Elementary School Activities

I have been advised by several elementary school teachers that approximately 2/3rds of the 101 activities within the Beaming Bright, You’re a Shining Light Lesson Plans could be easily adapted for elementary students beyond K-1.

Feeling inspired and motivated by these teachers’ comments, I have created a couple of simple activities that are designed to connect all the students in an elementary school.

Using the 30 Social & Emotional Learning Posters the teachers from all grades could agree to focus on one Social & Emotional Learning Poster statement for each month.  The students within each grade and classroom would then talk about how they feel about the statement and draw pictures of their experiences.  The hallways could then be filled with the SEL drawing from all students in all grades.  As the students walked through the hallways they can relate to one another and experience a transformation that shows each student’s perception regarding the monthly statement.  It will become an opportunity for the whole student body to connect with one another. 

This activity will help students to focus on self-regulating their emotions, believe in themselves, and develop cooperative attitudes that will positively influence their behavior and how they interact with their classmates.  The opportunity for positive results is unlimited!

Students of all grades can also be asked to create their own stories, poems, skits or songs using the eleven social and emotional learning themes.  During school assemblies students could then share their inspiring stories, poems or songs.  In this way students will be offered a variety of opportunities to learn and grow from one another as the social and emotional learning skills are consistently reinforced.

As schools focus on social and emotional learning skills these skills will grow! 

BULLYING

A school in my school district went to great lengths to teach their students all about bullying.  At the beginning of the year, they gave each student a self-esteem assessment and asked them what they knew about bullying.  They then shared with students all they had learned about bullying and what to do.  Five months later they gave the students the same self-esteem assessment and discovered that the bullying within the school had increased significantly.  Yes, there was more awareness and understanding about how to deal with bullying and the best actions to take.  However, there was a significant increase in bullying behavior.  The school principal and teachers were undecided on what to do next.  This was the opposite of the result that they were expecting.  They decided to focus on the behaviors that they wanted to see in their school.  Every act of kindness, caring and appreciation was recognized and honored in some way for the next several months.  They then gave the students another self-esteem assessment.  The bullying behavior had reduced significantly.  Why we all ask?  Because when you focus on kindness, caring and appreciation these behaviors will grow.

For more information on bullying, go to:  Lesson Plans In Action – Morning Sun In Action – Page 17 to 22.