What do airplanes have to do with Social Emotional Learning?

Our 4th Graders never cease to amaze us! For the past few weeks, our Social Emotional Learning classes have focused on friendship initiation and maintenance. Students have "interviewed" each other to determine the interests of as well as commonalities with peers. Among the many goals of this exercise was the appreciation of the diversity with which each student presents. As we learn about our differences, we also learn to find joy in those things that we have in common, and hopefully see our peers with fresh eyes. This was accomplished as the students practiced their listening skills asking their partners such questions as "What do you like to do in your spare time?", or "What kinds of sports do you like to play?". In our group discussion, the students were happy to report things they had learned about their partner that they didn't know before, as well as things that they might like to do together.

We followed this class with a related activity where they were asked to fill out a Friendly Behaviors Checklist, where they were asked to rate themselves on such qualities as "inviting others to play, " or "being a good sport if I lose". Students responded as either being good at it or needing to work on the skill. The honesty in their responses allowed them to think about what goals they would like to accomplish as they develop their own friendship skills. After a bit of discussion, one of the students asked me if he could make a paper airplane out of his page, and, after a bit of thought, I decided that it would be a great idea! So we encouraged all of the students to make paper airplanes with their quiz sheets, and after they were completed, threw them up in the air (at the count of 3), and then pick one up to read. As the students did not write their names on the papers, anonymity was preserved! The point was that the students had the opportunity to see that we all have friendship goals to work on as we go through our lives. They also found that the most common response needing work was "Remembering something important in a friends' life and asking about it"!

Airplanes flying

Airplanes landing

What they looked like

And, as you know, the students love to role play, so we finished this exercise with groups of 3 role playing the various scenarios on the quiz page. They had such fun with this and did such a great job! They asked to do this more frequently (the role playing, not the paper airplanes, although, they no doubt would enjoy more of that as well)!

So congratulations to the 4th Graders for being such wonderful, caring friends and airplane flyers!

Moving Right Along....

I'm not exactly sure how this first month of school managed to slip by so quickly, but I am both inspired and excited about the willingness of our students to "think outside of the box" as they engage in our SEL classes. The first month of school has focused on Self-Awareness, which is a critical first step toward the acquisition of social skills on any level. We have challenged our students to identify and label their own feelings under various circumstances, as well as to practice and role play problem solving strategies to repair social situations as they arise. We have also talked about times when we can solve our own problems, as well as how we can ask for help, depending upon the need. I am always amazed at how well the children role play specific situations at a moment's notice, brainstorm solutions as a group, then demonstrate new learning both in class and around campus throughout the day!

The next month or so will concentrate the understanding of how our feelings affect our behaviors, and consequently those of others with whom we come in contact throughout the day. We will talk about perspective taking, caring about the feelings and viewpoints of others, and being aware of others' perceptions of us based upon our actions. We will rehearse active listening skills and
empathic responding to the feelings and concerns of our friends. So please feel free to talk about these activities at home and practice the kinds of listening skills your children will learn. Making eye contact, nodding to confirm understanding, taking turns speaking and giving the type of feedback that indicates understanding are important and can be practiced everywhere!