Fall SEL Bundle of Activities to Teach Character Education

Inside: Use this Fall SEL Bundle to teach social-emotional learning and character education during the fall months.

We used to live in a part of the country where there was really only one season. So when we taught the seasons to students, we really had to read a lot of books and bring in realia to really help them understand the concepts of things like snow and changing of the seasons.

But teaching about the seasons and the changes each one brings not only helps students understand weather patterns and the passage of time, they also help them understand the world around them.

And each seasonal theme makes learning in our classrooms more fun and engaging. When we can use these themes to teach harder subjects in fun, hands-on ways, our kids don’t even realize they’re learning.

And when we can theme our activities and our centers and our homework with high-interest themes for each month, our students will be more engaged and ready to learn.

So to teach social emotional learning (SEL) and character education in a fun, hands-on way through September, October and November, you will love this Fall SEL Bundle, perfect for helping kids decide what is kind and what is not kind as the leaves fall and the days get shorter and colder.

Why It’s Important to Teach Social Emotional Learning

Teaching Social Emotional Learning is an essential part of any curriculum because if we’re teaching the whole student, we can’t just focus on reading, writing, and math.

We have to focus on turn taking, and fair play, kindness, and being includers.

But social-emotional learning has so many more benefits than simply teaching about kindness.

It also improves our students’ self-confidence, self esteem, problem-solving skills, emotional intelligence and encourages kids to be more helpful, compassionate, generous, and grateful.

There are tons of ways to teach Social Emotional Learning and make it fun.

To connect SEL to reading skills, we can use this Emergent Reader Bundle.

To connect SEL to the alphabet and letter recognition we can use this Kindness Zoo Bundle.

To connect SEL to gross motor skills we can play these Kindness Games.

And to connect SEL to the seasons, we can use this Fall SEL Bundle.

What’s Included in the Fall SEL Bundle:

This Fall Bundle includes 6 Kindness Activities:

Apple Kind Or Unkind Sort
Kindness Apples Craft and Creative Writing
Pumpkins Kind Or Unkind Sort
Kindness Pumpkins Craft and Creative Writing
Leaves Kind Or Unkind Sort
Kindness Leaves Craft and Creative Writing

Resources Included in the Seasonal SEL Bundle for Fall:

24 apples with kindness or unkindness clipart in color
24 apples with kindness or unkindness clipart in black and white
24 pumpkins with kindness or unkindness clipart in color
24 pumpkins with kindness or unkindness clipart in black and white
24 kindness leaves with kindness or unkindness clipart in color
24 kindness leaves with kindness or unkindness clipart in black and white
Kind and Unkind sorting mats in color and black and white for the activity
3 Kindness worksheets to help kids show what they know and determine what is kind and what is not kind in color and black and white
12 creative writing prompts to encourage kindness writing
21 writing sheets: 3 for early writers/prewriters and 3 for writers, themed for fall.
small leaves in color to draw on
small leaves in color to write on
small leaves in black and white to draw on
large leaf in black and white to draw on
large leaf in black and white to write on
small apples in color to draw on
small apples in color to write on
small apples in black and white to draw on
large apple in black and white to draw on
large apple in black and white to write on
small pumpkins in color to draw on
small pumpkins in color to write on
small pumpkins in black and white to draw on
large pumpkin in black and white to draw on
large pumpkin in black and white to write on
ideas to display kindness crafts, publish writing, and connect to listening and speaking skills

How to Use the Resources in the Fall SEL Bundle:

For Each of the Kind or Unkind Sorts:

1. Purchase and print out the version you wish to use: color or black and white.

2. If you use the black and white version, color the cards using these skin color crayons so the kids on the characters are as diverse as your students.

3. Cut apart the cards (apples, leaves or pumpkins) and laminate them for durability.

4. Go over the pictures on the cards to ensure children understand what the picture depicts. You can use these as discussion starters before or after the activity.

5. The students will sort the cards by kind actions or unkind actions by placing the cards near the correct item (gates or trees).

They can do this in small groups during centers, independently, or you can do it as a whole group in a pocket chart.

If there are too many cards, you can only give students half the cards at once so they are more successful.

6. To follow up on the activity, students can complete the Kind or Unkind worksheet to show their understanding.

Students will cross off or circle the actions on the worksheet. If you use black and white version, students can color in the images that are kind and x off the images that are unkind.

7. To connect this sel curriculum to writing skills, students can draw a picture/write how they will choose to be kind this summer. If students are prewriters, they can dictate their answer and draw a picture.

For the Craft and Prints:

1. Print out the version you wish to use: color or black and white on construction paper or cardstock. If you print in black and white, encourage kids to color.

2. Students can get one or more of the smaller items (apple, leaf, pumpkin) to cut and color.

Encourage them to write or draw or dictate how they can show more kindness. As a group, you can brainstorm ideas ahead of time.

3. Display the kindness crafts in your class:

make a paper tree out of construction paper/butcher paper on a bulletin board and attach the apples or leaves.
punch two holes at the top of each apple, kindness leaf, or pumpkin and place string through both holes to make a garland that can be hung up on a wall or across a room.
bind the large apples, pumpkins, and leaves into a classroom book to put in your classroom library.
use them as a table or desk decoration for Back to School Night.
laminate them onto placemats for snacktime/lunch.

4. To connect with writing skills even further, students can write or draw on the creative writing journal pages. These can also be added to a classroom book.

5. To connect with listening and speaking skills, students can “present” and share their kindness apples, pumpkins and leaves and their writing with their peers.