Social-emotional learning is an educational method that aims to foster social and emotional skills within the school day. SEL is a way to make sure kids are learning academics, but also social and emotional skills. This is needed now more than ever before as kids are dealing with more complex issues. Social Emotional Learning read alouds can help teach so many of those skills!
One of the easiest ways to fit this into our hectic schedules is through read-alouds! Social Emotional Learning read-alouds can bring up so many amazing discussions and lessons related to social-emotional learning! Today I am going to share my three favorite chapter book read-alouds for SEL.
Social Emotional Learning Chapter Books
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Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
Fish in a Tree is a great Social Emotional Learning read aloud! This story is about a girl, Ally, with dyslexia. But she is afraid to be honest about her inability to read, so instead, she acts out. It takes one teacher to really look past that acting out and find who she really is.
This is a great book to discuss things like learning disabilities and why children act out. Students typically can call children that act out, “bad kids”, and this book does a great job showing them that sometimes there is an underlying reason and that we should still be kind to everyone.
Wonder by R.J. Palacio
This book is about a boy who looks different from everyone else. Auggie has facial deformities and this book shows how kindness can be so impactful. Up until 5th grade, he was unable to go to mainstream school and this book takes a walk through his experience starting real school and how people treated him.
Pay it Forward by Catherine Ryan Hyde
Pay it Forward takes a look at a boy named Trevor who takes his teacher’s challenge to earn extra credit by coming up with a plan to change the world. He has an idea to do three kind acts for three people and then ask them to pay it forward. You get to watch how this simple idea changes his community.
This is great for lessons on simple acts of kindness and how the ripple effect of them is stronger than you ever believe. It is also a great way to kick off acts of kindness in your classroom and with your students. There are so many great discussions in this Social Emotional Learning read aloud!
Want another fun social emotional learning idea? Head to read about Word of the Week!
Hannah Wilde
I am so glad you’re here! I love helping 3rd-5th grade teachers by providing ideas, engaging resources, and professional development they need. I am a literacy coach who is here to help lessen the workload for teachers while making them more confident! I want students to be continually engaged in a rigorous environment!