Cross-curricular SEL Activity - Grade 3 by Melanie Harkes

The Greedy Triangle SEL Activity

by Melanie Harkes - Teacher Candidate @ Nipissing University

The greedy triangle activity was a great way to integrate geometry, SEL and language.
We started with a read aloud of the book, “The Greedy Triangle” by: Marilyn Burns.
The book was about a triangle that was dissatisfied and continued to change his shape.
At the end of the book the children realized the triangle was much happier being himself
than any other shape. The students were able to make connections and explain that
sometimes people want to be different, but in the end we have to appreciate who we are.
We shared different character traits and what zone of regulation they would be
associated with and why. The students got very creative and came up with some great
“personality polygons”, like awesome arrow, sad square, tired triangle, respectful
rectangle and so much more.

For the next part of the activity the student wrote an explanatory paragraph, which
would explain their polygon and its associated personality trait. They had to specify why
their shape was considered a polygon, which furthered their understanding of geometric
shapes. They often wrote about what zone of regulation their polygon was in and why.
The students really enjoyed this activity and they were able to tie together geometry
and social emotional learning with literacy. It was great to have an activity that not
only developed their skills academically, but socially and emotionally as well.