Kikori April SEL Calendar
Updated: Apr 7
The Kikori SEL Calendar is here to help you move through April with exactly what your students need: community-building and connection to nature!
April marks a pivotal time for educators to double down on fostering experiential social and emotional learning (eSEL) in their classrooms. As educators, we understand that our students' academic success is intertwined with their emotional well-being! April is a month that includes academic rigors and emotional highs and lows so it is crucial for us to navigate with sensitivity and mindfulness towards our students' holistic development.
Our April SEL Calendar provides you with daily experiential social emotional learning (eSEL) activities accessed via the Kikori platform that you can lead with your students. From mid-term exams to spring festivities, let's embark on a journey to cultivate a culture of care and resilience within our classrooms and school communities.
Here’s what that our eSEL Calendar provide you with EVERY DAY:
Start your day with a Morning Message or Advisory Announcement
Practice those ever-important social skills with Greeting Activity
Encourage connection with a Sharing or Acknowledging Activity
Facilitate an interactive National Day Activity (i.e. Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day, National Ice Cream Day, World Kindness Day, etc.)
Flex essential muscles with our Day-of-the-Week Activities for Mindful Monday, Together Tuesday, Wellness Wednesday, Thoughtful Thursday and Fun Friday
BONUS: Looking to help your students build critical social emotional skills? Each of Kikori's activities are aligned to CASEL's Social Emotional Learning standards, 21st Century Skills and Sustainable Development Skills!
Ready to get started?
Download April SEL Calendar Weeks 1-2 For FREE Below
April Elementary SEL Calendar
Middle & High School Advisory SEL Calendar
PLUS, check out the great resources that bring the Kikori eSEL Calendar to life!
10 Feelings Our Students May Be Experiencing this April
The emotional state of students in April can vary widely depending on individual circumstances, personal experiences, and external factors. Here are some common emotions and feelings that students may experience during this time:
Excitement: Students may feel excited about the arrival of spring, warmer weather, and upcoming school events such as field trips, sports competitions, and end-of-year celebrations.
Anticipation: As the school year progresses, students of all ages may anticipate upcoming transitions, such as moving to a new grade, saying goodbye to friends, or embarking on summer break adventures.
Anxiety: Students may experience anxiety related to academic pressures, upcoming exams or assignments, and social challenges such as peer relationships and fitting in.
Curiosity: April can spark curiosity in students as they observe changes in nature, engage in scientific experiments, or explore new topics and interests through classroom activities and discussions.
Loneliness: Despite being surrounded by peers, some students may struggle with feelings of loneliness or isolation, particularly if they are dealing with social or emotional challenges.
Fatigue: As the school year progresses, students may experience fatigue or burnout from the demands of coursework, extracurricular activities, and other responsibilities.
Nostalgia: With the end of the school year approaching, students may feel nostalgic as they reflect on the memories they've made throughout the year, including friendships, accomplishments, and personal growth.
Hopefulness: April can instill a sense of hopefulness in students as they look forward to new beginnings, opportunities for growth, and positive experiences in the months ahead.
Gratitude: Teachers and students may experience feelings of gratitude as they express appreciation for one another during Teacher Appreciation Week or through end-of-year reflections and acknowledgments.
Playfulness: April often brings out the playful side in students as they enjoy longer daylight hours, outdoor activities, and creative arts and crafts projects.
Our April Reflection Opportunity for You
One of the key practices within every Kikori activity is the opportunity to reflect. We would love to offer you a moment today to think about the students in your classroom and what emotions they may be feeling through our experiential learning cycle (Play - Reflect - Connect - Grow)
Reflect: When you think of your students, which of the feelings above seem to show up? The same situation can create very opposing feelings in our students! When it comes to field trips and activities, does this make some of your students experience more joy, while others experience more loneliness? When it comes to tests, are there some students who experience more self-confidence while others experience more self-doubt?
Connect: Is it helpful to take a moment and think about the students in your classroom and how they may be feeling? Are there other times when you have built a pause into your day to reflect on your students' emotional states?
Grow: What can you do to help all of your students feel a sense of hopefulness, curiosity and playfulness? Are there ways you can organize your classroom activities, pairings or celebrations where students are creating inclusive friendships and doing peer mentoring?
Utilizing Kikori's eSEL Calendar will provide you with activities to support building relationships, stress management and communication that can help create a supportive and engaging learning environment for all students during this month!
Would you like April's full SEL calendar?
Are you an individual educator? Sign up for Kikori Premium!
For the price of one Teacher's Pay Teacher's printable, gain access to an entire month of curated, research-backed activities! Premium memberships include access to daily Morning Meeting slides (now for K-2 AND grades 3-5!), downloadable activity printables and access to a library of playlists designed to support student outcomes aligned with SEL Standards and 21st Century Skills!
Are you and other educators in your school using Kikori? Sign up for the Kikori School-wide Solution!
Kikori's School-wide Solution provides all educators in your school with access to Kikori's platform including extra school-wide bonuses like Morning Meeting customizable slides, school-wide sharing and communication, staff training on trauma-informed eSEL best practices on community-building and so much more!
Would you like to learn more about the research-backed practices built into Kikori's eSEL Calendar?
How does Kikori ensure these activities build social emotional skills like self-awareness and relationship skills?
Each activity provides you with instructions that follow Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle. This means the activities help youth actively engage and then provides reflection questions related to the activity.
These questions help youth reflect and build self- and social-awareness (what happened during the activity?), make meaningful connections to their own lives (how did what happened during the activity connect to other experiences?), and engage in personal growth (what are they going to take from this activity into their lives?)
Daily National Day 10-min Prop-free Activities
At Kikori, we think it's important to educate our students on important days of the year and learn what they stand for. To make team building in the classroom or at youth development programs MEANINGFUL and RELEVANT, we've included a special National Holiday for every day and a corresponding team building activity. The National Days are specially curated for a mix of important moments in history; STEM learning related to math and science; days related to well-being; and some days Just for FUNN!
Kikori's Day-of-the-week Activities
Each day, the SEL Calendar provides you with an activity focused on the following daily Kikori themes:
Mindful Monday activities include meditations, visualizations and mindfulness
Together Tuesday activities involve team building and initiatives that build trust
Wellness Wednesday activities focus on ways to build physical and emotional health
Thoughtful Thursday activities use problem solving and reflection to help grow inward
Fun Friday activities are energizing activities that reinforce the importance of joy
How to Use Your Monthly eSEL Calendar:
How easy is it? Just click the activity!
All of the Planners are CLICKABLE to take you straight into the national days and Kikori activities in the Kikori platform! The Elementary and Advisory calendars share a monthly theme, and activities within the two clickable calendars are specially catered to that age range. If you want to specify for your student grade further, click on the correct grade level variation within the activity! We also encourage you to explore “Variations” offered within individual Kikori activities.
How to Kikori:
What is your favorite activity to play in April with your students? Let us know in the comments below - and we can help you add it into the Kikori platform!
