Hot chocolate, cozy sweaters, and building snowmen are just a few things we love about winter. We also love that it’s a good time to build social and emotional skills!
As a fun way to spruce up SEL during this season, we created a Winter SEL Challenge. Students have the opportunity to complete nine SEL activities and develop competence in the SEL skills they need for academic and life-long success.
Here’s how the challenge works:
1. Have students complete these nine SEL activities (English version)(Spanish version). For students in grades K–8, the activities should be completed in class during the winter months. Students in grades 9–12 can complete the challenge in class or at home during winter break.
– In class (grades K–12): Print and share the challenge with your students. Have them work on each activity in small groups.
– At home (grades 9–12): Email the challenge to families, or print and send home a copy with your students.
2. Have students mark off which activities they complete. Then, ask students to share what they learned as they completed the SEL activities. As a class, review the importance of SEL and discuss how students increased their social and emotional competence through the challenge.
The challenge can be used as a conversation starter for class discussion, but you could also turn it into a project, asking students to create a video, write an essay, draw a cartoon, or design a poster about their experiences.
3. Celebrate success! Award students with extra credit points, a class party, or inexpensive prizes for working through some (or all) of the challenge activities.
Download the Winter SEL Challenge:
We hope you and your students have fun with the challenge this winter. Now ready, set, GO!