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No parent hands their child a smartphone thinking about the day their child might be arrested. But Margot Denommé spent 26 years as a Crown Attorney. She has sat across from those families too, not just the families of victims, but the families of children who sent death threats online, who participated in criminal harassment, who shared explicit content. Children who did not understand what they were doing, or what the consequences were, because no one had ever taught them.

How do you build an early education curriculum for Saint Lucia? You don't start with the curriculum. You start by listening. Before a single lesson was written, the team visited 12 early education centers across Saint Lucia to learn directly from educators what they actually wanted and needed. Months of discovery came before a single page of curriculum. You start with trust. Three sensitization workshops brought together administrators from centers across the island, not to t

How to Play Stand in a circle with space between each person. Pass a "Zoom!" to the right by clapping one hand past the other, and keep it moving around the circle. At any time, someone can call "Ert!" (like car brakes), which switches the direction so "Zoom" now passes to the left. Keep going until the group gets mixed up, or time runs out. It sounds simple, until speed, anticipation, and overthinking kick in. What Students May Notice Quick transitions require focus. Frustra

Some moments do not need a big caption. They just need to be noticed. Inspirational teachers. The teachers who show up every day and make SEL part of the everyday classroom, not an extra thing to squeeze in. The moment a child does something you taught them. Watching a lesson actually land, in real time, in the way kids move through an activity you introduced. And then there are the moments that catch you off guard. A reaction caught on camera. A banner going up inside a sc

Margot Denommé has one rule she does not break. Not fear. Education. She has spent 26 years seeing the worst outcomes. She could build a presentation that would terrify every parent in every room she walks into. She chooses not to. A frightened parent closes down. A frightened parent bans the device and hopes. An educated parent has a conversation. An educated parent knows what to watch for, what to say, and how to build the foundation that makes their child genuinely safer.

This is the one piece of advice every pediatrician, psychologist, and prosecutor arrives at eventually. It is easier not to give than to take away. Not because children are defiant. Because these devices are engineered, by some of the most well-funded teams in the world, to be impossible to put down. The dopamine loop is real. The social cost of being the only kid without one is real. Once the phone is in the bedroom, taking it back feels like punishment. It causes conflict.

You would not hand your 8-year-old the keys to your car and say good luck. You would wait. You would teach them first. You would wait until they were ready, because you know what is at stake if they are not. Margot Denommé spent 26 years as a Crown Attorney watching what happened when children were handed the internet with no preparation at all. Her framework stays the same every time: we built driver's education because we understood the stakes. We need to build digital educ

A child who belongs, who has real relationships and strong self-worth, is far harder to isolate online. A child who understands digital dangers but has no foundation of self-worth is still vulnerable. You need both. Kikori and RAADD made it official with The Whole Me, a Digital Citizenship, Safety and Wellness curriculum. It includes educator training, student experiential lessons on digital footprint, brain development, online safety, mindfulness, and media literacy, plus a

Margot Denommé switches voices mid-sentence, and that is when it lands. On one side is a child who is isolated, who has been scrolling feeds telling her she is not enough. On the other side is a voice that says, "Hi. Oh my gosh I saw your profile, you're gorgeous." Then, quietly, the other side answers back: "Well isn't that awesome, I'm not feeling good about myself." That is the whole mechanism. Not force. Not fear. Just a message arriving at exactly the moment a developing

They never have to leave the house. There is no white van. There is no stranger in a park. None of the old warning signs are present: physical proximity, an unfamiliar face, somewhere a child should not be. The predator is in a basement. The child is in her bedroom. The connection is the device on her nightstand, the one she has been told is safe because it is in her room. The old safety lessons were built for a physical world. But the danger our kids face is no longer physic

Building a child's sense of self is like a concrete pour. You cannot rush it. You have to get the mixture right, give it time to set, and lay the foundation before any weight goes on it. If the weight goes on before the concrete is ready, it cracks, and the cracks spread. Sixteen is not a punishment. It is engineering. It is giving the foundation time to set before the full weight of comparison, public self-presentation, and algorithmic feedback about who you are gets placed

Save this one for September. ❄️ This cute, no-prop greeting activity is a simple way to open morning meetings during the first week of school. It only takes 5 minutes, but it does a lot: team building, class bonding, and SEL, all wrapped into one quick routine. It's a great way to start each day with connection before diving into lessons. 👉 Sign up for Kikori to get the full activity here

Drinking and driving was illegal for decades before it actually stopped being common. What changed wasn't the law, it was Mothers Against Drunk Driving. MADD went into schools, told real stories, and made the consequences human and impossible to ignore. The culture shifted because education shifted first. Margot Denommé believes we're standing at that same moment right now, with smartphones and social media. The harms are documented. Predators are operating at industrial scal

Save this one for September! If you're planning out first day of school activities, the Name and Action Greeting is a simple, no-prep way to kick things off right. It takes 5 minutes, needs zero materials, and does double duty, kids learn each other's names and start building a sense of community from minute one. It's the kind of small ritual that sets the tone for the whole year: everyone gets seen, everyone gets a turn, and the room starts to feel like a team 👉 Get the ful

In this episode of the Getting Real with Hilary Show , host Hillary Burns sits down with Margot Denomme — retired Crown Attorney (the Canadian equivalent of a District Attorney), author, and digital safety advocate. Having spent years in criminal court witnessing firsthand how social media and low self-esteem harm children, Margot retired from the Ministry of the Attorney General to dedicate herself full-time to raising awareness about digital dangers. She shares why the smar

Daily routines designed to increase engagement, strengthen SEL skills, and reduce classroom management challenges (while having FUN!) Kikori’s Experiential Connection Calendar gives educators simple, consistent practices that boost belonging, focus, and readiness to learn. Each component is intentionally designed to produce measurable outcomes - academically, socially and behaviorally. 🌀 Start Your Day with a Strong Morning Meeting or Advisory Morning Meeting and Advisory da

Discover Kikori's June Experiential Connection Calendar, a social emotional learning calendar designed to help students shine and grow. Explore the social emotional learning calendar for a month of engaging activities and leadership development.

Turn Ideas into Action There’s something about May. You can feel it in the classroom - the energy shifts. Students are ready for something more. More voice, more ownership, more meaning in what they’re doing each day. This month, we’re leaning into that! This May becomes an opportunity for students to step into being changemakers to notice what matters, share their ideas, and actually try something that could make their classroom or school a little better. At the heart of it

Explore the Kikori April SEL Earth Day Calendar, a research-based tool for nurturing social-emotional growth. Access the SEL Calendar for free now!

Discover the power of SEL this March with our engaging calendar! Explore SEL activities designed to build resilience and mindfulness in students during Morning Meeting, Advisory and throughout the school day!