Two lessons stress the importance of keeping your classroom bully-free. Discussion, collaborative work, role-play, and writing allows participants to examine whether their classroom is welcoming to new members and decide what they should...

A hand-drawn thermometer provides a strong visual for how much of an emotion a child is feeling. Scholars color the thermometer's mercury to showcase whether what they are feeling is high or low at a certain moment. Questions allow...

Looking for lesson plans that address social and emotional learning competencies? Here's help in the form of a 166-page packet that includes lesson plans for elementary, middle, and high school learners. Seven detailed plans are provided...

Scholars calm their minds and bodies with a 5-5-5 breathing exercise. Learners breathe in for five seconds, out for five seconds, then wait five seconds to start again. The exercise takes one minute to complete. 

What is social and emotional learning (SEL), and why is it important? Using a helpful resource, teachers discover ways to enhance SEL in the classroom. They show pupils how to regulate their emotions and behaviors, set personal and...

A quick mimi-lesson models how to replace a fixed mindset with a growth mindset, a mindset that says improvement is possible with practice. Included is an activity that asks individuals to rewrite 10 fixed mindset statements with 10...

Stressed out and tensed up! When stressed our bodies tense and our muscles clench. Teach youngsters how to calm down with simple deep pressure exercises. Press and release! 

A mini-lesson explains the role the parts of the brain play in thinking and learning. Scholars discover why feeling safe, calm, and connected is essential to learning effectively.

Key to social-emotional learning is understanding who we are. The first lesson in an Understanding Identity unit asks class members to consider the factors that shape one's concept of themselves, the parts of their identity they choose...

Middle schoolers practice techniques they can use to get safely out of uncomfortable situations involving peer pressure. One activity engages class members in role-playing two scenarios; the first modeling negative peer pressure, while...

Help middle schoolers develop healthy relationships with a series of activities that teaches them not only to recognize and protect themselves from unhealthy relationships, but also how to develop and maintain positive ones. In addition,...

The increase in the number of restrictions placed on smoking represents a clear shift in the understanding of the dangers of both the short term and long term consequences of tobacco use. But people still light up. Three activities help...

Leadership skills are a key component of service-learning. A 31-page booklet provides facilitators and participating partners with an explanation of service-learning, information about the principles and practices of responsive...

Forty pages offer 21 lessons to encourage leadership among kindergarten through eighth-grade scholars. Hands-on activities use the experiential learning model while exploring personal traits, getting to know peers, teambuilding,...

Many adults find it difficult to imagine that some middle schoolers are sexually active, and thus they shy away from discussing sexual activity with young people. However, misinformation and lack of information about such topics as STDs...

Respond rather than react—that's the big idea behind a instructional activity on conflict resolution strategies. A richly detailed plan teaches high schoolers strategies for resolving conflicts. Pupils play charades, engage in verbal and...

After reading a series of articles that provide background information about Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, class members design a meal plan and an activity plan for a weeklong summer camp for 5- to 8-year olds with diabetes. A second...

Four resources make up the SEL toolkit for educators. Intended for those that teach kindergarten to twelfth grade, helpful files include a companion guide, presentation, reference list, and a one-page snapshot that neatly showcases the...

"Understanding Influences," a richly detailed, carefully scaffolded unit, asks middle and high school scholars to examine how internal and external factors like friends, media, and society influence their attitudes and...

High schoolers take on the role of the nation's first Teen Nutrition and Fitness Czars and create tips that can be texted to other teens to remind them about healthy eating and exercising. Groups read articles to gather background...

The big idea in the last lesson in the Health Smart series is that individuals must practice emotional first aid, that just as we take care of physical injuries, we must take care of emotional injuries. Scholars watch a short video and...

Tweens and teens learn how to be a lifesaver and help a peer who may be struggling with thoughts of suicide. They identify risk factors and warning signs, and strategies to get an individual to seek help.

Provide tweens and teens with information they need to know about stress with an article that details how stress affects various organs in the body. The article also offers tips for healthy ways to cope with stress.

Social classes may be explicitly defined as in a caste system or based more informally on such ideas as wealth or education. After reading and discussing an article about one woman's experience with trying to fit into a system different...