5 Read Alouds and STEM Challenges to Teach Social Awareness Skills to Kids
*This blog post contains Amazon affiliate links. By clicking on the links and making a purchase, we may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.
5 Read Alouds and STEM Challenges to Teach Social Awareness
Social and emotional learning (SEL) provides the opportunity for classrooms, schools, families, and the community to work together to establish skills for academic success, student engagement at school and in the community, health, wellness, and successful, future careers.
The elementary STEM classroom is a great place to begin teaching students the foundational social and emotional skills needed to be successful in all other areas of their lives. Skills like social awareness allow your students to understand the perspectives of and empathize with others, including those from different backgrounds, cultures, and contexts.
What is Social Emotional Learning?
Our SEL STEM challenges follow CASEL’s Social Emotional Learning Framework and include 5 core competencies: self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, relationship skills, and social awareness. Students who are taught social awareness skills are able to feel compassion for others, understand broader historical and social norms for behavior in different settings, and recognize family, school, and community resources and supports.
Social awareness skills include:
Taking others’ perspectives
Recognizing strengths in others
Demonstrating empathy and compassion
Showing concern for the feelings of others
Understanding and expressing gratitude
Identifying diverse social norms
Recognizing situational demands and opportunities
Understanding the influences of organizations and systems on behavior
Social Awareness for Kids
Social awareness skills give our students the opportunity to easily navigate the world around them. When students can understand how others feel in each situation it allows them to put themselves in someone else’s shoes. This is a valuable skill within the classroom and within the extended community.
Teaching social awareness skills to the students in your classroom will allow them to explore questions like these:
How can we embrace human differences?
How would I feel in that situation?
How do you think they feel right now?
What would I do if I were in their situation?
What is their facial expression telling me?
Read Alouds and STEM Challenges to Teach Social Awareness Skills to Kids
There are many connections between the goals of meaningful STEM learning and the tenets of social emotional development. Integrating SEL in our classrooms doesn’t have to be another thing that we add to our already packed schedules. SEL skills and strategies can be incorporated into the content we are already teaching.
We’ve put together a SEL STEM bundle with 5 of our favorite read alouds and STEM challenges to help teach students about the importance of social awareness. These challenges will give your students the opportunity to feel compassion for others.
1. Clark the Shark
Clark the Shark by Bruce Hale is the story of a joyful shark who loves his life and loves his school. There’s just one problem. Clark loves everything way too much. He’s a little too loud and a little too rough. Eventually, those around him stop wanting to spend time with him. Clark comes up with a plan to cool it down and it works!
In this SEL STEM activity, students focus on the importance of staying cool and being aware of the social situations going on around them using a mindful moments strategy, activity, and writing prompt. Students will build binoculars to better see their social environment and build their social skills.
Learn more about this STEM challenge here.
2. Hey, Wall
Hey, Wall by Susan Verde is the story of a young boy who decides to transform a large, old, cold, neglected, empty wall into a masterpiece that is filled with neighborhood memories. The community comes together to turn something that was plain and uninspiring into something amazing.
In this SEL STEM activity, students design a mural that celebrates the people in their community.
Learn more about this STEM challenge here.
3. Windows
Inside every window is a person. Each person comes from a different background and has a different perspective. They may look different or speak differently, but these are positive differences that make us all unique! Windows by Julia Denos is the story of many different windows and all of the unique things happening inside the windows of their neighborhood.
In this SEL STEM activity, students design a window scene to share something about themselves. They learn how to see through someone else's perspective, and get to share their own.
Learn more about this STEM challenge here.
4. Meesha Makes Friends
Making new friends can be hard! Meesha Makes Friends by Tom Percival is the story of Meesha, a young girl who loved making things. There was just one thing she found hard to make…friends.
In this SEL STEM activity, students design a mini-model of a “good friend” using cardboard and recyclable materials. Students will also use sentence starters to feel more comfortable connecting with new people.
Learn more about this STEM challenge here.
5. Drawn Together
In the story, Drawn Together by Minh Le, the grandfather and grandson have trouble getting to know each other at first because they come from different generations and don’t speak the same language. This nearly wordless picture book shows how the boy and his grandfather are drawn together through similarities and art even though their differences and lack of words make them feel like they are separated by a far distance. An amazing connection forms in the silence when they sit and draw together.
In this SEL STEM activity, students focus on the importance of reading expressions, discovering similarities and differences, and building connections through social awareness. Students will build a bridge so that the boy and his grandfather can cross the distance that separates them. To symbolize the connection between two people, the bridge will connect one student's desk to another student’s desk.
Learn more about this STEM challenge here.
These 5 read alouds and STEM challenges are a part of a series of resources designed to follow the CASEL Framework for social-emotional learning. You can find the SEL STEM bundle here.
You can find the other individual SEL STEM bundles here:
Want more info and resources on SEL STEM? Get full access to this SEL STEM bundle and all of our future SEL STEM resources when you join the STEM Teachers Club Membership (best value)!
We hope you have found this blog post helpful. To stay connected with Carly and Adam's teaching tips and classroom freebies be sure to follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Teachers Pay Teachers, and subscribe to our blog!