Teach children about respect, honesty, and gratitude at school and in the classroom with these social-emotional learning lessons and hands-on activities for kids.
Teach children about respect, honesty, and gratitude at school and in the classroom with these social-emotional learning lessons and hands-on activities for kids.
Responsibility activities for kids: Fun activities to teach kids to be responsible/ Personal, social, and environmental responsibility activities
Developing empathy in children has never been more fun than with this collection of 19 simple empathy activities for kids!
Teaching Honesty in the Classroom; character education; classroom community; honesty for kids
Teaching empathy is important. In the simplest of terms, empathy is the ability to notice, understand, and share the emotions of others. It is a critical social skill for all people to have. In many ways, empathy is the social skill that paves the way for all other social skills. It helps us to take
Developing empathy in children has never been more fun than with this collection of 19 simple empathy activities for kids!
Looking for a lesson on responsibility for your elementary students, but can’t seem to find one that meets all your student’s needs? You might see other teachers doing fun character lessons and want to do those too, but the activities don’t quite fit with your student’s abilities. Maybe you need just a little bit of
Teach kids empathy and compassion through mindful, fun lessons, discussions, and activities that build social awareness and community.
This post is dedicated to Sara Esther Regalado Moriel. Sara and her husband, Adolfo, will be deeply missed by their friends and loved ones. Sara and Adolfo were parents to […]
This is a basic resource on Respect to add to your School Counseling program. Use it as a stand-alone lesson or use it as a supplement to your existing resources. This is a part of a larger BUNDLE of Classroom Guidance Lessons. Each lesson includes the following: ∴ Lesson Plan (with materials, introduction, activity, and discussion/closing) ∴ Character Trait Quote Poster ∴ Discussion Starter Cards ∴ Definition poster (2 versions) ∴ "Looks and Sounds Like" poster (2 versions) ∴ Sorting Game Cards ∴ Scenario Discussion Cards ∴ Writing Prompts (differentiated for the 3 grade levels) Check out the PREVIEW for a visual of what's included in a sample lesson on Gratitude!
Teach kids self-regulation in the classroom and beyond with this collection of super fun Zones of Regulation activities, games, worksheets, and lesson plans!
Encourage kindness through setting goals and random acts of kindness challenge. Includes book ideas, lesson ideas, and FREE kindness awards!
Teachers can use these 15 friendship books and videos for the classroom to teach kids friendship skills: how to make friends and how to be a good friend.
Encourage kindness through setting goals and random acts of kindness challenge. Includes book ideas, lesson ideas, and FREE kindness awards!
Activities to teach kids about respect: 30 Respect activities, games, and ideas to teach kids about respect at home and in the classroom.
Home page for ALL's free teaching resources on underage drinking and its effects on the brain, including primers, curriculum plans, and videos.
Teach friendship activities and improve social skills in the classroom with these ideas, such as sharing, taking turns, listening, teamwork, & cooperation.
From teaching tips and parental strategies, to anti-bullying activities and games, these ideas offer great inspiration to help kids stand up to bullying!
Simple mental health lessons for kids, like this activity, leave even young children with something to think about in their daily lives.
Inside Out Lesson Plans & FREE Inside Out Classroom Feeling Chart
Winter break is almost over and that means your little learners are about to come back to school rested, refreshed, calm, and ready to take ...
Escape rooms are not only the latest craze, but a tool that can help kids work towards their learning goals. An escape room is a challenge that allows kids to work together solving a variety of puzzles in order to "break out" of a room. There are different "reasons" for why kids are locked it. Somet
Teaching Honesty in the Classroom; character education; classroom community; honesty for kids
Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based treatment for many mental and behavioral health issues. Research has shown that CBT can be effective...
Tips to keep kids active this summer with Change4Life and Disney, plus get your free pack
My dear sweet friend, Stacey, shared an amazing lesson during a staff meeting last week and I just HAVE TO pass it along. This is an impactful way to introduce mindfulness no matter where you are in your school year. It has proved to be especially powerful in her 3rd grade class as we start a new school year and she was kind enough to let me share it with you today. This post includes some affiliate links which means I get a small portion if you purchase through this link at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting my blog! Stacey came across this book My Magic Breath by Nick Ortner. With mindfulness on her mind she knew it was a PERFECT back to school activity! The book discusses ways that children (and adults!) can discover peace through the magic of mindful breathing. The illustrations are FANTASTIC and show how we can calm our minds when we are mad, happy, excited, or sad through our magic breath. I felt calmer just after reading through the beautiful pages. She didn't stop there! Immediately she knew this was going to be a wonderful art opportunity to remind her students each day the power that they hold in their magic breath. A few quick photos on Friday afternoon in front of the white board and she was ready to read the book on Monday and do this art project. She asked students to pretend they were blowing out a candle (or a dandelion, whatever works for you) and snapped a picture. They didn't know what the project would be at this point! She had them printed out over the weekend as actual photographs but if you have access to a color printer regular printing would be just as great too! On Monday after reading the book and having SO MANY great discussions about feelings she presented each student with their own picture glued to a white piece of paper and some watercolors. Students then painted their own magic breath and the results were AMAZING! You can see each student used so many colors and different lines to represent their own magic breath. We have so many emotions inside of us everyday! Right now she has them hanging in their classroom to remind everyone that they have the POWER to calm their own minds with their magic breath. She even told me that students will stop during a lesson and remind her, "We need to take a magic breath." How powerful is that? Full disclosure, she couldn't remember if she saw this somewhere first but with a little digging I did find a similar project from Adventures in Kindergarten. It is a great blog to add to your read list if you teach the littles! She also mentioned that the author, Nick Ortner, has a Facebook post about his book and I loved watching it too! Here is a link to his Facebook live video that explains more about the book and gives us (the grown ups!) some great tips about bringing mindfulness into our lives. Of course now I am following his page because I am obsessed with his positivity! Would you like to save this post to share with your colleagues? Pin it here! Are you looking for more books on the power of mindfulness? Here are some suggestions for you too! My favorites are Sitting Still Like a Frog and I Can Handle It! Thank you for stopping in today. If you are feeling overwhelmed, take a breath, it can do wonders! P.S. Get a free ALPHABET ACTIVITY when you sign up for my newsletter HERE!
From teaching tips and parental strategies, to anti-bullying activities and games, these ideas offer great inspiration to help kids stand up to bullying!
Are you teaching your students about growth mindset? If so, how do you go about fostering grit, perseverance through challenging situations, with your students? Here are 4 easy ways to incorporate grit concepts that teachers can begin using today!
Looking for a fun and meaningful activity for your school counseling worry group? Help your students make a worry monster! Get details here:
Materials list and step by step instructions for making homemade glycerin soap with kids.
Disney movies have some very deep lessons to teach kids. Zootopia lesson plans are perfect for teaching kids about bias vs. sterotypes.
Teach kids self-regulation in the classroom and beyond with this collection of super fun Zones of Regulation activities, games, worksheets, and lesson plans!
From teaching tips and parental strategies, to anti-bullying activities and games, these ideas offer great inspiration to help kids stand up to bullying!
Grief is so hard to deal with and due to the COVID-19 pandemic our worldwide community is going to be dealing with a lot of grief and loss. What is going to be especially hard is that some of our normal rituals around grief (wakes and funerals) are also going to be disrupted due to social distancing, so people may experience more difficulties without having expected closure rituals. My intention in this blog post is to compile resources you could use with your children to help them cope with gr
Today I'm sharing one of my favourite tasks for building community in the classroom. Students are able to share an important aspect of themselves (the story of their name) with the class and with me, their teacher. Through this task we are also working on important skills, like reading comprehension, writing, and reflection. Day 1 To begin, I asked my students to write any name they wish they had on a sticky note. They then placed it in a mason jar. I read my class the story "The Name Jar" by Yansook Choi. We stopped at several points in the story to predict, make connections, infer, and ask questions. At one point, we paused in the story so that students could journal about the name they wrote down on the sticky note earlier: - Did they choose their own name? Or another? - Why? - If you chose another name, where did you hear that name before? Day 2 At the end of Day 1, students were given homework. (Stick around to the bottom of this post for a chance to get your own copy of this sheet.) I make it very clear, that while names all have meanings, your family may not have chosen your name for that reason. They might not know the meaning, and you can choose to look it up with your family if you wish. I also focus a lot on nicknames and your own feelings about your name. While I've never taught a student in foster care, or one who was adopted, I do think it's important to mention that this could be a touchy task in those situations, so be sure to know your students first, and modify as needed. Students use the homework task, and the journal write from the previous day, to write "The Story of their Name". Some possible options to include are: - who you are named after - the meaning of your name - a name you'd rather have - your feelings toward your name - nicknames you may have - the person (or people) who chose your name - how your name was chosen This piece of writing is then self, peer, and teacher edited, and a "good" copy is made. Day 3 I found this excellent step-by-step self-portrait from "Art Projects for Kids". I modified the task so that instead of drawing the left or right side of their face, they would draw the top half. Students find that folding their page into quadrants as she suggests is very helpful. Under the document camera I demonstrate each step, and students copy, adapting to their own facial features. Each student gets a mirror to look in to help them personalize. The final pieces are put on a bulletin board for display. Students also coloured in a bubble letter version of their names to complete the display. (I used the font KG Red Hands Outline for this.) Day 4 Once we've completed the task, the last job is to reflect on our work. I pulled some elements from our Arts Education curriculum (very relevant regardless of where you teach) for students to self-assess on. I've used the proficiency scale language our school has moved to for all reporting. A few students found it helpful to complete their reflection while looking at the finished product on their bulletin board, but most didn't need this. Want a copy of both my homework and reflection pages? Follow the image or button below to grab your copy. Take Me to the Free Download Pin this post.
So, did you survive Halloween? I personally really enjoyed the fact that it was on a Friday this year. 🙂 Now that Halloween is over, I’ve started thinking ahead to Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the holidays in general. It’s always such an exciting time of year for the kiddos! Unfortunately, I think it’s all too easy for kids to become too focused on the “gifts” part of the holidays. The media and advertising play a big role in this. BUT I do think we, as teachers and parents, can definitely do something about it! I think it’s important to teach kids about all the ways that people can give to one another. Giving doesn’t have to involve gifts – giving can include helping people in intangible ways, using kind words with others, etc. I recently finished a mini-unit that focuses on just that – teaching kids the many ways that people can give to each other. Read on for some ideas and books about teaching kids how to give, and for more details on the unit! The unit starts by having kids discuss their prior knowledge about giving (which likely includes giving gifts). You’ll make a class chart and/or give students a drawing/writing task to see what students believe about what it means to give (at the end of the unit you’ll give the same assignment to see how the kids have grown!). Then, you’ll use readalouds and writing activities to open kids’ eyes to all of the ways that people give to each other. You definitely won’t need all of these books for the unit, but here are some of the options that you can choose from: Books About Giving Tangible Items: The Mitten Tree (Candace Christiansen) My Most Favorite Thing (Nicola Moon) The Elves and the Shoemaker (Jim Lamarche) Books About Giving Help: Frog and Toad All Year – “The Surprise” (Arnold Lobel) The Berenstain Bears Lend a Helping Hand (Stan Berenstain) My Friend is Sad (An Elephant and Piggie Book) (Mo Willems) When You Are Happy (Eileen Spinelli) The Lion & the Mouse (Jerry Pinkney) A Sick Day for Amos McGee (Philip C. Stead) Books About Giving Kind Words: One (Kathryn Otoshi) Chrysanthemum (Kevin Henkes) Ish (Creatrilogy) (Peter Reynolds) Books About Helping the Community: Boxes for Katje (Candace Fleming) Uncle Willie and the Soup Kitchen (DyAnne Disalvo-Ryan) City Green (DyAnne Disalvo-Ryan) A Castle on Viola Street (DyAnne Disalvo-Ryan) In addition to the reading and writing activities, the kids will practice giving to their friends and families through a few different activities. They’ll make a “helping chain” with ideas about how they can help others: They’ll also make a coupon book for their families (with ways that they can help out around the house): After these and a few other activities, they will (with your guidance!) plan and implement a very simple community service project. By the end of the unit, the kids should have a more complex and complete understanding of what it means to give to others. The lessons are great for teaching around Thanksgiving, Christmas, winter holidays, Valentine’s Day – or any time at all! The unit also includes supplementary literacy materials like a poem, student reader, and reading passage. Click on the image below to find out more: Happy teaching!
These all about me, back to school art activities for kids are engaging icebreakers. Encourage creativity and build community during the first week back
One family used a practical tool to teach their child to be flexible and avoid a tantrum. Teaching flexibility is a valuable life skill!
