Kindergarten and 1st Grade Social Emotional Learning Lesson Plans

In this lesson, students will learn about how emotions change and will understand and discuss different feeling words for different emotions by associating emotions with colors, visuals, and a charades game.

Imagine wild animals teaching students to walk mindfully, and camoflauge teaching about stillness. This lesson takes a cue from animal adaptations as students practice walking and pausing mindfully.

In this lesson, students will learn how to practice peace when they feel hurt or have a disagreement. These steps can be followed whenever conflict arises in the classroom.

Everyone belongs and is welcome in this lesson on diversity and inclusion. Students will hear a story and learn a song connected to welcoming and including others.

What happens when students explore their senses on the inside? This lesson encourages students to look at, listen to, and feel what is happening on the inside through practicing mindfulness.

Owls hear so well that they can hunt in the dark. Have your students try on their owl ears! In this lesson, students open up their ears to all the sounds around them, close and far away, and go on a sound hunt.

Deep relaxation in school? Yes, it is possible! Through this process you will guide students to consciously focus on relaxing various body parts, leading to a visualization to help relax their full body mindfully.

We all have our own home of feelings inside, like a shell that we can tuck into when needed. This we learn from turtles, and now your students can too. This lesson helps students access that place inside full of feelings, emotions, and thoughts.

In this lesson, students will discuss, generate a list, and practice appropriate activities that may improve the way they feel. Students will engage in a gratitude practice and learn strategies for changing their mood.

In this lesson, students will discuss similarities and differences in a fish bowl activity. They will also learn tools to practice gratitude for each other's differences and similarities.

Often, it's difficult to see mistakes and failures as opportunities to grow! In this lesson, students will practice having a growth mindset and looking at mistakes as opportunities to learn. They'll consider how challenges grow their brain.

In this lesson, students will learn about the importance of doing one thing at a time and listen to the book What Does It Mean to Be Present?. Then, they will experience the inefficiency of multitasking by doing three things at once.

Nature can teach us about impermanence and appreciation of the present moment. In this lesson, students will explore impermanence in nature, and they'll create their own nature mandala that reflects impermanence and nature's gifts.

In this lesson, students explore ways they can give themselves more energy or help them relax. They will also learn that movement breaks are beneficial in releasing stress and tension and providing energy.

In this lesson, students will learn the steps in solving a problem, discuss solutions from the story "Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present," and use these same problem-solving skills when they build shapes with pattern blocks.

Listening to the soothing sounds of the ocean and practicing slowing down can be helpful to feel more calm and ease. Calming tools such as breathwork, mindful movement, and stillness are practiced in this ocean-themed lesson.

What does it mean to be a leader? In this lesson, students will discuss leadership and will practice leading mindfulness for other students in their class.

In this lesson, students will move through stations to practice and reflect on the mindfulness and social emotional learning tools that they have learned throughout the year.

In this lesson, students will answer questions, role-play different scenarios, and explore their feelings as they make healthy choices. They will also learn some questions to ask themselves when making decisions.

In this lesson, students will practice loving kindness for a classmate by writing them a letter or drawing them a picture showing their appreciation.

Compliments can build relationships and a positive class climate! In this lesson, students will participate in a compliment circle, give and receive compliments, and draw/write kind notes to others.

The first step to helping students develop empathy is teaching them about feelings. In this lesson, students learn what feelings look like by crafting their own emotional faces.

We all want to be good friends. But what does this look like? Help students to understand what it means to be a good friend by reading a story, acting out a skit, and creating a friendship picture.

In this social skills lesson plan, students will get to practice identifying how to be a friend. Friendship is an important social skill for kindergarten students to master as they begin to form a new community of peers at school.

What if you imagine your lungs as wings? In this lesson, a butterfly helps teach students about mindful breathing. Learn to use the butterfly breath in three different ways!

Mindfulness 101! Students focus on the present moment using their senses to observe what is happening right now. They are introduced to the idea that mindfulness is about paying attention to the present.

In this lesson, students will learn how their breath can be their greatest friend. They will practice and learn how to use their breath when they feel tense or overwhelmed, just like a magical tool!

In this lesson, students will define and discuss the word "determination" through song and play.

In this lesson, students will explore and discuss the term "empathy" by hearing stories from two different perspectives and identifying the feelings of each of the characters. They will also discuss what it means to be true to ourselves.

Learning how to distinguish between facts and opinions is critical for the development of communication and social skills. In this lesson, students will learn the difference between facts and opinions through play and pictures.