When your children take classes online, there are many fun ways to incorporate them into your classroom lessons. Consider these remote learning and social-emotional (SEL) activities and create an online community! With the holiday season just around the corner, this is the ideal season to allow students to control their emotions and build their empathy.
Five suggestions of remote SEL activities you can try with students in grades K-8
Discuss these with your children at home to assist them in developing SEL abilities such as self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and responsible decision-making. Even if your classes require physical presence, the activities could also be effective in a physical classroom.
SEL Activities for Remote Learning
Research a Personal Hero
When students consider the lives of others and their contribution to their community and their communities, they develop social awareness and be able to connect with others. Do this activity to make students consider what makes someone hero-like and what traits they would like to imitate.
Ask each student to choose the person they consider their hero. If the person is a member of the family or a mentor they know, have them speak with the person to find out the qualities that make them a good role model. If their hero happens to be famous or a historical person, have students look up information and research about them.
Students can create an image of their hero or write a brief essay outlining why the person is the hero.
Decorate Your Space with a Digital Poster
Have the children create a beautiful Digital Poster displaying their “Habits of a Learning Mindset” in their home workspace or on backgrounds for computers. This tool was created to help students build self-awareness and self-esteem skills when asked questions that help them understand their habits and emotions better. For a second step, take the students to select one habit and list three ways they could improve the habit. Ask them to share their ideas during the following class.
Develop Connections to Family
Students can try the writing prompts from Writeable’s A Chance in the World SEL Collection. If they’re spending lots of time with people, they consider being family during the time of year. It’s a great idea to ask, what can you do to strengthen relationships with family members? This is a way to build upon the SEL competence for social awareness and encourages students to consider their role in the community.
Teachers must review the writing prompt before class. The majority of the A Chance in the World curriculum is designed for students in the 8th grade and above.
Write a Thank-You Letter
Utilize the lesson plan Writable Thank-You Letter to assist students in improving their social-awareness skills by keeping relations.
Ask pupils to compose a Thank-You letter to a special person. Let the person know why you would like to express thank you. What do you enjoy about the person? Share a story about when the person did something unique to you.
Create their Own Greenhouse
Plant cultivation can be an excellent hands-on way to create a routine with your students. Should your pupils already have a garden at home, help your students label it. Set it up, place it in their work area, and take care of it. If they don’t, make them plant the seed, water it regularly, and watch it develop. Encourage them to seek assistance whenever they need help. This is a task that requires commitment. It is a great way to help them become aware and effective in their lives and resources. Students should share their plants online and explain how they take care of the plant to the class.
Students who wish to carry on this project can put multiple plants in one container, creating an outdoor greenhouse. For each plant they wish to grow, they should put seeds and dirt (or smaller plants) into a single plastic cup. They should place another cup over it and secure the cups using tape. At the top, they need to poke holes in your greenhouse. Remind them to keep an eye on your plant’s growth!