As I do at this time every year, I'm taking the week off to ski and play with my kids, shovel snow, and generally not think about work. I have some of the most popular posts of the year scheduled to republish this week. New posts will resume in the new year.
Last month I wrote a blog post about a new app and website called Kikori that provides hundreds of free social emotional learning activities that you can do with students of all ages. One of the things that they offer to help you incorporate social emotional learning activities into your classroom is a monthly calendar of SEL activities. This month Kikori's free SEL calendar is arranged around the theme of Earth Month.
Within the larger context of Earth Month on each weekday of Kikori's SEL calendar you will find a themed activity. For example, today's activity is Mindful Monday Scents of Knowledge. Kikori's SEL calendar is hyperlinked so that you can click on any of the days of the month and go directly to the direction for the activity of that day.
Kikori is available to use in your web browser, as a free iOS app, and as a free Android app. Watch my short video below for any overview of Kikori and the SEL calendar.
Disclosure: Kikori is currently an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com.Kikori is an app and website that I first reviewed back in March shortly after its initial public launch. Since then it has become a popular resource for teachers looking for social emotional learning (SEL) lessons and activities for students of all ages.The free monthly SEL activity calendars, like this one for August, is one of the things that has made Kikori popular.
Building on the popularity of their monthly SEL calendars, Kikori is offering free morning meeting and advisory meeting planners for the start of the new school year. The Morning Meeting planner is designed for use in elementary school classrooms. The Advisory Meeting planner was created for middle school and high school use. Both planners are aligned to CASEL Social Emotional Learning Standards, 21st Century Skills and Sustainable Development Skills.
Sign-up for a free Kikori account and you’ll have access to both Kikori planners in the mobile and desktop versions of the Kikori app. The planners will appear in your account once you've created a free Kikori account. If you already have a Kikori account, you should be able to see the planners now.
How to use Kikori’s Morning Meeting and Advisory planners.
The Morning Meeting and Advisory Meeting planners use the same format with slight differences in the recommended activities between the two. The format is to list a National “X” Day like National Relaxation Day and theme for the day like Mindful Monday or Wellness Wednesday. The planner then lists SEL activities that you can do with your students. The activities for this month are:
Greeting activity
Sharing or Acknowledging Activity
Special Day Activity (i.e. National Never Give Up Day!)
Morning Message or Announcement
Themed Activity!
Finding the details for those activities is easy because they are all listed and linked under “August SEL Calendar” in the Kikori app. See the screenshot below for an overview of the Morning Meeting Planner for this week.
In the Kikori app you can find details for all of the activities listed in the Morning Meeting and Advisory Meeting planners. When you click on an activity’s title in the app you will find details about the purpose of the activity, how to prepare for the activity, a list of materials you might need (if applicable), and suggestions for variations on the activity. My screenshot below shows part of the details page for the Neighbors Greeting activity on today’s Morning Meeting planner.
Why I Like Kikori's Advisory Meeting Planner
There are some things that I feel like I’m good at in the classroom. However, running advisory meetings has always been a challenge for me unless I had a plan going into the meetings (I attribute that to my penchant for going off on tangents). Kikori’s new Advisory Meeting planner is perfect for people like me who need a plan and focus for meetings that aren’t a part of a traditional subject area curriculum.
How to Access and Use Kikori Kikori is available to use in your web browser, as a free iOS app, and as a free Android app. Watch my short video below for any overview of Kikori and the SEL calendar.
More Planners for September!
In September all teachers who download Kikori's August Planners will receive a unique September Morning Meeting or Advisory Planner for PK-K, grades 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, middle school and high school. So if school isn’t in session for you right now, download the August planner anyway so that you can get the September planners.
Discounts for Upgrades Kikori operates on a freemium model. Everything that I’ve mentioned in this blog post is available to you for free. If you want to access everything that Kikori offers, you can upgrade to a premium account. Use the code BACK2SCHOOL10 for 10% off until Sept. 30th.
Disclosure: Kikori is currently an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com
Last month I wrote a blog post about a new app and website called Kikori that provides hundreds of free social emotional learning activities that you can do with students of all ages. One of the things that they offer to help you incorporate social emotional learning activities into your classroom is a monthly calendar of SEL activities. This month Kikori's free SEL calendar is arranged around the theme of Earth Month.
Within the larger context of Earth Month on each weekday of Kikori's SEL calendar you will find a themed activity. For example, today's activity is Mindful Monday Scents of Knowledge. Kikori's SEL calendar is hyperlinked so that you can click on any of the days of the month and go directly to the direction for the activity of that day.
Kikori is available to use in your web browser, as a free iOS app, and as a free Android app. Watch my short video below for any overview of Kikori and the SEL calendar.
Kikori App is a new mobile app and website that offers a large library of social emotional learning activities for students of all ages. The mobile app (Android and iOS) and the web versions of Kikori work the same way. On Kikori you can search for social emotional learning activities according to age, energy level, skill development goal, group structure, and materials that are needed or not needed for the activity.
All of the Kikori activities are written in an easy-to-follow structure. That structure includes how to prepare to use the activity with your students, a list of materials needed (if any), steps for playing the activity, and questions to ask before, during, and after the activity. You'll also find some suggested variations or modifications for each activity.
You can also use Kikori to create your own social emotional learning activities. To do that simply click the "create" button in the Kikori App and follow the outline that is provided. You can make your activity public or keep it private.
Applications for Education Kikori could be a great resource for any teacher who is looking for some new ideas for bringing some social emotional learning activities into their classrooms. I appreciate that you can search for activities according to energy level and group structure.
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