{"id":72875,"date":"2022-08-11T14:26:25","date_gmt":"2022-08-11T19:26:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/casel.dev\/?post_type=blogposts&#038;p=72875"},"modified":"2025-10-15T12:56:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T17:56:19","slug":"favorite-tools-for-starting-the-school-year","status":"publish","type":"blogposts","link":"https:\/\/casel.org\/blog\/favorite-tools-for-starting-the-school-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Favorite Tools for Starting the School Year\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"key-points\"><strong>Key Points<\/strong><\/h2><a class=top href=\"#top\">Back to top<\/a>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Back-to-school is the time to roll out the community-building strategies and routines you will integrate throughout the year to help ensure students feel engaged and supported<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Check out some of CASEL&#8217;s favorite resources for bringing SEL into the first days and weeks of the school year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Beginnings matter. As teachers know, students walk through the doors after summer break with their own unique stressors, hopes, and expectations. This is the ideal time to roll out the community-building strategies and routines you will integrate throughout the year to help ensure students feel engaged and supported. Creating joyful classroom environments, where curiosity and collaboration are the norm, requires centering students\u2019 social, emotional, and academic needs. We\u2019ve pulled together some of our favorite resources for bringing SEL into the first days and weeks of the school year.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"top-tools\"><strong>Top Tools<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2><a class=top href=\"#top\">Back to top<\/a>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s Claire, giving a quick tour of three top tools from the CASEL Guide to Schoolwide SEL:\u202f&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><div style=\"position: relative; padding-bottom: 62.5%; height: 0;\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.loom.com\/embed\/c3de717ca75d4b02a7cabbc82fef0561\" frameborder=\"0\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"\" mozallowfullscreen=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tools in this video&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/schoolguide.casel.org\/resource\/teacher-small-group-discussion-guide-building-a-supportive-learning-environment-for-middle-and-high-school-students\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Teacher Small Group Discussion Guide<\/strong><\/a>\u2014Draw from this guide to find activities, readings, and discussion prompts to support your professional learning community (PLC) or regular team meetings.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/schoolguide.casel.org\/resource\/community-building-circles\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Community-Building Circles<\/strong><\/a>\u2014Includes sample scripts for facilitating a structured class discussion to build community and get to know one another.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/schoolguide.casel.org\/resource\/sel-in-the-classroom-self-assessment\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>SEL in the Classroom Self-Assessment<\/strong><\/a>\u2014A reflection tool to think about how you\u2019ll teach SEL directly, integrate SEL into your instructional strategies, and promote SEL through a supportive classroom environment.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"engaging-with-students-and-families\"><strong>Engaging With Students and Families<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2><a class=top href=\"#top\">Back to top<\/a>\n\n\n\n<p>When you begin the year by showing students and their parents and caregivers that you truly want to know them as individuals, you are on a path toward building a relationship that will deepen learning and engagement. We rounded up some of our favorite resources below for getting to know more about your students and their families and celebrating their identities.\u202f&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.understood.org\/en\/articles\/questionnaires-for-connecting-with-students-and-families\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Questionnaires for Connecting With Students and Families<\/strong><\/a><strong> (Understood)<\/strong>\u2014These short, printable questionnaires position students and their families as experts of their own experiences and learning needs, and will help you learn how to better support and connect with each individual.\u202f&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.edutopia.org\/article\/6-exercises-get-know-your-students-better-and-increase-their-engagement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>6 Exercises to Get to Know Your Students Better\u2014and Increase Their Engagement<\/strong><\/a><strong> (Edutopia)\u2014<\/strong>These exercises go beyond surface-level \u201cicebreakers\u201d to help you understand your students\u2019 passions and perspectives while also bolstering students\u2019 sense of belonging.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facinghistory.org\/resource-library\/back-school-building-community-connection-and-learning\/activities-first-days-school\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Activities for the First Days of School<\/strong><\/a><strong> (Facing History &amp; Ourselves)<\/strong>\u2014This collection of activities is focused on making space for students to reflect on their identities and share about themselves, and to work together to develop a vision for the kind of learning community they want to create this year.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Culture-building and connection are for the beginning of the year<em> and<\/em> <em>beyond<\/em>. You don\u2019t need to fit everything into Week 1! Carve out a moment to reflect each day about how your classroom community is developing and whether the activities you have planned are moving you closer to the supportive, engaged, and joyful community you envision.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Related Posts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/casel.org\/blog\/5-meaningful-standards-based-sel-activities-for-the-classroom\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">5 Meaningful, Standards-Based SEL Activities for the Classroom<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/casel.org\/blog\/5-back-to-school-sel-strategies-for-educators\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">5 Back-to-School SEL Strategies for Educators<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/casel.org\/blog\/what-are-you-bringing-to-your-classroom-this-year\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">What Are You Bringing to Your Classroom This Year?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"write-for-us\"><strong>Write for Us<\/strong><\/h2><a class=top href=\"#top\">Back to top<\/a>\n\n\n\n<p>Are you interested in writing for CASEL\u2019s blog,&nbsp;<em>Constellations<\/em>?&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1zSZFveKA8xsmlCADpfDP8t-y9emN0qswHQh1MnfmqBI\/edit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Learn more<\/a>&nbsp;about what we\u2019re looking for and how to pitch your idea!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Points Back to top Beginnings matter. As teachers know, students walk through the doors after summer break with their own unique stressors, hopes, and expectations. This is the ideal time to roll out the community-building strategies and routines you will integrate throughout the year to help ensure students feel engaged and supported. Creating joyful [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4018,"featured_media":72877,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","theme":[203],"class_list":["post-72875","blogposts","type-blogposts","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","theme-water-cooler"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blogposts\/72875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blogposts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blogposts"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4018"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72875"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"theme","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/theme?post=72875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}