Wyoming SEL: Teaching in the Weeks Around WY-TOPP

Quick answer: Teach the SEL work and let the calendar move around it. WY-TOPP covers grades three through eight and grade ten, and the state has been through an assessment-vendor transition affecting how it is administered, so dates and platforms may not hold. Lessons that need nothing more than paper and forty minutes are the ones that survive.

Why does the WY-TOPP schedule feel less settled this year?

Wyoming went through an assessment-vendor transition in 2026 that affected how WY-TOPP is administered. In a building, that tends to show up as new logins, fresh proctor training, a revised technology check and a schedule confirmed later than anyone would like. None of it is your fault or your problem to solve, but it does mean any plan of yours that assumes a fixed testing week is fragile.

Keep a drawer of lessons that do not care what week it is. First Year of School Craft – Printable SEL Reflection for K–4 is one of those for the youngest grades, a printable reflection on the first year of school that a K-4 room can complete in a sitting with nothing but crayons and a copier. Small schools with combined primary classes get the most out of that format.

What SEL content is worth the period while testing runs?

Choose subjects your students already have a stake in. Land, water, weather and energy are not abstractions in Wyoming, so an ethics discussion that starts there does not need a warm-up to get going. Ten minutes of stimulus, twenty of structured argument, ten to write a position: that shape fits any period you are given and produces something markable.

Environmental and Climate Ethics – Ethics Unit: Worksheets, Projects & Slides (Grades 6–9) is built on exactly that material for grades six through nine, with worksheets, projects and slides already assembled, so the preparation is reading it rather than writing it. Keep the discussion protocol identical from lesson to lesson. Students who have been out for testing can then join a conversation they already know the rules of.

How do I mark SEL against the Wyoming Content and Performance Standards?

Point the task at a standard you already report on. The Wyoming Content and Performance Standards cover the writing, speaking and listening that an SEL lesson produces, so a position paragraph or a recorded discussion role can be scored there without inventing a new category in the grade book. Score the work, never the disclosure.

Wyoming schools are small enough that a single teacher often carries several grades and every conversation with a parent happens in person, at the grocery store as often as at a conference. A rubric you can explain in one sentence is worth more here than a detailed one nobody reads. Material sorted for this state sits on Wyoming Teaching Resources & Worksheets (Grades K–12).

How do I cover a whole year of SEL in a four-day week?

Four-day calendars are widespread in rural Wyoming, which means fewer teaching days than a colleague in a five-day district gets, and the SEL block is usually the first thing to be squeezed. Plan thirty short lessons rather than ten long ones, and accept that depth comes from repeating the same discussion structure rather than from length.

XXL Ethics Bundle: Values, Responsibility & Society | 10 Complete Units · 30 Lessons | Grades 7–10 is the version of that already built: ten units and thirty lessons for grades seven through ten, enough to run a block all year without assembling it week by week. Teachers in the mountain states often plan together across district lines, and the Mountain West Teaching Resources (ID, MT, NV, NM, UT, WY) collects the regional material in one place. Start with one unit and see how the timing holds.

Frequently asked questions

Are these approved by the Wyoming Department of Education?

No. They are independent classroom resources, not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wyoming Department of Education, the WY-TOPP program or any exam authority. Deciding which of the Wyoming Content and Performance Standards a task evidences is your call, and it is worth recording that decision in the unit plan.

Can a K-4 teacher and a middle school teacher use the same purchase?

The files are sold separately by grade band, so check what each listing covers before buying. A primary reflection sheet and a grades six to nine ethics unit are different products for different rooms. In a very small school, buying one of each is often how a single teacher covers the whole building.

What if a file does not suit my group?

Preview images and grade bands are on every listing, and everything is an instant digital download rather than a shipped item, so check both before purchase. For questions about an order, see the store's refund policy. Adjusting the written outcome is usually enough to move a task one grade in either direction.

Related reading

• Mapping SEL Units to the Content and Performance Standards in Wyoming
• SEL Across a Whole Department: A Plan for Wyoming Teachers
• Wyoming Teaching Resources & Worksheets (Grades K–12)