IBED SEL August 2024 by Amber Rhinehart

Breathing Board

2024-08-19 09:33:08 UTC

I liked the idea of a breathing board for elementary students as it is visual, also hands on and gives children something to focus on while breathing. This allows children to have something to look at, touch and pace breathing. I found this at www.thepathway2success.com

Structured Reflection

2024-08-19 10:29:47 UTC

I feel that structured reflection is a very powerful tool when it comes to developing self-awareness and perseverance. By this I mean as a school having guidelines for how often and how to reflect. This can be written or oral prompts depending on age, and weekly or twice a week at the same time. Having a routine also helps.

Mindful Observation for High School Students

2024-08-19 11:37:10 UTC

Please find below a lesson for a 25 minute lunch time mindfulness drop in space. This would be used as an initial introduction to mindfulness for a drop in space that would be available to students once/week during lunch.

Check-in: Name, Pronouns, High/Low

What is stress?
1. Stress is a state of worry or mental tension caused by a difficult situation. Stress is a natural human response that prompts us to address challenges and threats in our lives. Everyone experiences stress to some degree. The way we respond
  to stress, however, makes a big difference to our overall well-being.

What causes stress?
1. Changes in routine
2. Limited sleep
3. Big tests
4. College applications
5. Conflicts
6. Demands at home
7. Sports
8. Problems with friends or romantic partners
9. Grades

What is mindfulness?
1. Awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment to moment. - Jon Kabat-Zinn
2. The ability to be aware of your thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, and actions - in the present moment - without judging or criticizing yourself or your experience.

Mindfulness Exercise #1 - bubble timers (would need enough bubble timers for everyone) - 1 minute to observe
1. What did you notice?
2. Thoughts?
3. Feelings?
4. Reactions?
5. Internal dialogue?
6. Did you find it challenging just to be still and present in this exercise? In what ways?

6. End with Breathing Into Stress Headspace Exercise

Use of videos to explore concepts of perseverance

2024-08-19 15:53:50 UTC

I have used the above video to introduce the concept of perseverance to primary age students. After watching the video I would ask them the following questions:

What does perseverance mean? How is it demonstrated in this video?

What does resiliency mean? How is it demonstrated in this video?

I would then ask them to reflect on themselves with the following questions:

How do I show resiliency when I am working on a difficult assignment?
How do I show resiliency when I am feel sad, down, or hopeless?
How have I shown resiliency on a personal project (e.g. lego build, scratch project)

2024-08-19 16:01:55 UTC

I have often used the resource from Responsive Counselor called Flipping a Lid: My Brain and My Feelings to help younger students understand the role of the brain in our emotional reactions. I would read through the slide deck with them and then either have accompanying coloring sheets for them to complete as a follow up or explore strategies or strengthening your Wise Eagle or PFC by practicing asking for help, taking deep breaths or doing a soothing activity.

We all have different brains!

2024-08-20 11:29:21 UTC

This is a bit off direct topic but I really liked these lessons to do with a class as it allows for discussions and understanding of different ways people learn and feel.

Thoughts & Emotions

2024-08-22 04:06:50 UTC

This is a class that I did with our year 3 students. We covered: emotions and why we have them, flipping your lid (Dan Siegel) and thoughts in the form of rain clouds and white fluffy clouds. We covered the interconnectedness and how we can express our emotions in a healthy way.

Comment thoughts and ideas! Happy to receive feedback :)

Mindfulness techniques

2024-08-25 08:07:09 UTC

It's a great tool for children from ages 4+. This method helps students reach a calmer state in order for them to know what to do next in whatever situation they're in. It is not only a visual but engages their sense of touch as well. I found this at https://www.thecalmcorner.com/2018/11/material-share-monday-5-finger-breathing.html.

Self esteem

2024-08-27 23:48:02 UTC

I feel that sometimes we can benefit from taking the time to explore a child's self esteem when we talk about having a growth mindset or observe that they have a negative thought cycle. Unpacking this can show us why a child may be feeling strongly against trying new things, making mistakes or avoiding participation in class.

There are lots of great resources that I use from Wholehearted School Counselling on self esteem and growth mindset.

Self control

2024-08-28 04:10:44 UTC

Here is a lesson I do with PYP reception aged students using canva slides and using puppets as well. Along with the script for the story on self control with puppets.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/12_ZrLpwyvWL3iiqLUvvAnHqHXVbI-kyGoL0kPnBHcE4/edit?usp=sharing

Anger Management Lesson

2024-09-02 03:05:52 UTC

Anger and impulsiveness are learning roadblocks that we face across the board. Here is a lesson on 'Managing your Anger' for PYP Year3 students that I created. We are constantly empowering our students with strategies & tools to keep in their toolboxes so that they are readily available if they need to use it.

The learning engagement that I always use is group discussion, reflection & sharing what a friend has said to improve listening skills and feeding back information.

2024-09-03 19:54:29 UTC

This is an Advisory lesson we do with our MYP and DP students. It is intended to support communication skills, most specifically collaboration skills. This lesson follows a communication skills assessment that we ask all students to take. At the conclusion of this activity, we ask students to process using the following questions:

How did your group decide what to pick?
What role did you play in the process?
Did anyone dominate? Anyone feel ignored?
Were some items easy or hard to decide on?
Thinking back to the communication assessments we did a couple of weeks ago, what styles of communication (assertive, aggressive, passive, passive-aggressive) did you notice? Which ones were most effective? Did you push yourself in any way to try a different style of communication? How?
How do you rate your group’s chances of survival?

Strengths Exploration - Self-Awareness

2024-09-03 20:20:45 UTC

Following the protocol for identifying SEL skill development need areas, I determined that self-awareness was an important area to develop an intervention. We use our Advisory blocks to teach explicit SEL skills and do rely on the CASEL 5 core competencies to develop our lessons. Attached is a lesson aimed at supporting skill development for middle grades students. The lesson includes an opening check-in, explores the importance of exploring personal strengths, and then provides time for students to engage in some hands-on learning. The ATL skills reinforced are thinking skills and is also providing a foundation to build towards self-management skills.