Kikori | Experiential SEL (@kikoriapp)

The best professional development lets teachers feel the lesson before they talk about it. Duck is one of our favorite games for that reason. Watch what happens when teachers play it, then reflect their way into ideas about inclusion and connection that nobody handed them. Newmarket Elementary…

Dolly said it best: "If you keep yourself out of the game for fear of losing, there's no way on this earth you're gonna win." 🤠 That's what our work looks like. Some days it's a room full of educators trying something new. Other days it's showing up and learning alongside the people doing the real…

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Hispanic Heritage Month runs September 15 through October 15, and it's a great chance to bring curiosity, music, food, and real conversation into the classroom. Model curiosity by asking students about their own backgrounds. Share music and dishes from Spanish-speaking countries. Let diversity…

Our founder Kendra has a thing about full circle moments. 🥹 Two years ago, she met two amazing teachers - Erin and Alyson - at a UNH Browne Center training on using experiential learning to build empathy. They brought Kikori back to their school, loved it, and pitched it to their PTO and…

At the end of every school year, Anderson Manuel does the same thing. He makes a list. Two columns. Everything that went right this year. Everything that did not. And then he writes a specific plan: how do I make sure the things in column two don't end up there next year? That is it. That is his…

What does a successful SEL program actually look like in a classroom? Anderson Manuel has a specific answer. And it is not what most people expect. It looks like laughing. Joking. Kids having a genuinely good time together. Not chaos. Not free time. Laughter as evidence of belonging. Joy as proof…

Anderson Manuel has been asked what makes him different after 28 years in the same classroom. His answer starts before any strategy or any tool. This job, to me, is not a job. It's a calling. That is the lens for everything else he does. The two weeks he spends on culture instead of curriculum…

There were two kinds of kids in Anderson Manuel's elementary school. The good kids. And the bad ones. Anderson watched what happened to the ones who got labeled. And he made a decision: he would not be that. So he went quiet. Stopped raising his hand. Stopped taking chances. Kept his head down and…

People ask Anderson Manuel what makes him different after 28 years in the classroom. He says: there's nothing special about me. What he says next is the part worth sitting with. What is unique about him is that he understands children. Not a technique. Not a credential. A kind of attention. He…

Anderson Manuel had been teaching for over 20 years when a friend showed him a video. A teacher on TikTok. She was crying. Her kids had told her they hated her. She said she loved teaching but she couldn't do it anymore. She was leaving. Nobody in the comments was helping her. Anderson felt sad…

Every morning in Anderson Manuel's classroom, the day starts the same way. One child turns to another. Says their name. Says good morning. Asks how they're doing. Listens. Asks a follow-up. Thanks them for sharing. Then chooses another child and does it again. Around the room. Every child. Every…

What actually keeps a teacher growing at year 28? Anderson Manuel says it plainly. He is a reflective teacher. Every June, he sits down and makes a list. Everything that went right. Everything that did not. A specific plan for how next year will be different. He reads. He visits other classrooms…

We talk about disregulation like it's something children are unaware of. Anderson Manuel has been watching children for 28 years. He will tell you: they know. They know when their body is not right. They feel it. They just have no map for what to do next because nobody ever gave them one. It's…

A teacher said to Hilary Burns: some kids just have a bad rep. They're bad. They have bad behavior. Hilary asked Kendra at Kikori: can this program help with those kids? She said, absolutely. And here is why. The reason those children are 'bad' is because they are disregulated. Their nervous…

Anderson Manuel starts every single school day with the same question. Not: what are we covering today? Not: who is ready to learn? Do my kids feel good about themselves right now? Because if the answer is no, none of the lesson planning matters. A child who does not feel seen, appreciated, like…

Anderson Manuel's most important teaching tip is also his most counterintuitive. Slow down in September. The first two weeks of school are not for covering curriculum. They are for building the culture that makes all the curriculum possible. Teach kids what you want to see. Not just the rules…

Save this for September! 🎮 If you're not familiar with your students' favorite games yet, here are the key Minecraft metaphors that'll help them check in emotionally from day one. Life's a lot like Minecraft: managing your energy, emotions, and the challenges that come your way. Comment…

Anderson Manuel has been teaching for 28 years. He is warm, expressive, and deeply beloved by his students. He was also once the child who went silent and disappeared. He came to the US from Haiti at 11 years old. New country, new language, new everything. Not one teacher took the time to get to…

Anderson Manuel was supposed to be a lawyer. He was managing a restaurant while he figured out his next move. One evening a man sat down at his table and they started talking. The man mentioned he went to Boston College. Anderson said, so did I. The man said, I have a doctorate. Anderson said, I…

Save this activity for September! We challenged students to count from 1-20 as a group - BUT only one person could speak at a time. If two people talked at once? Start over. From 1. • No looking at each other • No planning • Just listening At first? Chaos. Then something shifted... • Students…

Anderson Manuel was supposed to be a lawyer. He had the law school acceptances. He had the plan. A dinner conversation changed everything, and he became a kindergarten teacher instead. Twenty-eight years later he has a question for everyone who thinks teaching is a lesser profession. How many…

Most teachers dread the phrase ‘classroom management.’ It sounds like crowd control. Anderson Manuel has been teaching for 28 years and he will tell you: it is his jam. Not because he has the strictest rules. Because he figured out something early that changed everything. Classroom management…

Save this for September 📌 The experiential learning cycle in one simple formula. You can reflect and debrief on literally anything, turn a classroom hiccup or your students' favorite game into a powerful metaphor. #backtoschool #teacherhacks #socialemotionallearning

Save this activity for September! From 🥚to 🐔to 🦖to 👑 - this is more than a game... it's experiential SEL in action. How it works: Everyone starts as an Egg 🥚 (crouch + waddle). Win rock-paper-scissors? You evolve into a Chicken 🐔 (flap + cluck). Win again? You're a Dinosaur 🦖 (arms up + ROAR). Win…

Save this for September! The most powerful 10 minutes of our week happen in a circle catt We played “Step Into the Circle” - and here’s what we asked: Step in if... ✨you’ve worked hard on something ✨you’re proud of you help cheer people up when they feel sad ✨you’ve learned something new this…

Phone-free schools are not a punishment. They are a protection, and the movement behind them is growing fast. More than 30 states plus DC have enacted laws or policies on student phone use. Public support sits around 75 to 79 percent, and it is genuinely bipartisan. Margot Denommé is part of the…

Save this for September! 📌 If you want your students to come out of their shells early in the year, this 10 minute SEL activity is a great one to start with. #backtoschool #teacherhacks #socialemotionallearning

No parent hands their child a smartphone thinking about the day their child might be arrested. But Margot Denomme 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…

This is what experiential learning looks like when you don't tell people what to do, you help them see the power they already hold. 🇱🇨 #RAISESaintLucia #teachersoftiktok #SEL #fyp #backtoschool