*Adapted from a post was previously published by Carly and Adam. It is based on STEM and SEL content that I developed.
5 Read Alouds to Support STEM and SEL: Relationship Skills
Social and emotional learning (SEL) has always been important, but we are at a critical turning point of understanding just how important these skills are for our learners.
The elementary STEM classroom is a great place to begin teaching students the foundational relationship skills needed to be successful in all other areas of their lives. Relationship skills allow your students the opportunity to put other SEL skills like self-awareness (how they feel) and social awareness (how others feel) into action (collaboration).
What is Social Emotional Learning?
CASEL’s Social Emotional Learning Framework include 5 core competencies which present a strong alignment to the work done in STEM. When students are taught relationship skills, they are better able to communicate clearly, listen actively, cooperate, and work collaboratively to problem solve. As they develop their skills, they begin to learn how to negotiate conflicts constructively, navigate settings with differing social and cultural demands, and build leadership skills.
Relationship Skills also include:
- Developing positive relationships
- Demonstrating cultural competency
- Resisting negative social pressure
- Showing leadership in groups
- Seeking or offering support and help when needed
- Standing up for the rights of others
Relationship Skills
Relationship skills are important for our students because they are often asked to work in small groups. It’s easy to take for granted that the students may or may not already know how to work together in these situations. Teaching relationship skills to the students in your classroom will allow them to think about:
- What does it look like to work within a group?
- What is my role within the group?
- What happens if my group fails?
- What happens if my group is successful?
- How do I agree with my classmates?
- How do I disagree with my classmates and still remain respectful?
Incorporating Read Alouds
Integrating SEL in our classrooms doesn’t have to be another thing that we add to our already packed schedules. SEL skills and strategies can be incorporated into the content we are already teaching. There are many connections between the goals of meaningful STEM learning and the tenets of social emotional development.
Here are some great read aloud selections to introduce relationship building. Each book also has a connection to STEM, incorporating ways for students to apply their relationship skills while working collaboratively with others.
Coding to Kindness
Coding to Kindness by Valerie Sousa is about three friends who sometimes get into disagreements. As they navigate these sticky situations, this interactive picture book allows friends to use coding to find solutions.
In Coding to Kindness, the characters use the directions and sequence of their code to listen to each other, share with one another, and solve problems. Just like friendships, coding takes multiple steps before the code. Each step we take towards being kind to others helps to build our friendship with them.
The book offers some unplugged coding activities for students. Students can also engage in the engineering design process by designing and constructing a model swing for the friends in the story to play on.
Lacey Walker, Nonstop Talker
Lacey Walker, Nonstop Talker by Christianne Jones is the story of an owl who talks and talks. She talked all day and all night until one day, she lost her voice. This unexpected disruption in her day made her realize just how much she was missing out on by talking too much and not listening enough.
With a focus on communication, one partner builds something with building bricks, without showing the final product to their partner. Then, the write down the directions to build an identical item. Then, their partner gets the same set of building bricks and tries to construct the same object. Will the directions clearly communicate the steps?
Rulers of the Playground
Rulers of the Playground by Joseph Kuefler is the story of Jonah who decides to rule over the school playground as his personal kingdom. Everything was going just fine until another friend decided that she also wanted to rule the playground. With divided loyalties, the playground was no longer a fun place to be.
Using recyclable materials (think: cardboard, clean plastics, or other available craft materials) students will design a playground with inclusion in mind. They are challenged to think about things that kids of different ages would like to play on, incorporate structures that are wheelchair friendly, and include toys for individuals and groups.
The Giant Jam Sandwich 
The Giant Jam Sandwich by John Vernon Lord is a clever, rhyming storybook of the townspeople of Itching Down who came together to solve a problem. Their town was invaded by wasps, but they had a plan. Each person played their role to come together to create a giant jam sandwich that doubled as a wasp trap.
Putting together a giant jam sandwich took a lot of work (and an entire town!). Engaging in problem solving and design, students can brainstorm solutions for how they might trap the wasps.
Zach Apologizes
In Zach Apologizes by William Mulcahy, Zach makes a mistake by pushing his brother, Alex, for taking his favorite toy. When Zach was in trouble, nothing seemed right, not even playing with his toys, but putting his apology into action made everything right again. Zach’s mom walked through the four-square apology to teach him how to apologize to his brother.
With inventing in mind, your students can help Zach apologize by making a toy for his brother. Using recyclable materials, students will sketch their ideas and build a prototype, working through the engineering design process.
STEM and SEL
In schools across the globe, we are working to develop opportunities for our students to build social emotional skills that will benefit them in school and in social settings. While we can teach them these skills, it is even more important to give them the chance to apply and practice these skills in a safe environment. By connecting children's literature that focuses on relationship building with STEM experiences where they can work with others to design, build, and problem solving, we can not only foster SEL development, but also promote STEM learning, as well.
