Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is more than just a buzzword! It is and should be an essential part of your classroom. A part that you intentionally plan for and incorporate into your daily routines! When we prioritize Social-Emotional Learning, we empower students with the much-needed skills of self-regulation, empathy, and collaboration. These skills are crucial for helping our students become well-rounded, thriving individuals inside and outside our classroom. We are talking about the potential to make even more life-long impacts than we already do. 

I have always been a proponent of helping students become their best selves and providing lessons that support this goal. I incorporated a ton of picture books, always had a morning meeting, and didn’t shy away from letting kids talk about their feelings. Two years ago, I decided to seek out further education on the topic and began pursuing another master’s degree, this time in Social Emotional Development of children. It has been such a fulfilling and eye-opening process! If you’re interested in diving deeper into the world of SEL, CASEL is a fabulous resource and guide.

But even with all the new knowledge I gained, the question remained: where does social-emotional development fit in with our already-packed lesson plans and long lists of academic standards to cover? The answer lies in naturally integrating SEL into the routines we already have in place, and once you start, you won’t ever want to stop!  The practical strategies and resources below are designed to help you build a classroom culture that values connection, self-awareness, and emotional growth alongside academic gains by naturally integrating SEL.

Five Pillars of SEL and the CASEL Framework

I mentioned CASEL above, but they are truly the go-to for SEL! They have identified five tenets of Social Emotional Learning through their CASEL SEL framework: 

• Self-Awareness
• Self-Management
• Responsible Decision-Making
• Relationship Skills
• Social Awareness

Make Naturally Integrating SEL Easier with These SEL Resources

Research has shown that SEL not only enhances our students’ emotional well-being but also improves behavior, academic performance, and outlook towards school. When students feel supported and understood, they are more likely to engage in the classroom. By integrating SEL naturally into our routines, we can help students build these critical skills without simply adding “one more thing” to our busy schedule.

Here are five ways I regularly include SEL activities into our classroom routines, including their alignment to the CASEL Framework.

SEL Morning Meeting Activities

I am a huge believer in the power of morning meetings in upper elementary, and SEL practices are well-supported by Responsive Classroom techniques. Morning meetings are the perfect time to start each day with intention and connection! If you’re brand new to morning meetings, visit this post to see how it works in our classroom.

CASEL Framework Connections: When students participate in the Morning Meeting process of greetings, sharing, and collaborative group activities, they build self-awareness by reflecting on their emotions, developing self-management by practicing routines and regulation, strengthen social awareness by listening to and valuing peers’ perspectives, enhance relationship skills through communication and collaboration, and grow responsible decision-making by discussing and modeling positive choices within the classroom community.

There are several staple activities I use during morning meetings all year. 

Daily Reflection Journal: This Daily Reflection Journal builds essential writing skills while incorporating a growth mindset, self-reflection, and character development. It’s the ultimate way to incorporate SEL with writing standards, too. The completed journal pages can serve as a perfect starting point for morning meeting conversations. Each daily journal is two pages.

• Page one is the self-reflection piece. On this engaging page, students are prompted to think about their lives, emotions, and character.
• Page two is a more in-depth journal prompt. Here, students are given a full page to create a variety of writing. On this page, students will create personal narratives, use critical thinking, write letters, reflect on an experience, and more!

This journal gives students structured time to reflect on their emotions, life, and character (self-awareness), while the writing prompts help them think through behavior, choices, and personal growth (self-management, responsible decision-making). As they write about experiences and reflect, they cultivate empathy and perspective-taking (social awareness). The consistent practice also supports relationship skills—because students who understand themselves and their emotions tend to communicate more effectively and build better connections. 

Find Someone Who: I also like to use “Find Someone Who…” activities during morning meetings throughout the year, especially to get back into our routines after holiday breaks. You’ve probably seen these activities before, but here’s the catch: I don’t just hand them out and send students racing off to get as many signatures as they can as quickly as possible! Visit this post to learn how I get the most out of these activities and download several FREE boards to use all year.

Morning Meeting Read Aloud: Finally, I always include a read aloud in our morning meeting activities. This post has several picture books I use for my morning meeting read alouds, along with an engaging activity to pair with each book!

SEL Moving Mountains Picture Book Companions

Because picture books are such valuable tools for SEL, I created a full year of lessons focused on critical character-building skills using carefully selected picture books. The vision for this Moving Mountains Curriculum is for students to develop self-awareness about their roles in the classroom community and beyond. The lessons relate directly to each book, making them unique and extremely engaging for students. Visit this post to see Moving Mountains in more detail!

Incorporating SEL activities into your classroom and integrating them with other subjects has never been easier than using Moving Mountains. Each Moving Mountains Book Companion includes:

• 2-3 SEL Class Goals
• 5 Days of Complete Lesson Plans for SEL Integration + Printables
• Before, During, and After Reading Discussion Prompts
• Morning Meeting Greeting Cards  
• 5 Peaks and Pits Social Scenario Cards
• Extension Activity Suggestions
• Companion Book Suggestions
• Slide Decks for selected activities (see preview)
• BUNDLE BONUS: When you buy the complete bundle, you also get Moving Mountains Vocabulary posters. These carefully designed posters are the perfect way to display vocabulary terms in your classroom. 

For an even closer look at just how the Moving Mountains book companions improve SEL, visit these posts:

• Picture Books to Build Self-Awareness
• Picture Books to Build Relationship Skills

Novel Studies for SEL

Longer texts, like novels, allow for even deeper study of complex characters and situations. Building novel studies around stories that emphasize themes like resilience, growth, and relationships can give students valuable insights into their own lives while also exposing students to different perspectives. 

Consider novels with relatable characters and SEL-focused journeys to help your students build important character education skills. Then follow up with activities that encourage student to connect the books’ themes to their own experiences. Each of these posts can help you select the perfect books for your students!

Then you can use this set of Novel and Book Study activities for pre-reading, during reading, and after reading tasks to help your students think critically about what they’re reading.

This free character project also works with any novel as a way to dig deeper into character growth. It covers character traits, character conflict, and character change.

SEL Reader’s Theater Scripts

Reader’s theater is another way to bring creativity and collaboration into your classroom while fostering important SEL skills like perspective-taking and teamwork. When performing these Character Education Scripts focused on SEL concepts, students not only improve reading fluency and comprehension skills, but also explore important character education topics like:  

• Building Community
• Classroom Rules and Responsibilities
• Self-Acceptance and Accepting Others
• Kindness
• Accountability
• Friendship
• Self-Control
• Problem-Solving
• Optimism
• Assumptions

To learn more about reader’s theater, visit this post! It covers how to use reader’s theater scripts in your upper elementary classroom as well as tips for getting started if you’re brand new to it.

Why use Reader’s Theatre to support SEL? Not only do these reader’s theatre scripts offer important academic skills, but they are also well-aligned to support character development. These scripts provide students with opportunities to explore characters’ thoughts, feelings, and moral choices, which builds social awareness (understanding others’ perspectives) and self-awareness (recognizing one’s own values/emotions). As students practice reading aloud and enact different roles, they develop relationship skills—they listen, cooperate, take turns, and respond to one another. Reflecting on plot conflicts, character decisions, or themes fosters responsible decision-making, since learners consider consequences and ethical behavior. Finally, the regular rehearsal and performance help with self-management, including focus, impulse control, and confidence.

SEL Podcasts

Podcasts are another engaging way to integrate SEL into your classroom routines alongside thoughtful, high-interest reading comprehension and listening comprehension practice. These advice column-themed, student-centered podcasts include seven recorded podcasts that cover:

• Growth Mindset
• Friendship
• Sibling Dilemmas
• Honesty
• Collaboration
• Making Good Choices
• Rumors

Each episode includes Transcripts and Annotation Tasks, Show Notes & Show Note Template, and Reading Comprehension Tasks for a well-rounded approach that integrates SEL and literacy standards!

These Character Education Podcasts support SEL by helping students improve listening comprehension while exposing them to stories that highlight values and moral dilemmas—boosting social awareness and self-awareness. Reflecting on what they hear promotes responsible decision-making, and the routine of active listening strengthens self-management.

More Tips for Naturally Integrating SEL

Finally, as you work to integrate SEL into your classroom, remember that small, consistent steps can lead to big growth. Modeling positive behaviors, encouraging open communication, and fostering a growth mindset are all ways you can create a safe space for all students to grow. 

Here are more posts than can help you deepen your understanding and practice of SEL in your classroom. 

• Ways to Support Students’ Emotional Needs in the Classroom
• The Importance of Growth Mindset
• Weekly Letter Writing to Build Community
• More Building Community Posts