilience, hope, perseverance, relationships, identity, empathy, and community. Choose one of these words at a time, and use them in conversations again and again. They will become part of the fabric of your classroom and springboard into further learning.

3. "Shades of Meaning" activity

We know that when students are able to name their feelings or emotions, they are more likely to work through those emotions in healthy ways. For students to be able to name their emotions with clarity, try the "shades of meaning" exercise. First, pick a word that is used very often, such as "angry." Then generate a group of words that hold a similar meaning-words such as frustrated, annoyed, furious, irritated, and bothered. Then ask students to put those words in order of intensity and even add an emoji to indicate the differences between the emotions. Students use this to identify their own emotions, helping them manage the emotions they are experiencing.

4. Use SEL vocabulary in poetry study

This approach helps deepen comprehension beyond just surface interpretations. First, take a favorite poem (or picture book, book, or song) and read it aloud. Notice, jot down, and talk about the thoughts everyone is having. Then pick an SEL vocabulary word you have studied together, such as "community," to discover even more about the poem and SEL. Try it with this perfect poem from Rebecca Kai Dotlich.

5. Choose fictional read-alouds that support your SEL goals

Intentionally choose a read-aloud that addresses some area of SEL that you are trying to build with your students. For example, if you are looking to build perseverance, you might choose the book . Read and notice what the character does to persevere through challenges. Make some class commitments on what everyone will do to work through challenges. This might include:

1. Remind myself that even if I am frustrated, I can work through it.

2. Use kind words in my mind.

3. Use kind words to encourage others.

6. Use nonfiction texts to draw SEL conclusions

Nonfiction is another way to not only build reading skills but also SEL know-how through making reasoned judgments after analyzing facts. Take, for example, the text The Many People of America. Write down the facts learned from this text. Then look at those facts together and draw some conclusions. Some examples might include "America is made up of people from many backgrounds."

7. Role-play using restorative questions

Restorative questioning is one of the best ways to resolve conflict between two or three students. These questions allow for the students to express themselves and also be heard. Using the very same questions in a role-play can help students dig more deeply into character motivations and relationships while simultaneously building empathy.

Take the book Ish by Peter Reynolds, for example. Ramón is the main character. His brother Leon uses unkind words to describe Ramón's art. Students can role-play using restorative questioning. It might sound like this:

One student takes on the role of Leon and answers the following questions:

What happened?

What were you thinking at the time?

What have you thought about since?

Who has been affected by what you have done?

What do you think you need to do to make things right?

Another student takes on the role of Ramón and answers the following questions:

What did you think when you realized what happened?

What impact has this had on you and others?

What has been the hardest thing for you?

What do you think needs to happen to make things right?

After the role-play, discuss what discoveries students made about these characters. Also discuss what this teaches them about themselves, other people, and the world.

8. Study characters' identity

One of the best ways to build social awareness is through the study of identity. A safe place to begin this study of identity is with characters in books we read. Using an identity wheel can help students see many facets of identity and how they interplay. In this example, I used the character Opal from Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo. Notice how we can study identity and also consider how the character's identity can create limitations and opportunities for her. The same is true for people in real life.

9. Use SEL vocab to spark writing

After a deep dive into vocabulary and reading, writing can bring SEL full circle to truly build emotional intelligence. Personal narrative writing is a fantastic way for students to express their emotions in healthy ways and to also manage those emotions. Go back to the vocabulary introduced, such as "community" or "resilience," or emotions such as anger or frustration, and ask students to write about a time they felt that way. Students may also choose from a list of emotions and write stories about times they felt mixed emotions.

10. Fan fiction writing

Fan fiction is a type of writing in which the writer takes a character from a beloved book and writes a story with that character. It might be a prequel or a sequel, taking a different character's point of view or adding a missing scene. Kindergartners through middle schoolers are enchanted by this genre. They also reap the benefits of living in the shoes of someone else and writing from that perspective. Deep lessons about emotional growth are learned through this experience.

Like these ideas for teaching SEL and ELA together? Check out this new SEL curriculum from Rosen.

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Your Language Arts Block is the Best Time to Teach SEL: 10 Ideas to Try

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Check out these ideas for teaching SEL during your language arts block, from vocabulary building to character analysis to fan-fiction writing.

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Everyday tools that many teachers already use in lessons can also help students develop their self-management and decision-making skills.

monkeybusinessimages / iStock

Focusing on social and emotional learning (SEL) skills is essential for all educators. Many educators know about CASEL (The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning) and the five core competencies of SEL: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. As teachers try to find ways to help students develop SEL, here are some strategies and digital tools that can help in each of these areas.

Innovative tools to support SEL competencies

Self-awareness: Developing self-awareness is critical for students' being aware of their skills and interests and for understanding where they are in the learning process. Being able to identify where they are in the learning process, the progress made, and areas where they need to focus is essential for now and in the future.

Technology can help students be more comfortable sharing their experiences. For example, students can create a video diary to document their daily activities and reflect on their emotions and reactions to different situations. Using tools such as Flip to record a reflection, or capturing ideas using Canva or Adobe Creative Cloud Express to create visual representations of their emotions or design a timeline of their progress and set goals, can help. Digital tools such as Kahoot, Quizizz, and Google Forms are helpful for creating self-assessment quizzes for students. With these tools, students can self-assess their knowledge, skills, and attitudes and receive authentic, meaningful, and timely feedback on their performance.

Creating digital portfolios with tools like Spaces EDU, Book Creator, and other similar tools allows students to explore the evidence of the work they have done. This shifts their focus to the process of learning itself. Finally, personalized learning plans through choice boards, class playlists, or HyperDocs lead to increased student engagement, improved self-awareness, and greater metacognition, and give students more control over their learning.

Self-management: Self-management helps students work through challenges and set goals. As students work through assignments and assessments, they need to develop skills necessary to deal with any frustration or stress they may feel during the learning process. Online goal setting promotes self-management by encouraging students to take ownership of their learning. Students can also use digital tools to create to-do lists, set deadlines, and make reminders using tools like Padlet or a Trello board. These tools can help students to visualize tasks they need to complete, set goals, and learn how to manage their time more effectively. Students will build time management skills and hold themselves accountable.

Brain breaks help with dealing with stress and managing emotions; for example, Flocabulary offers short brain break videos and activities that include music and movement that can be used in a Nearpod lesson. Meditation is also a great tool for self-management; teachers can explore JabuMind, and students can use Calm or Headspace.

Students can also create vision boards, which are helpful for setting and visualizing goals. Tools such as Buncee provide templates to design a vision board, which is a collage of words, quotes, or images that represent goals that have been set. Incorporating activities like online time management tools, digital goal-setting exercises, online self-reflection activities, and virtual mindfulness exercises, students can learn how to manage their time, emotions, and behavior more effectively and develop self-management skills in ways that meet their personal interests.

Social awareness: Learning about others and developing an awareness of our similarities and differences helps us to develop better relationships. In my STEAM and Spanish classes, students use tools like Nearpod that have virtual reality field trips. Using the VR trips, students can be taken to different places around the world and explore closely. It can lead to a deeper understanding of diverse cultures and backgrounds and promote social awareness by exposing students to different cultures, traditions, and ways of life. Students can then use digital platforms like Padlet or Wakelet to share resources and include video reflections about the experiences.

Digital storytelling tools like StoryJumper, Storyboard That, and BookCreator can help students create stories that promote social awareness. Students can use tools like Adobe Spark and iMovie to create short films and presentations that highlight social issues and topics related to social justice and promote social awareness by encouraging students to think critically about social issues and consider their role in creating positive change.

Empatico is a resource that helps educators promote more cultural understanding for all students through the activities they provide and the opportunities for connecting classrooms. It is a free platform that educators can use to connect their classrooms with others from around the world, enabling students to develop social awareness.

Relationship skills: Students and educators alike need a space where they are comfortable asking for help, offering support, and working as part of a team. Educators can help by encouraging students to collaborate on digital projects using tools like Google Docs, Slides, and Google Jamboard. Online collaboration platforms, such as Google Docs and Trello, can be used to promote relationship skills and teamwork.

As students collaborate in a digital space, it helps them to also build skills in the physical classroom. As they work together on a project, for example, they learn from each other and become more comfortable interacting in the digital space, which transfers to the classroom space as well. Any of these ideas can help students feel more comfortable with each other and build stronger relationships, which fosters a strong classroom learning community.

Responsible decision-making: Understanding the consequences of actions, focusing on well-being, and being able to process information and find solutions are vital for student success. Teachers can use digital tools to teach ethics and responsible decision-making skills directly. There are many online resources available, such as Common Sense Education, that offer lessons and activities on topics such as cyberbullying, digital citizenship, and plagiarism.

By incorporating these lessons into the curriculum, teachers can help students learn how to make responsible decisions both online and offline. Using some tools such as Gimkit and Quizizz, or lessons with Nearpod and Pear Deck, with a variety of questions and prompts, students can learn how to weigh the pros and cons of different choices, practice empathy and collaboration, and develop responsible decision-making skills.

By utilizing digital tools that facilitate the development of essential SEL skills, we will help students to build the skills they need to be successful now and in the future.

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Using Common Tech Tools to Support Social and Emotional Learning

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These innovative strategies help teachers use edtech tools to support SEL growth by advancing CASEL's five competencies.

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Social & Emotional Learning (SEL)

An elementary teacher shares some ideas for how awards can be used to foster students' growth, self-awareness, and learning.

Emma Godeassi / The iSpot

The end of the school year is always a time full of excitement, joy, and oodles of awards ceremonies to celebrate the year's accomplishments. Teachers choose students to be publicly recognized for their achievements at an end-of-year assembly. Proud parents line up with cameras to snap photos of their child beaming onstage with an award in hand.

There's no doubt that many students covet being chosen by their teachers to receive an award. While it feels great to win an award at any time during the school year, what are students really learning from the awards they receive?

Fosters growth. When students reflect on their progress, they have a better road map of where they've been and where they want to go. This will help students set realistic goals for themselves, and setting realistic goals will increase the likelihood of student success and boost self-esteem.

Builds self-awareness. Self-reflection not only helps students track their progress but also enables them to understand their own learning style. This will help students to know not only where they want to go but also what strengths they can use to get there. By becoming more aware of their own strengths and limitations, students will be able to draw upon their strengths to overcome challenges.

Deepens the learning. Self-reflection encourages students to look inward and ask critical questions not only about what they've learned but also about how they learned it. This helps students engage in deeper learning beyond the content and encompasses their personal learning process. The learning process becomes a reward in itself.

Develops leadership skills. Self-reflection at its core can be students looking back on the day, week, semester, or year and analyzing what they did well and what they can improve. This requires high-level thinking as well as robust social and emotional awareness. These are exactly the types of skills that define true leaders. When we teach our students to routinely self-reflect, we're also building their leadership potential.

Meaningful rewards

This is a perfect time to rethink awards that promote self-reflection and to celebrate student growth, not perfection. By involving students in the self-reflection process, awards become an opportunity for students to identify and honor their own strengths, at the end of the school year and throughout the year. Here are some reasons to promote self-reflection in awards ceremonies. Self-reflection does the following things:

There's no better reward a teacher can bestow upon a student than teaching them how to identify their own strengths and areas for growth. The end of the year is a perfect time to do this. Here are some fun ways to make this time, and other times of recognition throughout the year, more reflective:

Self-made awards

In order to make the awards process more reflective and meaningful, have students think deeply on their accomplishments and growth areas to create a specialized award for themselves. Students can then take turns publicly sharing their personalized award with their classmates, parents, and school community.

For example, a student might award themself "Amazing Artist," "Most Likely to Be President," or "Best Listener." By cutting out the middleman, self-made awards promote self-awareness and empower students to identify their own strengths and talents.

Awards that Celebrate Growth

Have students make a "strengths résumé" at the beginning of the year that allows them to reflect on their strengths and identify areas to improve. They can update their résumé at the end of the year to include ways they have grown over the year. Students can share their strength résumé with their classmates and parents.

The strength résumé can also travel with the student from year to year to document growth and achievements.

Group Awards

Instead of focusing only on individual awards, students might have fun thinking up group awards for their class. Students can reflect on the favorable aspects of their class and come up with a whole-class award.

This practice will help students think interdependently and better understand that everyone benefits when we work together.

awards for Accomplishments

Another way to promote reflection, not perfection, is to reward specific skills and dispositions. Instead of giving a "Student of the Month" award, give a monthly award for a quality piece of student work, an exemplary art piece, or critical thinking skills. For example, have a monthly award that showcases "Excellent Narrative Writing Piece" or "Clearest Explanation of Mathematical Thinking."

Teachers can also acknowledge interpersonal skills by rewarding teamwork. For example, award multiple students for "Most Cooperative Group Work." By rewarding specific skills and dispositions rather than an individual, you'll provide samples of excellence for students to strive toward.

Self-reflection requires courage and patience. Teaching students to be self-reflective will give them a skill that will help them throughout their lives in whatever path they choose. While it's nice to have an award to put up on the refrigerator, becoming self-reflective is a reward in itself.

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Using Student Awards to Promote Self-Reflection

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An elementary teacher shares some ideas for how awards can be used to foster students' growth, self-awareness, and learning.

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Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse Activities and Comprehension Questions Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse is a great picture book to promote self-management and taking responsibility for our actions. Read on to find Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse activities and comprehension questions. In Lilly's

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Mindfulness Exercises for Kids in the Classroom - Waterford.org

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Use these 51 mindfulness activities to help children recognize and manage their thoughts, emotions, and actions—all important SEL skills.

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51 Mindfulness Exercises for Kids in the Classroom

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You Should Be Really Proud Of Yourself Alesha Dixon GIF - You Should Be Really Proud Of Yourself Alesha Dixon Britains Got Talent - Discover & Share GIFs

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The perfect You Should Be Really Proud Of Yourself Alesha Dixon Britains Got Talent Animated GIF for your conversation. Discover and Share the best GIFs on Tenor.

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Opportunities for service learning and volunteering don't just help the community around the school-students benefit as well.

Out of all the content we teach as elementary educators, I believe lessons of kindness are some of the most valuable. I have found myself wondering, how can we make the timeless Golden Rule-treat others as you'd like to be treated-really stick?

Students learn new skills each day, such as how to read and write, solve problems, and resolve conflicts. Through the process, they evolve as critical thinkers. But it's also important to model social and emotional skills and dispositions like compassion, social awareness, and civic responsibility.

At our elementary school, we want every member of our community to embrace their own unique identities and extend empathy toward others, as a bridge across lines of difference. We're on a journey to teach our students that they don't have to settle for the status quo, but rather they can be agents of change and make a lasting impact.

Service learning and volunteering can be a powerful, transformative way to help children of all ages understand that they are valuable pieces of a broader community puzzle with the power to give back and improve the world around them. Schools should explore a range of opportunities to ensure that every participant reaps the benefits.

Helping Others Helps Us All

Schools aren't just helping the surrounding communities when they incorporate service learning and volunteering into their mission.

When connected to specific lesson topics, students develop a deeper connection to what they're learning in memorable ways that last longer. Children learning about photosynthesis while planting trees and flowers or older students tutoring their younger peers are reciprocal service learning opportunities that can increase self-efficacy while fostering a stronger understanding of the content. But even when volunteering isn't tethered to a specific academic goal, participants still benefit in more ways than one.

Bottling up all of our schoolwide enthusiasm and directing this collective energy toward strategic acts of kindness for others has been so transformative at our school. Our students propose ideas for how to assist others and have jumped right into service so naturally-even children as young as 3 years old. We're definitely still a work in progress, but we're on the right track. It's so rewarding to see our students develop as problem solvers and leaders.

Mark Your Calendars

A great place to start is by ensuring that your school's list of key dates reflects community service and volunteering as a priority. Consider adding any of the following service-day ideas or whole-school community events to your schedule.

Beautification day(s) work great in August/September for back-to-school painting and classroom set-up or sprinkled throughout the year. Students can design and paint a mural, organize a litter cleanup, or do other general campus maintenance like gardening and weeding.

International Volunteer Day, December 5, is an annual, internationally celebrated holiday to recognize the work of United Nations volunteers, as well as those who volunteer to help others all around the world. It's a great opportunity to discuss community service with students, continuing the conversation about ways they might like to get involved.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Service Day (celebrated the third Monday in January) is the only federal holiday designated as a national day of service to encourage all Americans to volunteer to improve their communities. In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, our school rallied together for what we called our "Be the Change" Community Service Day. Students brought in change from their piggy banks to support one of our local nonprofit organizations. Our generous students not only raised $300 but modeled for themselves, their families, and the community what it means to care and contribute.

Once you start, the ripple effect is contagious. As the year progresses, your school community may continue to design and carry out various projects without any prompting, like ours did. Not only did students raise money to support Ukrainian refugees, but our first graders had a yard sale with their own items, donating the proceeds to a humanitarian organization.

Projects should address the identified need but also be responsive to students', staff's, and individual families' levels of comfort. When gathering large groups of people together, it's important to specify the health and safety guidance for the event ahead of time-such as expectations for wearing masks, sanitary materials needed like gloves, or health screenings-so that participants are prepared.

Whole-School Community Service Ideas

Host student service clubs for routine action and engagement. For example, students can form a recycling club or "green team."

Design mentoring programs that pair members of your community together to help create a culture of belonging and inclusion. Consider peer-to-peer, new staff with veteran staff, or family-to-family mentors.

Write letters of appreciation to let someone know you care, or consider notes of encouragement for someone who might need a pick-me-up.

Coordinate a schoolwide march for students to advocate for causes that interest them, such as promoting friendship or bullying prevention.

Collect and donate items for those in need with coordinated drop-off or pickup (nonperishable goods, toys, books, toiletries, holiday gifts).

Young minds have a great many creative ideas to offer, so student voice is critical in this process. By class or grade level, students can identify a problem or a need they would like to address and propose ways to be a part of the solution:

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Schoolwide Community Service and Volunteering in the Elementary Grades

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Opportunities for service learning and volunteering don't just help the community around the school-students benefit as well. Out of all the content we teach as elementary educators, I believe lessons of kindness are some of the most valuable. I have found myself wondering, how can we make the timeless Golden Rule-treat others as you'd like to be treated-really stick?

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This ELA Team Building activity will help students practice reading comprehension skills and figurative language writing while working as a team. During the sequencing activity, students will work together to put a fable about teamwork into the correct order. Then, they'll work collaboratively to answer reading comprehension questions about the fable. Finally, they'll reflect on their experiences as a team and use figurative language to express the value of teamwork while making a team pennant banner. This activity is designed to tap into students' academic and social/emotional learning.

Perfect for back to school, a special team building event, state testing days, or for a fun day before break activity!
This Free Download Includes:
* Lesson Overview

* Detailed Lesson Plan

* Fable Story Parts

* Reading Comprehension Questions

* Teamwork and Figurative Language Brainstorm

* TEAM Letters for a Pennant Activity

* Integrated TEAMWORK Bookmark Activity (1 of 4 parts of the bookmark included. See the other Spiral Studies stops for the 3 other FREE bookmark printable sheets!)
Check this out!
This resource is part of the Spiral Studies series and can be taught alone or as an integrated theme across subjects!. As you know, integration leads to greater student engagement, deeper understanding, and higher-order thinking skills for our students. However, coordinating integration across multiple subject areas can be quite an undertaking. That's where Spiral Studies comes in. We're a group of TpT teacher-authors and we've combined our expertise to make absolutely turn-key integrated units for you and/or your team. If you'd like to turn this lesson into an integrated unit we'd suggest working with your team (or independently if you teach multiple subject areas) and checking out the Spiral Studies team building FREEBIES in each of our stores.
About the Integration Option
The teacher-authors from Math Giraffe , Kate's Classroom Café, History Gal, and I have teamed up to create engaging, rigorous, and interactive integrated units that can be easily implemented in middle school classrooms. We call them SPIRAL STUDIES.

A FREE teamwork activity for each subject area can be downloaded in each one of our stores. Included with each FREE download is one part of a teamwork bookmark that can be used following a cross-curricular day of team-building fun!
Where can I get the other subject area lessons to go with this?
* FREE Science Teamwork Activity

* FREE Social Studies Teamwork Activity

* FREE Math Teamwork Activity
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Brain Waves Instruction

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Team Building in ELA - Sequencing and Figurative Language Free Lesson

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This ELA Team Building activity will help students practice reading comprehension skills and figurative language writing while working as a team. During the sequencing activity, students will work together to put a fable about teamwork into the correct order. Then, they'll work collaboratively to ...

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Choice Board

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Goal Setting 🏆

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Book: The Best Part of Me: Children Talk About Their Bodies in Pictures and Words

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Identity Map

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5 Writing Activities for Social-Emotional-Learning- Studentreasures Blog

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Learning how to interact with others is a huge part of elementary school. Encourage social-emotional learning with these writing activities.

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Be Your Own Cheerleader📣

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Be Your Own Cheerleader: The Power of Positive Self Talk - Move This World %

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We have the power to change pervasive, negative self-talk and become our own personal cheerleader.

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So Many Resources!

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Reading and Writing Time Each Day

Some fun ways to start writing can be as easy as doing little snippets of writing with your child and then reading them together. Here are some activities and snippets to get your child writing.

Asking your child to write about his or her own life can be one way to get the writing going. Writing from life events allows you and your child to talk and write about shared experiences and time together.

What Can You Remember? Memory Snippets † Write about a special day.

Write about a holiday.

Write about the first day of school.

Write about your birthday.

Write about a sports event.

Write about learning how to ride your bike or swim.

Writing a letter or note to a family member or friend.

Write a thank-you note.

Write to congratulate someone on an accomplishment.

Write to someone about a celebration.

Write a birthday card and note.

Write a holiday card and note.

Write a postcard or letter while traveling on vacation.

Add special touches like your child's handprint, "selfie" photos, or a collage made from magazine pictures that fits the theme of the note.

For young children, it is a good idea for them to dictate their stories or writing to you. As they tell you what they want on paper, write it down. This can serve a way to model writing as well. Children can then read back what has been written.

For older children, have them write a review of their favorite musician's latest song or a movie they have seen. Have them write a letter to the editor about a recent topic in the newspaper or a community issue that interests them. This is especially good for helping kids build argument and persuasion skills.

Send your child a lunch box note and ask for a reply.

Finding the Evidence Game

Print this Finding the Evidence Game board and these Fiction Cards and Non-fiction Cards for a fun literacy game.

Talk to Your Child About Their Literacy Interests

Use the interest below tracker to learn more about what interests your child when it comes to reading and writing.

Literacy In The Kitchen

The kitchen is a great place to enhance family literacy as the space draws us together for meals, snacks, conversations, food preparation, and much more. Meals are the perfect time to have conversations about the day. Planning meals together is a great way to introduce interesting words to your child. Looking at cookbooks and letting your child plan a meal encourages creativity and interaction with a specific kind of food language. The kitchen is also a place to promote healthy eating, which can bring in additional literacy activities. Kids can do research on organic vs. nonorganic foods, the effects of consuming too much sugar, and other inquiry topics. Getting your child to read and think critically to make informed decisions is an important life skill, and the kitchen offers numerous opportunities. Here are some things you can do:

Ideas for Younger Children:

Food and product labels: Help children recognize environmental print around them and realize they have meaning.

Grocery lists: Model writing shopping lists and share them with your child; cut out food pictures and logos from advertisements or food labels, and have your child create a grocery list using the pictures and labels.

Playing with print: Use store ads for different sorting activities, such as cutting out words and pictures to be sorted into baskets or bowls by type of items.

Recipes and cookbooks: Use print and pictures in cookbooks and recipes to start vocabulary discussions.

Ideas For Older Children:

Have your child find a recipe and read it to you as you cook.

Have your child put the ingredients in the correct sequence of use.

Have your child measure the ingredients.

Have your child plan meals, find recipes, and research nutrition and health benefits of foods.

Be A Literacy Role Model

Be literacy role models at home by showing your love of reading and creating reading spaces and an environment rich in print:

Finding Literacy in Nature

Seasons and nature walks let you explore literacy outdoors. The fall is a great time to collect leaves and identify them by tree name. I have many great memories of doing this while growing up and also with my own children. Leaves can be saved and preserved by pressing them in books and ironing them between wax paper. These make nice bookmarks as well. Spring is a time to observe signs of new plant or flower growth. Planting seeds is a nice way to help children anticipate and predict at the non-print level. Ask "what do you think will happen next?" and read books on plants and flowers to enhance the important skill of prediction. Winter walks turn into a magical wonderland when snow appears. Investigating how a snowflake or icicle is formed adds important information to a child's background knowledge. Summertime is perfect for spending hours outside observing the clouds in the sky, birds, insects, sandy beaches, and more. Oceans, lakes, rivers, and even small streams let your children observe fish, ducks, and other creatures. Discuss and research the life cycle from a tadpole to a frog, or learn how shells form. Here are a few more ideas from nature:

Take your nature walks a step further and start a collection:

Collect rocks and study the patterns, textures, colors, and sizes. Research the different types of rocks in your geographic area.

Collect seashells and describe the colors, shapes, and locations where they were found.

Collect leaves and make a leaf collage, labeling the different types of leaves.

Having fun with seasonal words can be as easy as posting them to a bulletin board in the kitchen and having conversations about them. Other easy activities include watching The Weather Channel or local weather reports and tracking weather patterns both in the newspaper and on the computer. Finding print and other digital sources to look up the words helps build vocabulary and your child's knowledge base.

Family Book Club

Book clubs are a great way for families to enjoy reading and discussing books together. Book clubs involve people meeting to discuss a book they have read and expressing their opinions, likes, dislikes, and other types of responses.Book club integrates reading, listening, speaking, and thinking in authentic ways that make sense to children and parents. To get started with family book clubs:

Pick a day and time that works for the family. If you have young children, picture books could work weekly. Chapter books for older children might require more time between club meetings.

Let your child pick out the book club selection. You might consider providing a list of book club possibilities to choose from. Use this document to help with book club picks.

Let your child pick snacks and drinks. Consider meeting at a restaurant or a favorite family spot.

Invite friends and neighbors to join your book club.

Set some ground rules, and highlight respect for each other's responses.

Book club selection can also include informational text, nonfiction, newspaper articles, and magazines.

Have your child keep a book club journal and write down things he or she wants to remember to bring up during book club.

For older children and teens, encourage them to start their own book club with their friends.

Once you get your book club off and running, you might consider planning a family dinner around the theme of a book. You can have your child help you create a menu, decorations, and activities that are based on the book.

Play with Literacy

Games help children learn how to follow directions and take turns and can strengthen reading and critical-thinking skills. Below are some great ways to make literacy part of play and games.

There are many educational games that focus on language and literacy, along with critical-thinking skills, such as Boggle and Scrabble, which both promote spelling, vocabulary, and sight words. Here are some ways you can use games to focus on literacy:

Online Game Resources for Families

Building A Home Library

Creating a special place for books shows your children the importance of reading. Creating a home library can be a fun, simple project that will produce endless learning opportunities for your family.

When selecting books for your home library, it will be important to choose a wide variety of books that meet your family's interests and ages, and not all of the books need to be brand new. Places to purchase used books include garage and yard sales, public library book sales, used bookstores, resale shops, and online sites.
Possible Collection Ideas Technology and the Home Library
Technology supports literacy and should be an important component in the development of the home library. This space should be a place where children can access electronic text. This will be especially important for older children and teens as they read on e-readers and computers and use cell phones to access the world. Technology has become an important part of learning and should be promoted in the home.
The Bedtime Story Library and Collection
One way to encourage nightly reading is to provide access to books near your child's bed. A bedtime story library doesn't need to be elaborate. Rather, it should have enough space to make nighttime books available.

Tuck some books under the pillow in the morning, and surprise your child with a different selection each night.

Keep a basket of books near the bed for easy access.

Set up a small bookcase that is dedicated to bedtime reading. ° Include big and little books, fiction, and nonfiction.

For more information on creating a Home Library, read Living Literacy at Home: A Parent's Guide

Backyard Activities and Literacy

Newspapers and Literacy

Newspapers are a great way to foster family discourse or discussions about the world. They can spark real debates about important current issues and events. Instructional shifts include students reading at least 50 percent informational and complex text. Newspapers provide the perfect way to combine your child's interests with current issues in an informational text format.
Online News Sources and News Magazines

(kid-friendly site with stories, pictures, videos, world events, sports, music, entertainment, and more)

(online news for kids specifically intended to build reading comprehension)

TIME for Kids (a news magazine just for kids)

Family Stories

Telling family stories is a terrific way to share and preserve your family history. These stories help children understand their past and make meaning from their present life. Stories you tell to your own children can include what you remember from growing up, along with stories your parents and grandparents may have shared. Some possible story starters for transmitting your family story could include:

Tips and Suggestions for Establishing the Bedtime Story Routine

Reading every night is an important goal in establishing strong home-school partnerships. Here are a few tips for the nightly routine:

Start with classics and favorites, and go back to them whenever you want. It is fine to read a book over and over. Children love repeated readings and never seem to tire of the old favorites like Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown.

Be sure to point out the author and illustrator, and make a big deal about the front cover of the book.

Read every night. Establish a routine by reading at the same time each evening. Always turn off the TV and limit other distractions.

Make a bookmark with your child that is just for bedtime reading. Write on the bookmark to keep track of stories read. Write "What do you think is going to happen next in the story?" on the bookmark as a reminder to ask this important question.

Mix up the reading materials and include nonfiction informational texts.

Ask simple prediction questions as you read, such as "How do you think the characters will solve the problem?"

Keep books near the bed, and establish a bedtime story shelf or nook. ° Keep favorite books under the pillow for easy access.

Songs and Literacy

Singing songs can be a nice way to have fun with your child before bedtime. Traditional songs, play rhymes, and nursery rhymes work well. Songs work especially well when you are transitioning from one routine to another, such as after dinner or homework to bath time. Teaching your child the song first makes it very easy for them to then read the words in print. Here are some classic songs to listen to and print out the words for reading and singing:

Five Tips For Reading Aloud to Your Child

Be interested in and excited about the book or materials you read with your child.

Select fiction and nonfiction stories and informational text that includes content about the world, nature, science, and other topics of interest to your child.

Use different voices and change volume when you read so that your child learns about what reading with expression sounds like. Whisper for a soft message, and raise your voice for a loud thought. Read as if you are the character and be as animated as possible. Use facial and vocal expressions. Exaggerate your speech when appropriate. Use props for extra fun.

Keep the book wide open when you read so your child can see all the illustrations. Point out the title, author, and illustrator on the book's front cover. Stop and talk about the illustrations on the cover and on each page.

Highlight words as you read. Stop and talk about an interesting word and use it in context for your child to understand the meaning.

Acting Out Stories

Dramatic play or pretend play is a way of representing the story or narrative. Pretend or dramatic play can be based on a made-up story or a spin-off from an existing story. Pretending is a critical dimension to language and literacy development because it takes children out of the here and now and allows them to use their imagination. Imagination is necessary for both reading and writing. You can encourage pretend play by doing the following:

Keep a box of props-hats, bags, accessories, and other dress-up items-so your child can act out and pretend play.

Make puppets from socks and small brown paper bags to have fun with when reading, making up stories, and acting out stories.

Make a flannel/felt board, and cut out characters and scene pieces to align with stories you have read and made up.

Have your child retell stories you have read and listened to.

Documenting and Literacy

Keeping a daily journal at home is a great way to promote authentic writing. For younger children, encourage them to draw pictures and add more text to their pictures as they progress. For older students, encourage a more detailed journal with more frequent entries or a blog written on the computer. Making a journal with a notebook and supplies for decorating it (glue, stickers, scissors, and pictures) can be fun for your child. Here are a few journals you can encourage at home:

Appreciation Journal: Teach your child the importance of appreciation, and model your own appreciation for everyday life. Ask your child to write about one thing he or she appreciates each day.

Art Journal: Drawings and paintings can be a great way to communicate ideas and feelings. Use colored pencils, special paper, finger paints, and different types of brushes for a variety of techniques in this image-based journal.

Online Journal or Blog: Blogs can provide an interactive outlet where older children and teens can post journal entries, links, pictures, and more. A blog can invite others to participate in the conversation as well.

Collage Journal: Tear or cut out pictures from magazines or other sources to create a collage representing an experience, a future dream, or something more abstract. Make a collage entry from a vacation, a trip, or an experience that includes artifacts from the event (tickets, photos, maps, etc.).

Photo Journal: Using photographs with text is a great way to document an experience. Children can also paste and write about photos from magazines. This can be a precious keepsake for your child.

Sports Journal: Children can write about a sport they are learning or a sporting event they attended. Mementos like ticket stubs and scorecards can be pasted in the journal.

Travel Journal: Chronicle the events of the trip, and include photos and artifacts.

Books Written in Diary Format:

Helping with Homework

Homework can help foster greater understanding and communication between teachers and families. Parents gain insight into what is being taught in the classroom, and teachers learn about the family dynamics of their students. Parents should view homework as a positive experience and model a confident attitude toward the value of completing work and succeeding in school. Consider these homework guidelines:
Set up a Homework Center Helpful Hints Online Homework Resources

Britannica Kids: Offers a free online encyclopedia with articles, pictures, facts, topics, and more

HomeworkSpot: Homework resources organized by subject and grade level

KidSource: Daily tips, homework helpers, articles for parents, advice, and ideas

Simple and Fun Daily Activities

1. Sports: Attend or watch games on TV or listen to them together on the radio. Try attending a sporting event and learning something new with your child. Sporting events are perfect for follow-up activities, including more reading and writing about the event, making a book, or keeping a scrapbook of artifacts collected. Research the different histories and heroes of sports. Read biographies and autobiographies about sports heroes. Read the newspaper sports section, and check out sports magazines at the library or subscribe to them.

2. Entertainment: Check out community theater events for families and children, or find one to livestream. See a play, puppet show, concert, or musical. Read the book and then watch the movie or ballet and discuss with your child which one you liked better with detail, evidence, and comparisons. Write about the event, including a review of the performance.

3. Travel and Recreation: Plan a vacation, and let your child help make decisions and choices. Get travel information and brochures, and spend time reading and having conversations about the destination. Look at maps and study the area of the destination. Plan your vacation around special family events at your destination. Talk about your modes of transportation (air, car, train, or boat). Have fun looking into different options and daily schedules for your trip.

4. Household Chores: Teach children early on about taking responsibility for household chores. Make lists of chores for your child to accomplish, and teach him or her related words as you go: vacuum, dust, mop, make your bed, laundry sorting, and folding. Let your child add chores to the list. Be sure to make a list of the cleaning supplies you will need to accomplish the chores.

5. Turn Your Favorite Book into a Game: For suggestions, check out the book Journey to Game Land: How to Make a Board Game from Your Favorite Children's Book by Ben Buchanan, Carol Adams, and Susan Allison.

6. Frequent the Library: Make a big deal out of going to the public library and especially getting a library card for your child. Set aside time each week for the library visit and make sure it goes on your family calendar. When traveling and on vacation, stop by the local library. Many public libraries are charming places to visit and photograph.

7. Nature: Take advantage of the outdoors and utilize every aspect as a literacy opportunity. Follow the seasons of the year and use nature as a springboard for authentic learning. Explore the outdoors and model inquiry questions for your child, such as "Where does a raindrop come from?" Use these experiences to align with books about nature and the natural world.

8. Family Game Night: Set aside a night to have fun playing games with your family. Let your child know that this is a special time to have fun. Make the learning indirect.

9. Drawing and Art: Use drawing and other art activities to promote literacy. Use drawing and art with writing, and add illustrations to the text. When reading a story, keep a dry-erase whiteboard close by so you can ask your child to draw the answer to questions, such as "What do you think is going to happen next in the story?"

10. Go on a Reading Picnic: Pack your lunch, add some books, and head outdoors for a reading picnic. Use this time to read aloud or read to yourself while your child reads.

11. Tents and Forts: Rainy days are a perfect time to get out all the blankets and sheets and let your child make a tent or fort in the house. Bring a flashlight and books inside for a fun place to read.

12. Celebrations: Celebrations are something that families should document through photos, scrapbooking, journals, and more. Celebrations can be both small and big and elicit many different kinds of literacy activities, including through social media.

13. Family Calendar: Keep a large family calendar in the kitchen or family room as documentation and a planner for all family events. Refer to it often and have conversations about upcoming events. Encourage your child to add events to the calendar, check off completed events, and more.

14. Scrapbook: This is a great way to document experiences with your family using photographs and other artifacts, collections, and more. Have your child write about the experience and add it to the scrapbook. Create a space in your home for this special activity, and make it an ongoing and authentic part of your family.

15. Puzzles: Utilize the crossword puzzle in the newspaper daily. Engage the entire family in solving the word puzzles together. Leave it out on the kitchen counter with a note to "Take a turn."

16. Love and Label Your Environment: Label a few objects in your environment to help your child learn new words. Some examples might include "mirror," "bathtub," and "shower" in your bathroom. Have fun with the words, and give your child time to learn the words before adding more. Two or three words at a time are just fine.

17. Build a List of Favorite Books: Begin a list of favorite books read by family members and add to it. Keep this list where everyone can see it and contribute to it. Talk about the books as you are reading them.

18. Humor: Read funny stories and laugh. Post a joke or riddle of the day in the kitchen.

19. Comic Books and Comics: Don't forget to include comic books as another way to engage your child in a variety of types of reading pleasure. Comics are fun and tell a story, and your child will infer through context and pictures. Include classics like Archie and Spiderman. Check out the comics in the newspaper as well.

20. Collections: Collect objects and artifacts of interest. These can start with a trip, a visit to a museum, or just a walk along the beach. Collections can turn into hobbies and be a terrific way for children to inquire about the objects.

21. Start a Neighborhood Book Club for Kids: A neighborhood book club can be for both young children as well as for older children and teens. Younger children will need the organization and structure to decide what to read and where to meet. Older children can manage this by themselves and make decisions about what to read.

22. Get a Globe: Place your globe in a space where there is easy access for the family to explore. Help your child learn geography by pointing out the countries in the world. Extend the activities to a map.

23. Swap Books: Start a program, like a Little Free Library, in your neighborhood, church, school, or other places where you and your family have read a book or where you can exchange books. These can function with little management.

24. Read to Your Pet: If you have a pet, this can be a great way to encourage your child to read. Reading to a dog, cat, or fish can give your child an opportunity to read aloud for fun and use expression without having to worry about reading every word correctly. The purpose of this activity is fun, but it also builds confidence by reading aloud.

25. Buy Books as Presents: Every time you or your child needs a gift, think of buying a book as the present. Holidays, birthdays, and other celebrations are the perfect way to show your child that reading is so important that you give books to others as gifts.

Online Literacy Resources

National Summer Learning Association: Provides resources, guidance, and expertise to the summer learning community.

The Idea Box: Community-driven website that provides literacy activities that can be done at home with your child.

White House Virtual Tour: An up-close and personal look at one of the most famous places in the world. You can click on any room that you want to visit.

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Some fun ways to start writing can be as easy as doing little snippets of writing with your child and then reading them together. Here are some activities and snippets to get your child writing. Asking your child to write about his or her own life can be one way to get the writing going.

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CT.gov - Connecticut's Official State Website

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Connecticut’s statewide SEL initiative and resources

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#Together4SEL

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Summary

Want to better understand what SEL is, why it's important, and where it happens? Our Framework, or the "CASEL Wheel", is the best starting point.

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What is SEL?
Social and emotional learning (SEL) is the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions. SEL advances educational equity and excellence through authentic school-family-community partnerships to establish learning environments and experiences that feature trusting and collaborative relationships, rigorous and meaningful curriculum and instruction, and ongoing evaluation. SEL can help address various forms of inequity and empower young people and adults to co-create thriving schools and contribute to safe, healthy, and just communities.
What are the SEL competencies?
Educators, families, students, community organizations, and researchers around the world use our wheel to better describe what SEL looks like in practice. The five broad, interrelated areas of competence are: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. Want to dig deeper into any of these? Visit our interactive wheel for examples of each competency.
Where can SEL be taught and practiced?
Our framework takes a systemic approach that emphasizes the importance of establishing equitable learning environments and coordinating practices across four key settings: classrooms, schools, homes, and communities.

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Want to better understand what SEL is, why it's important, and where it happens? Our Framework, or the "CASEL Wheel", is the best starting point.

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History of CASEL

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Where Is The Love - Black Eyed Peas (Lyrics) 🎵

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Planting flowers in memory of a student❤️

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After Summer '23

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Panic! At The Disco - High Hopes (Lyrics)