15 Minutes Daily Social Emotional Learning Activities For The Classroom

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) has become a big topic in schools for good reasons.

As educators, we know how essential social and emotional skills are to students and consistently try to bring SEL in the classroom. We do our best to create a safe space for students and teach different social emotional skills.

However, balancing cultivating social and emotional skills while covering the curriculum is challenging, especially since TIME is never really on our side!

So, what if I told you that you could do it within 15 minutes?!

Yes! It is possible to bring SEL in the classroom daily if you have at least 15 minutes!

How? Your answer is Morning Meetings!

The morning time is usually an awkward chunk of the day.

You can’t fully start a lesson because not all your students have arrived. Furthermore, in some schools, that’s when your students get to eat breakfast. Not to mention, some students have to be pulled out for intervention.

Yet, your morning time sets the tone for the rest of the day!

Many teachers are interested in incorporating Morning Meetings into their daily schedule. However, it can be pretty time-consuming to plan conversational topics or activities every morning, especially when you also have to prepare for the rest of the day.

Today, I want to share how I structure my Morning Meeting with you and my FREE Back to School SEL Morning Meeting resource.

I hope to show you that bringing SEL in the classroom can be a quick and easy process with very little prep! And, maybe give you some ideas on how you can start cultivating social and emotional skills with your students.

15 Minutes SEL Morning Meeting Routine:

First, I use Google Slides with fun and quick activities students could do at their desks or through a virtual platform. A workbook version of the resource is also now available for quiet morning time.

Second Step to 15 Minutes SEL Morning Meeting Routine

Second, spend about 3 minutes reading and discussing the prompt.

Third Step to 15 Minutes SEL Morning Meeting Routine

Third, spend about 8 Minutes letting students work on the activity.

Each activity is different, and some may take less time. However, if most of the students are completed before time, I will move on to share time.

Fourth Step to 15 Minutes SEL Morning Meeting Routine — fourth Step to 15 Minutes SEL Morning Meeting Routine

Lastly, spend the last 4 Minutes on Share Time.

Allow some students to share, do a partner talk, or have a class discussion. My students love partner talk because it ensures they all get a chance to share what they came up with, even if it’s only for one person. I usually pick 1 or 2 volunteers to share with the whole class if we have time.

There you have it! That’s how you can spend just 15 minutes bringing SEL in the classroom!

What The Week Looks Like:

Each week is also dedicated to a specific SEL topic with a different focus on each day. I structure my week as follows:

Mindset Monday:

Start of the week with Mindset Monday! Students get an introduction to the SEL topic of the week with an activity that gets them to think deeper about the topic.

Togetherness Tuesday

Moving on to Togetherness Tuesday, where the activity is focused on the SEL topic but also getting students to think about the people around them.

Wise Words Wednesday

Then, we explore a quote about the SEL topic on Wednesday. Finally, students do a quick activity framed from the quote itself.

Thankful Thursday

Gratitude is a big part of cultivating social and emotional skills, so students spend time every Thursday on that. Still, on the SEL topic, students get to explore their appreciation of the people and things around them.

Flashback Friday

After a whole week of exploring a specific SEL topic, students reflect on what they have learned and formulate their understanding of that SEL topic.

Literacy Connection?

There are so many great Read Aloud books on different SEL topics! So, yes! You can easily make a Literacy Connection with the Morning Meeting slides.

If you have time on Mindset Monday, you can read the Read Aloud book of your choice or, as suggested in the slides. The read aloud book is perfect for helping get students interested and thinking about the SEL topic.

I hope this shows you how easy and fast you can bring SEL in the classroom. Grab a FREE copy of the Back To School SEL Morning Meeting here.

Or, you can also check out the SEL Morning Meeting for the whole year here.

Thank you so much for always thriving to give your students the best.