Social-Emotional Learning Workbook for the primary grades

I’m so excited to debut a project that I have been working on for almost two years – a 150+ page social-emotional learning workbook!

We all know that two things are true of teaching – one is that teachers wear many hats and the other is that there is never enough time during the school day to get everything done.

While I feel VERY strongly about explicit instruction of social-emotional learning skills in the classroom, I also know how hard this is. Most schools are not fortunate enough to have an SEL coach or a dedicated SEL block during the day so teachers have to get creative.

When I am working with schools, I always recommend that SEL instruction be embedded into the instruction that is already happening in the classroom. Reading a specific book during ELA? Think about the SEL themes that can be pulled out and discussed. Students need to write a narrative piece? Brainstorm ways that SEL can be tied in or assigned as the prompt. Having a specific problem in the classroom that needs to be addressed (i.e. friendship skills, conflict resolution, etc.)? Let’s address it through meaningful SEL instruction rather than another lecture that no one is paying attention to.

Of course, all of this is much easier said than done, right? That’s why I decided to create this workbook. I wanted to give teachers a set of pre-made lessons that take the research and guesswork out of explicit SEL instruction.

I spent countless hours researching the CASEL Framework for Social-Emotional Learning, as well as the Michigan Social-Emotional Learning Competencies and Indicators, the most comprehensive set of state standards I found, in order to identify the most critical skills students need to be exposed to.

I used those skills to create 34 week-long lessons that include all the things a teacher would need to carry out instruction – a lesson plan, graphic organizers, printables, picture book lists, cross-curricular activities and more. Plus, each lesson uses a fantastic picture book as the foundation for instruction.

I am so excited that this workbook is done and available for teachers at the beginning of a new school year, and I sincerely hope it is a valuable and time-saving resource for teachers. Find it, along with many other trauma-informed and SEL resources, right here in my TPT store!