Back to School SEL Activities - Community Building, All About Me, Friendship

This back to school social emotional learning activities resource is filled with first week of school lesson plans for kindergarten, first grade, and second grade. Build classroom community and friendships, share all about me, and encourage kindness and empathy using engaging activities (games, coloring pages, writing prompts, and worksheets) during the most important time of year!

What is the scope and sequence?

It includes 4 weeks of SEL lessons and activities in 4 themes for the start of school. There are 5+ lessons and activities for each theme.

Week 1: community building

Week 2: all about me (building confidence & self-esteem)

Week 3: friendship

Week 4: kindness & empathy

I suggest teaching one lesson/activity per day. They can be easily integrated into your morning meeting, read aloud time, writing block, or during brain breaks and transitions. This resource was made with the K-2 classroom teacher in mind, but work well with any childhood educator or school counselors working with groups of children.

What does the mind+heart Back to School SEL resource include?

Look at the PREVIEW for a look at this SEL resource up close and the variety of lessons and activities included!

The mind+heart SEL back to school resource includes a variety of thought provoking discussion topics, community building ideas, and engaging activities to help build and maintain important social and emotional skills. Children will have many opportunities to learn, practice, and develop through a variety of activities as they start the school year.

Theme #1: Community Building

Start building classroom community on day one with these lessons and activities. They encourage respect for one another, forming connections, and appreciation for others and their differences.

Lessons & Activities:

• Quote poster to hang and coloring pages
• Classroom contract & back to school bulletin board
• Ice breaker games
• Role play scenario task cards
• 'All Are Welcome' book companion & writing activity
• Classroom book

Theme #2: All About Me

Get to know each other better and help children feel more comfortable in the classroom with these lessons, activities, and routines that encourage understanding, confidence to grow, and identities to form.

Lessons & Activities:

• Quote poster to hang and/or color
• Star of the Week writing and hat
• 'This School Year Will be the Best' book & goal writing activity
• Self-portrait photograph with writing art activity
• 'Get to Know Me' discussion cards
• Welcome banner and pennant

Theme #3: Relationships

Begin to build friendships and relationships in the classroom through lessons and activities that permit children to focus on learning and getting to know one another and the teachers while thriving in the new classroom environment.

Lessons & Activities:

• Quote poster to hang and/or color
• 'A Good Friend' anchor chart & writing
• Friendship wreath
• 'How to Get Your Teacher Ready' book & how-to writing activity
• Interview a Friend
• Scavenger Hunt
• Friendship BINGO

Theme #4: Kindness & Empathy

Empathy and kindness are particularly significant topics to start teaching children about at the start of school. These lessons and activities will guide kids to act with kindness and compassion when interacting throughout the day.

Lessons & Activities:

• Quote poster to hang and/or color
• 'The Day You Begin' book & writing lesson
• Board game
• Role-play scenario task cards
• Kindness Challenge - calendar & awards
• Wrinkled heart lesson

DIGITAL ACTIVITIES INCLUDED: Many of the activities from the printable version have been created in a digital version. These are ready in Google Slides for use in Google Classroom. The digital pages are great for use during remote teaching, distance learning, and in a one-to-one classroom!

Why start the year with social-emotional learning?

The beginning of the school year is important for teaching social and emotional skills. Teaching these early will help set a positive tone for the year in your classroom. Kids will begin to feel a part of the classroom community, have a stronger sense of self, and be better prepared to handle the challenges they face throughout the year.

DISCLAIMER: The video links to the read-alouds and supplemental lesson content are subject to change at any time. Proud to be Primary is not the creator of these videos, and therefore the links may be removed by the creators or authors of the content at any time at their discretion. If you find a broken link in the resource, please let us know by leaving a Q&A, and try searching YouTube for an alternate video to watch instead. Read alouds online are also available for teachers via the library website Hoopla.

FAQ:

Is this resource included in the mind+heart K-2 curriculum?

This resource is NOT included in the curriculum. This resource takes a different structure and is meant to start your class off on the right path with SEL. I highly recommend going further and continuing to teach social and emotional skills through the year after this resource has been taught with the mind+heart K-2 curriculum.

Is this resource different from the mind+heart K-2 curriculum?

While this resource touches on similar topics (kindness, relationships, and empathy), the mini-lessons and activities are BRAND NEW! These lessons are geared specifically for starting the year, getting to know one another, and developing classroom community. I highly recommend starting to teach the year with this resource and then implementing the curriculum afterward.

♥♥The mind+heart Social Emotional Learning Seasonal Activities BUNDLE (Back to School, Fall, Winter, Spring, & End of the Year) is available for a SPECIAL LOW PRICE DISCOUNT. Get your school year’s worth of seasonal lessons and activities (20 themed weeks) to weave into your monthly lesson plans TODAY! ♥♥

TEACHERS LIKE YOU SAID...

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Good Morning Miss Jess says, "Could not rate this resource any higher. I have used this pack to fully plan our first few weeks of the school term. I love how it is broken into key areas for students to get know each other, work on social skills, build friendship and establish a safe and cohesive classroom environment."

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Christina C. says, "SEL is so important this year especially, and this is the perfect resource to kickstart that in your classroom! So many creative, new activities that my kids are already loving!"

♥♥The mind+heart Social Emotional Learning Curriculum for K-2 is an SEL curriculum for the whole year and is available for a SPECIAL DISCOUNT. Get your entire year’s worth of lessons (40 included) and activities to help young children to develop emotional literacy, self-control, and social competence TODAY! ♥♥

Check out the other seasonal SEL resources for K-2:

Fall SEL Lessons & Activities

Winter SEL Lessons & Activities

Spring SEL Lessons & Activities

End of the Year SEL Lessons & Activities

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Terms of Use: This product is licensed for single classroom use ONLY unless multiple licenses are purchased. Your purchase grants you a license to use in a secure, password-protected online platform (such as Google Classroom) with your students only. You may not transfer or share with another teacher or use it for commercial purposes (Outschool, etc.).

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