Medicine Wheel SEL Unit: Indigenous Education

Teach SEL and health topics to primary grades using the medicine wheel, an Indigenous/Native American symbol!

This unit helps students understand mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health and how each type of health affects the others. They'll learn about fostering healthy habits to improve overall well-being. Included are a teacher's guide, printable posters, whole-class activities, worksheets, and an end-of-unit assessment.

This cross-curricular unit covers both primary health standards as well as social studies standards using Indigenous topics, and is designed to fit the new Canadian (British Columbian) curricular standards.

What is the medicine wheel?

The medicine wheel is a symbol used by a variety of Indigenous groups in North America. It can symbolize a number of different things including the four directions (north, west, east, and south), the four seasons, as well as the four aspects of oneself (physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual). Though it can symbolize different things, it is always a circle divided into four.

Why use the medicine wheel for SEL?

For this unit, the medicine wheel represents the four parts of an individual: the mind, spirit, body, and heart. While the concept of different elements of an individual is not unique to Indigenous cultures, the medicine wheel is a wonderful way to help students visualize each of these essential parts and to reinforce the idea that they are all equal and important parts of a whole. Additionally, teaching SEL using the medicine wheel is a great way to introduce students to different elements of Indigenous cultures!