Team Building and Classroom Community Lessons | SEL Activities | Character

Description

Are you ready to Move Mountains with your students this year? We have created the perfect picture book companion to encourage teamwork and build classroom community at the beginning of the school year.

Incorporating SEL activities into your classroom and integrating them with other subjects has never been easier!

During the back-to-school season (or any time of year), grab In Our Garden by Pat Miller and Moving Mountains for the perfect SEL literacy resource.

This resource includes EVERYTHING you need to implement these lessons. Just grab a copy of the book (you can also find fun read-aloud versions on YouTube), and you’ll be set to go!

What’s included in this set of SEL (and character education) activities?

• 3 SEL Class Goals
• 5 Days of Complete Lesson Plans for SEL Integration
  • STEM and Literacy Integration
  • Community Bulletin Board
  • Science Experiment
  • Book Discussions and Reflections
  • Reflection and Other Printables As Needed

• 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)

Optional: We have included photos of everything you need (and you can share these with students if you don’t have them), but as an option, you can also gather two plants and white carnations with food coloring for visual representation. Again, these are NOT required to complete the activities.

What are the class goals and SEL objectives for In Our Garden?

• We will be able to come together to work toward a common goal.
• We will be able to create a space of belonging where we all feel valued.
• We will be able to explain why a classroom community is important.

How Can I Incorporate These Lessons Into My Classroom?

• Morning Meeting
• Literacy or Science (with STEM connections)
• Read Aloud
• As guidance or counseling lessons
• … any way you can dream up!

Our mission with Moving Mountains is to equip teachers with high-quality supplemental lessons that accompany exceptional picture books and teach students critical interpersonal skills. Our goal is to foster a strong classroom community and inspire lifelong learners.  It is our vision that through these lessons, students will become more self-aware about their place and purpose in their classroom community and beyond.

More about Moving Mountains:

❤️ Each book has been carefully selected to appeal to a wide age and grade range (2nd-5th grade) while being easily accessible to teachers. The accompanying lessons were designed with a specific character trait or personal skill in mind. Activities and objectives have been designed to fit within these skills, but please remember that there are many themes and relevant learning opportunities in each book.

❤️ Each week includes multiple lessons and activities. Depending on your classroom setup and the amount of time you have to devote to each book’s lessons, you may pick and choose which ones work best for you and your students. 

❤️ While the weekly activities are different to accompany each book, some consistent components include Peaks and Pits Scenario Cards, Morning Meeting Greeting Suggestions, Extension Activities, and Companion Book Suggestions.

Why did we create Moving Mountains? Moving Mountains has been a dream of mine for several years – As a current educator, I am passionate about bringing picture books into my classroom, particularly during my morning meeting with the aim of helping my students develop their personal goals. Each week, I choose one focus book and a specific skill or skill that it teaches. Throughout the week, we discuss the book and complete different activities relating to it. I have seen incredible growth in my students’ social and personal skills using this method, and I have dreamed of creating full units that are ready to go for teachers! Moving Mountains was born from the need for excellent, ready-to-use companion activities. I have teamed up with Andrea Burns from BookishBurns to create these units for you. I hope you love them as much as we do!

What makes Moving Mountains different from other book companions? We carefully designed these activities to fit the unique elements of each book. With very few elements repeated throughout different books, your students will never tire of seeing the same template activities over and over again. This has also enabled us to create specific, SEL skill-based activities aligned to each book and maximize the impact of these beautifully written picture books.

Why use picture books to teach reading and SEL skills? Simply put, picture books bring SEL skills to life! Picture books are short but beautiful authentic texts that help students see character traits and skills from different perspectives. We can use picture books to explicitly teach these important skills. Instead of telling students what it means to work as a team, we can SHOW them teamwork through character interactions in picture books and allow them to form their own definition of teamwork. Picture books have concrete stories and characters to reference as they continue to think about these skills. As an added bonus, picture books are highly engaging to students!

A Note on SEL: The term “SEL” is not incorporated into this product. Each book focuses on certain personal growth skills and themes.

Teaching With a Mountain View has received express permission from Pat Zietlow Miller, the author of In Our Garden, to use the book’s cover image on this page.