Social Awareness in the Classroom
If you’re not a teacher, you would be baffled that teaching kids to read and do math is the easy part of teaching!! The harder work is helping them figure out how to actually be...
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SEL & Student Screen Time
We ALL see it: students struggling to stay with something for more than a few minutes. Less back-and-forth during group work. A kind of low-grade restlessness that wasn’t always there. You’re not imagining it!! We’re...
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20 Ways to Encourage SEL at Home
Most of what I write is for teachers, but if you’ve ever worked in a classroom, you already know this: what happens at home and what shows up at school are deeply connected. SEL at...
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Resetting Classroom Culture Mid-Year
There’s a point every school year when the wheels start to wobble a little. Routines get loose, patience runs thin, and the class inside jokes turn into class-wide distractions. You look around and think, “This…isn’t...
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Introducing a Communication Notebook
There are always going to be students who walk into our classrooms carrying more than a backpack. They’re carrying thoughts they don’t know how to say out loud, impulsive thoughts, worries from recess and home,...
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Using Monthly SEL Interactive Calendars
People tell me CONSTANTLY that they believe in SEL, just don’t have time for another program or curricular initiative. Most teachers aren’t skipping SEL because they don’t value it, but the day is already packed....
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What is Unconditional Attention?
There is a phrase I come back to often when teachers feel stuck with behavior that feels relentless, attention seeking, or exhausting to manage: unconditional attention. This idea is simple, but it is uncomfortable if...
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Using the Winter Olympic Games Slide Deck
Here’s the thing about the Winter Games: kids are already curious, adults are already half-watching, and the sports are… kind of weird in the best way. Luge? Biathlon? Mountaineer skiing? Most of us couldn’t explain...
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Using MagnaTiles in the Classroom
The post “Using MagnaTiles in the Classroom” includes affiliate links. Weirdly enough, MagnaTiles are not a toy in my classroom brain. They’re a classroom tool that just happens to look like fun. Which is honestly...
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Teaching Brain Science to Kids
If you have ever tried to explain brain science to kids, you already know the look. The wide eyes. The slow blink. Kids are curious about why they feel big feelings or why their bodies...
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