SEL Daily Check-In: Quick, Efficient, Informative

As I map out the procedures in my small groups this year, one of the first things I will teach my students is how to check in with me.  Pre-COVID, I would always do an informal, "how are you?" or "tell me about your weekend."  However, during and after the pandemic, doing a social-emotional check-in became imperative.  It was important for me to know my students' mindset when coming to my small group, as well as connect with them positively at the beginning of our lesson.  But I only have a short time frame for my intervention lesson, so I needed something quick and efficient, yet meaningful.

Boom -- the daily check-in sheet was born.  And not only did it make my day easier, more importantly, the students couldn't wait to check in with me. 💝

Some more thoughts on doing a daily SEL check-in with your students:

• Students will feel loved and a sense of belonging to the classroom community, or in my case, the intervention reading group.
• It’s running documentation, which can be used for attendance, meetings with administrators and parents.  This came in clutch during my parent meetings, showing a pattern of feelings when coming to our small group.  For instance, if a child was tired coming to small group, it could have been indicative of an issue with bedtime or that the student was already cognitively taxed just approaching a subject that was challenging for her.
  
• If students are responding with more negative emotions (tired, sad, angry), teachers can try to problem-solve the issue before it could impact other students or their learning.
• Students can practice expressing their feelings in a constructive manner.
• Opportunities for incidental lessons during morning meeting of how to handle strong emotions, whether of excitement or anger, so that we can make good choices despite any strong feelings.  Many times, I would have talks with students one-on-one after the lesson regarding emotions that may have impacted learning that day.
  
• When teachers have time, students can share out their feelings; when there’s less time, teachers can quickly scan student responses and speak to the ones who need more support.  If a student is feeling shy, the check-in can be confidential.  You make it work for you!

How is this product built?

Click to see the format more clearly!

There are three different designs to suit a variety of teacher styles and student preferences:  regular emoji, apple faces, and pencil faces.

Click to see the versions more clearly!

Then there are *three* different versions of each design, allowing for differentiation for student abilities and teacher preference.  With my first and second graders, I used the simplest version:  they would stamp the date and then color or circle the face that matches their current feeling.  If there was time, we would share with the group our feeling along with the reason.  Many times, I would model with my own feelings.  I would make double-sided copies of this sheet and it would last me at least a month (especially since I was only able to see my students 3-4 times a week).

The second version allows for students to write down a sentence explaining their feeling.  The third version allows for students to select their own feeling word and write a sentence.  I'm thinking that this year I will try second and third version with my second graders later on in the year.

If students struggle with coming up with their own feeling words, I have a great list of feeling words arranged by shades of meaning in my Character Feelings product.  My older students loved moving their fingers along the gradient to find the specific feeling for themselves or for the characters in their books.

As always, I love feedback, ideas, and discussion!  Make sure to follow me on my favorite social media platform, Instagram.