Social and emotional skills are recognized as vital for improving student academic performance, emotional development and positive behavior. With these ready-to-use, student centered activities you'll be able to easily weave SEL into your busy classroom or counseling program.

This collection of the most popular and effective activities for middle school offered by Innerchoice Publishing aligns with CASEL's five core SEL competencies: Self-awareness, Self-management, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, and Responsible Decision-making. Within these units engaging activities, Sharing Circles and reproducible student pages address topics such as:

Recognizing how thoughts and feelings affect behavior

Identifying emotions and how they affect others

Regulating and controlling anger

Demonstrating honesty, reliability, and respect

Considering the consequences of different actions

Making positive choices and decisions

Identifying individual strengths and weaknesses

Examining prejudices and biases

Learning effective stress management strategies

Setting and attaining short and long-term goals

Establishing and maintaining healthy relationships

Making positive connections with others

Empathizing with others

Taking the perspective of others

Accepting and appreciating differences in others

Recognizing value in diversity

Making and keeping friends

Using effective communication skills

Being aware of group dynamics

Identifying peaceful conflict management strategies

Listening with empathy and understanding

And more

Written and designed for clarity and ease of implementation, each activity includes behavioral objectives, step-by-step instructions, and thought-provoking discussion questions formulated to elicit higher-level thinking and reflection.

Engage your students in these enjoyable and effective social and emotional learning skills that will serve them throughout their lives.