SEL and the Math Classroom

As an elementary math specialist, I work with students of all ages. And like so many other educators, I care deeply about their social and emotional well-being.

This school year, I began incorporating social emotional learning (SEL) into my small group math lessons. So far, I’ve seen some very positive results! Here’s how I do it.

Part of SEL is developing healthy conversation skills. To help facilitate conversations with my students, I created a real-world math activity using DynaMath.

The October 2018 issue features a story about Asia Newson, an inspiring teen who started a candle-making business when she was 5! The article includes a hands-on math activity where students create a line plot with string measuring different lengths. (The string represents the candlewicks.)

Hands-on activities are a great way for students to discuss how they can be active participants, what they can learn from each other, and explain why they might disagree or agree with another.

My students used rulers to measure the “wicks” with the pieces of twine that I prepared beforehand in sandwich bags.

Then we talked about what a line plot looks like. Students who needed reinforcement could play the game Build a Line Plot.

After doing the activity, I challenged my students to design their own line plot. Each student had to compliment another classmate’s line plot and ask a question for more information. I noticed that my shy students did well in this task.

After, we participated in a “math talk” group discussion about how their line plots compared with those of their classmates.

For my second SEL math challenge, I focused on face-to-face conversational skills. For this, we used an October DynaMath story about the Goosebumps series.

After reading the article, I asked students which Scholastic children’s book series they thought was the most popular in their peer group nationwide. I referred to a bar graph from the article, which showed that Harry Potter sold the most copies.

Then I asked what book series they thought would sell best in third grade at our school. This excited my students and sparked many conversations among them.

I noticed students having healthy conversations. They used phrases like:

• “I agree with you because…”
• “I have a different answer because…”
• "I like what you said because…”

If they needed more ideas, they could refer to DynaMath’s "Meaningful Math Talk" poster.