Kikori August Social Emotional Learning Calendar
Updated: Aug 26
We've got your back (to-school) with the Kikori August Social and Emotional Learning Calendar
August marks the start of a new school year, a time for "Melt the Ice for Warm Beginnings." Students will build foundational connections through routines and co-creating expectations. This theme focuses on helping students transition smoothly, establish expectations, and foster a sense of community.
Our August SEL Calendar provides you with daily experiential social emotional learning (eSEL) activities accessed via the Kikori platform that you can lead with your students.
Here’s what that our eSEL Calendar provide you with EVERY DAY:
Start your day with a Morning Message or Advisory Announcement
Practice those ever-important social skills with Greeting Activity
Encourage connection with a Sharing or Acknowledging Activity
Facilitate an interactive National Day Activity (i.e. Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day, National Ice Cream Day, World Kindness Day, etc.)
BONUS: Looking to help your students build critical social emotional skills? Each of Kikori's activities are aligned to CASEL's Social Emotional Learning standards, 21st Century Skills and Sustainable Development Skills!
Ready to get started?
Download August Social Emotional Learning Calendar Week 1 For FREE Below
August Elementary SEL Calendar
Middle & High School Advisory Social Emotional Learning Calendar
PLUS, check out the great resources that bring the Kikori eSEL Calendar to life!
Top 3 Tips to Empower Every Voice:
Research has proven that students sharing in the first 5 minutes of class leads to deeper learning and more engagement all day long (Prince, 2004)! Creating an environment where all students feel comfortable communicating is key to their success (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009). Here are 3 easy-to-implement strategies to encourage communication from all of your students from the moment they enter your classroom:
Build a Think-Pair-Share into Morning Meeting/Advisory: This technique gives students time to think independently, discuss their thoughts with a partner, and then share with the larger group. Instead of the same 3-5 students sharing, all students get the chance to engage in this important brain warm-up and feel validated that their thoughts and ideas matter!
Honor Think Time with a Timer: Instead of having students raise their hands immediately, set a timer and invite them to give a thumbs up when they have an answer ready. Knowing they have 30 seconds to think allows students to practice using their brains without the pressure of others already having an answer, building their capacity to think critically and confidently.
Facilitate Non-Verbal Responses: Sometimes students have great ideas but are nervous or shy to speak up. Offer alternatives like journaling, writing on whiteboards, using Four Corners, a Line Spectrum in the classroom, sticky notes, or inviting hand signals as a way for all students to participate.
Kikori's Goal is that Every Student Knows Their Ideas Matter!
How does Kikori support you in providing all students with the opportunity to think for themselves and empowering all voices to be heard and appreciated? Within our SEL Calendar, we curate daily Morning Meetings and Advisory lessons that invite different ways to share:
Monday's: Popcorn Sharing
Tuesday's: Partner Sharing
Wednesday's: Round Robin Sharing
Thursday's: Journal Writing
Friday's: Small Groups
This creates opportunities for students to connect and mix in different ways with different levels of risk. We also build Think-Pair-Shares into almost every sharing! Creating space for all students to think will help them build the neural networks (neuroplasticity research led by Davidson et. al, 2012) that will change the way they think and respond in math, reading, and writing! What is the power of this approach? Check out what Lower Yukon School District was able to achieve in just four weeks with Kikori's experiential SEL Curriculum!
Would you like August's full SEL calendar?
Are you an individual educator? Sign up for Kikori Premium!
For the price of one Teacher's Pay Teacher's printable, gain access to an entire month of curated, research-backed activities! Premium memberships include access to daily Morning Meeting slides (now for K-2 AND grades 3-5!), downloadable activity printables and access to a library of playlists designed to support student outcomes aligned with SEL Standards and 21st Century Skills!
Are you and other educators in your school using Kikori? Sign up for the Kikori School-wide Solution!
Kikori's School-wide Solution provides all educators in your school with access to Kikori's platform including extra school-wide bonuses like Morning Meeting customizable slides, school-wide sharing and communication, staff training on trauma-informed eSEL best practices on community-building and so much more!
Would you like to learn more about the research-backed practices built into Kikori's eSEL Calendar?
How does Kikori ensure these activities build social emotional skills like self-awareness and relationship skills?
Each activity provides you with instructions that follow Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle. This means the activities help youth actively engage and then provides reflection questions related to the activity.
These questions help youth reflect and build self- and social-awareness (what happened during the activity?), make meaningful connections to their own lives (how did what happened during the activity connect to other experiences?), and engage in personal growth (what are they going to take from this activity into their lives?)
Daily National Day 10-min Prop-free Activities
At Kikori, we think it's important to educate our students on important days of the year and learn what they stand for. To make team building in the classroom or at youth development programs MEANINGFUL and RELEVANT, we've included a special National Holiday for every day and a corresponding team building activity. The National Days are specially curated for a mix of important moments in history; STEM learning related to math and science; days related to well-being; and some days Just for FUNN!
Kikori's Day-of-the-week Activities
In the platform you'll also find activities focused on the following daily Kikori themes:
Mindful Monday activities include meditations, visualizations and mindfulness
Together Tuesday activities involve team building and initiatives that build trust
Wellness Wednesday activities focus on ways to build physical and emotional health
Thoughtful Thursday activities use problem solving and reflection to help grow inward
Fun Friday activities are energizing activities that reinforce the importance of joy
How to Use Your Monthly eSEL Calendar:
How easy is it? Just click the activity!
All of the Planners are CLICKABLE to take you straight into the national days and Kikori activities in the Kikori platform! The Elementary and Advisory calendars share a monthly theme, and activities within the two clickable calendars are specially catered to that age range. If you want to specify for your student grade further, click on the correct grade level variation within the activity! We also encourage you to explore “Variations” offered within individual Kikori activities.
How to Kikori:
What is your favorite activity to play in August with your students? Let us know in the comments below - and we can help you add it into the Kikori platform!
Take advantage of everything bitlife has to offer: work, study, start a family, and savor life's little pleasures.
This is such a perfect theme for the start of the school year! "Melt the Ice for Warm Beginnings" really sets the tone for building strong connections and making everyone feel welcome. Establishing routines and co-creating expectations will definitely help ease those first-day jitters for students. I can see how it’ll create a sense of community from the very start! slice masters