SEL Activities
Shayla Pierre – Teacher Candidate @ University of Ottawa
I was lucky enough to have my final placement as a teacher candidate in Laura Cress’
grade 3 classroom. I learned so much from being a part of the classroom environment
from September-January. I think one thing that stood out the most was the amount of
emphasis that not only Laura but that the school put on mindfulness, SEL and student’s
overall well-being. Student success is what we all strive for as educators and I really
believe that working on a student’s well-being is setting them up to be successful.
grade 3 classroom. I learned so much from being a part of the classroom environment
from September-January. I think one thing that stood out the most was the amount of
emphasis that not only Laura but that the school put on mindfulness, SEL and student’s
overall well-being. Student success is what we all strive for as educators and I really
believe that working on a student’s well-being is setting them up to be successful.
One specific example that I was a part of during my time there was a SEL Sesame
Street play. The whole message surrounding the play was to try even if you don’t succeed
right away and to be happy with who you are as a person. The topic of SEL is so
important for us to foster in children from an early age. It is important for them to
understand their emotions and understand how to deal with them. In the play we saw
that Big Bird couldn’t read a really long word and she just didn’t give up. Although it was
frustrating to not know something right away with patience, time and some help Big Bird
was able to read the word. As well as Grover, he wanted to learn to dance and was sad
that he couldn’t but with help from his friends he was able to. The play was presented
for the students from kindergarten-grade 2 and I think that it was a great message for
them to hear and learn in a fun and engaging manner.
Street play. The whole message surrounding the play was to try even if you don’t succeed
right away and to be happy with who you are as a person. The topic of SEL is so
important for us to foster in children from an early age. It is important for them to
understand their emotions and understand how to deal with them. In the play we saw
that Big Bird couldn’t read a really long word and she just didn’t give up. Although it was
frustrating to not know something right away with patience, time and some help Big Bird
was able to read the word. As well as Grover, he wanted to learn to dance and was sad
that he couldn’t but with help from his friends he was able to. The play was presented
for the students from kindergarten-grade 2 and I think that it was a great message for
them to hear and learn in a fun and engaging manner.
Another example of a mindfulness activity that we did in class was something called a
positive self-talk flower. The students were given a template of a flower with 6 petals
and about 100 different options that they could write on the flower for when they
needed some encouragement. Some of the messages were “I am smart”, “I am beautiful”,
“My voice matters”. All of which were important messages that the students could apply
to their everyday life. I think it’s so important for students to take control of their feel
ings and emotions and the positive self-talk flowers were a great way for them to have
those reminders.
positive self-talk flower. The students were given a template of a flower with 6 petals
and about 100 different options that they could write on the flower for when they
needed some encouragement. Some of the messages were “I am smart”, “I am beautiful”,
“My voice matters”. All of which were important messages that the students could apply
to their everyday life. I think it’s so important for students to take control of their feel
ings and emotions and the positive self-talk flowers were a great way for them to have
those reminders.
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