l a i c o S tional o
from the mindfulness series
EmLearning
Use these fun games & writing activities to develop a set of skills and behaviors which can continually strengthen your students’ Social & Emotional Intelligence
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Conscious Childhood
additional content & lesson plans
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Social Emotional Learning Guiding Friendships:
How do friendships help children grow emotionally?.
MY BREATH LOVES ME By Claire E Hallinan This Read Aloud book demonstrates how sometimes children need a little help navigating difficult social challenges (i.e. when I child feels left out) by using the breath, pause, notice and respond sequence. Grade K-3
I AM ENOUGH By Grace Byers This Read Aloud book is a beautifully illustrated and inspiring ode to loving who you are, respecting others and being kind to one another. Grade K-3
Friendships play an essential role in children's social-emotional development. By broadening their horizons beyond family, providing identity formation opportunities at school, and offering support when necessary, friendships with classmates provide children with vital social-emotional growth opportunities. Teachers can employ numerous strategies to teach and reinforce (SEL) relationship skills in students, including building an emotional vocabulary. When children learn to identify and understand their own emotions by embracing and discussing them freely, they are better to equipped to make sense of their behavior and actions, which in turn, set them up for a greater understanding of other children and their emotional framework. Some methods involve pairing children up with peers of diverse cultures who share similar interests, activities and temperament; while other strategies include organizing group projects requiring cooperation or activities where the teacher can coach students in managing conflicts and disagreements. “To form meaningful connections with others, we must first connect with ourselves.” - Brene Brown – author, scientist & social researcher
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TIPS FOR SUCCESS: 1. Each child should have an “emotional” vocabulary word list to use when identifying emotions and feelings. 2. Feeling empathy is a skill which can be taught. Encourage understanding of other people by using fictional stories to discuss character feelings and actions . 4. Challenging behavior is always an indication of unmanageable feelings. 5. Validate their feelings as real for them. d. © Conscious Childhood 2023
Social Emotional
Word Web
grades K-8
EMOTIONAL VOCABULARY
Emotions and thoughts or so intrinsically intertwined, that we cannot focus on cognitive development without considering the role that emotions play on our thought processes and ability to learn. Objectives:
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Students will develop a collection of emotional words that describe feelings. Students will identify words that are associated with emotions in a situation. Students will write stories involving characters using emotional vocabulary. Materials: A pencil, markers or crayon, a journal, a storybook or real situation
Part 1: Naming Emotions
Tip: Introduce using a thesaurus for older students
TEACHER / PARENT: - We have so many emotions that run through our bodies that sometimes we feel a little overwhelmed. Sometimes we are not even sure exactly how we feel. We may feel anger in our bodies, but we may also feel frustration or disappointment at the same time. It’s important to know that these feelings are just happening to us; they are not who we are. We are just the ones who are feeling them. For example we should not say “I am angry” but rather “I feel anger” or “ Anger is inside me”. We can also learn to recognize feelings in other people. - (For the older grades) First, draw a triangle in the middle of your page. Now draw two eyes in the triangle. Remember, you are just observing these thoughts. - (For the younger grades) Use the chart with faces and add the feeling words under the picture.) ( Teacher can write words on the board for reference) - When you think of these words (or faces), what other feelings come to mind? (Give examples and ask students if they would like to share). - Now I’m going to (read, tell, make up) a story about characters with pretty strong emotions. I will pause throughout the story so that we can identify other emotions and feelings and add them to our list.
Part 2: Reflection / Assessment: -
Share your words with your class. Students should be encouraged to continue adding to their word web.
TIP: A fictional social challenge in the classroom or playground could be a great story to use for this exercise.
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© Conscious Childhood 2023
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