How do you incorporate SEL (social emotional learning) into your reading group lessons? Maybe you have an observation coming up or maybe you are incorporating more SEL into your overall classroom management. SEL can support students’ mental health, increase positive behavior, and strengthen academic performance. It can also help students develop real-world skills that they can use in both academic and personal settings now and as an adult.

Here are some ways to incorporate SEL into your reading group lessons:

• Daily Check-in-I start all of my reading groups with a daily check in. It gives you a quick insight to see how the students’ emotional well-being is that day without taking up too much time for lengthy conversations. It is also a good way for the students to be more self-aware of how they are feeling. If students are able to recognize their general well-being of a day, they can better navigate their behavior choices. Please scroll down to see the slide that I created and that I use with my students. This was created from a template on Canva. Very easy to do!
• Choosing SEL focused reading passages-Select passages that focus on SEL topics like empathy, friendship, or growth mindset. Ask students to analyze the text, identify key ideas, and examine characters’ emotions. 
• Incorporate SEL into story time-Ask students to describe what happened to a character and how they think the character feels. You could also ask students what they could do in that situation using the SEL strategies that you have been teaching in your classroom or reading group.
• Have students work in groups-Group work can help students reflect and relate reading to their personal experiences. Give them some sentence starters like “I feel”, “I would have” or “That character probably feels” to get their thoughts started.
• Set goals-Goal-setting activities can help students increase their confidence and perseverance. This is important because many struggling readers lack confidence and studies have shown that once you boost a readers confidence level, the stronger reader they become.
• Talk about emotions-Help students understand what emotions are and why they feel certain emotions. You can do this through written exercises or by talking through emotions. The best part of SEL is that it helps teach students how to handle those emotions.

Want to read more about how to incorporate SEL into your reading block? Peyton from The Social Emotional Teacher has written an interesting blog post on it here.

Looking for FREE worksheets to go with your SEL lessons or to incorporate SEL into your lesson instruction? Education.com has plenty of them here.

How do you incorporate SEL into your literacy instruction? Please feel free to share your ideas below. We learn best from experience and from each other! Thank you.