Just as you would teach a lesson in spelling or math, social emotional skills can be taught through explicit instruction. Although our approach encourages weaving organic teachable moments of SEL throughout the day, for some, dedicating a set or structured amount of time to focused skill building is the best fit for their classroom or program time. To incorporate SEL into your day using a more structured approach, we’ve developed Words to Live By Lesson Plans using our time-tested curriculum.
Setting up for success
Before jumping into a lesson plan, review the I Soar With Wings Curriculum to get a better understanding of the foundational building blocks including:
- The five core competencies of social emotional learning
- Words to Live By — our kid-friendly language to help teach the skills
- The ten essential life lessons embedded in Words to Live By
- Skill Builders
- Activities and Games
Starting with lesson plans
Each lesson plan has everything you need to teach and reinforce concepts and put them into practice. We’ve combined each lesson, skill builder, and suggested activity into a lesson plan to make it easy to incorporate into your day or program time. Let’s dive into a sample lesson plan to see exactly what you can expect when you get started with lesson plans.
Grade
Categorized and aligned with age-appropriate content, lesson plans can be easily implemented based on the grade level of your group.
Objective
A corresponding objective is tied to the competency and essential lesson built into Words to Live By.
Skill Builder
Each lesson is supported by a Skill Builder. A Skill Builder is a teaching tip or easy-to-remember acronym that helps put the lesson into action. Skill Builders are designed to be memorable, practical, and able to be applied to everyday situations that arise during the school day or program time.
Supplies Needed
A list of supplies needed is also added to help you prepare for the lesson in advance.
Activity
Each lesson and Skill Builder is paired with an activity to provide a fun and engaging way to practice the new skill. Activities and games give kids the opportunity to experience using new concepts and strategies as they interact with you and their peers. They foster social connections and help build confidence as they try their new skills.
Discussion Prompts
Discussion prompts are another way to make simple, yet intentional connections to learning social emotional skills every day. Discussion prompts help students to build confidence by sharing their ideas and emotions, build relationships between you and their peers, and help them think more deeply about a topic or competency.
Designed for flexibility
Lesson plans can be used daily, weekly, or any other frequency that works best for you. They are designed for flexibility, meaning you are not required to implement them in any specific order and you are not required to follow a set “path” for them to be successful.
For those that are looking for a more structured routine to implement lesson plans, check out Getting Started with Collections for more ideas on how to create a customized curriculum to suit your scheduling needs.
Our activity library includes dozens of activities, designed to work with each lesson and Skill Builder so that over time, you can swap out different activities for each lesson. You can also swap out discussion prompts if you choose to repeat or interchange lessons—keeping them fresh and fun for students.
Grab and Go Search Tool
A simple way to navigate through lesson plans is by using the Grab and Go search tool. Easily find what you’re looking for when you search by keyword, SEL competency, or by grade level.
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