How would it make you feel if...youngsters learn a valuable life skill in considering how their actions affect other people. They evaluate different scenarios and draw pictures of things they could do to make someone feel better.

Our uniqueness should be celebrated, not teased. The story Chrysanthemum addresses having a distinct name and dealing with different perceptions. Pre- and post-reading questions are listed to help your learners understand and make...

An eye-catching hook makes a smart analogy between ingredients for a food recipe and ingredients for quality relationships. Scholars discuss and list qualities they feel contribute to positive interactions. Pupils create a recipe card...

A whole-class discussion starts a lesson all about kindness. Scholars complete a kindness web and finish sentences to describe how showing kindness is helpful to others. Participants reflect on their practices and make a plan to spread...

Encourage positive character traits with a lesson plan that focuses on responsibility, fairness, caring, trustworthiness, citizenship, and respect. Following a discussion about each trait, scholars work collaboratively to create an...

Instill kindness with a unit all about empathy. Lessons and activities follow a prepare, engage, reflect, and action sequence. Learning experiences include making the classroom a safe environment, peer-invented handshakes, discussions...

High school can be tough—can your learners manage through all the stress? An 11-part unit helps teens get a handle on the emotional trials often encountered in high school. Each lesson focuses on positive techniques for developing and...

Understanding the plot of a book is important, but recognizing the ways characters relate to each other in kind ways and respect each others' differences is a new level of comprehension. Connect a unit on compassion and understanding...

There are likely members of your class who are immigrants to your country, and even more of them whose parents, grandparents, or great grandparents left their countries to find a new life. Teach seventh graders about treating immigrants...

How do your students respect others? What about themselves? What about the larger community? Have them think about the ways they could demonstrate respect with an activity that prompts them to consider actions in three different contexts.

At the root of every case of discrimination is simple ignorance. Instruct class members to not only become aware of the plights of others, but of the levels of their own ignorance, with an activity and discussion about cultural and...

The other part of speaking skills is listening! Seventh graders work together to practice listening about each other's favorite activities, and reflect on how being a better listener can improve their relationships.

If someone talked to you for a full minute, what would you hear? Middle schoolers evaluate their own listening skills with a collaborative activity that incorporates discussing, writing, and guided instruction about active listening.

Differentiate English language arts instruction with a activity that features the Vietnamese folktale How Tiger Got His Stripes. Scholars examine words that begin with the letter t, recall a folktale's details, write a self-reflection,...

Reinforce kind behavior with a worksheet that challenges scholars to read 10 scenarios and decide whether a behavior is buddy-like or bully-like by coloring a happy or sad face.  

Encourage individuals to be the best version of themselves they can be with a activity that examines character traits and personal growth. Starting with an assessment, learners identify their personal and work habits—both strengths and...

How would you feel? and What could you do? are the questions in focus of a lesson all about empathy. Here, scholars take part in a grand conversation to identify appropriate feelings and actions, then add a drawing to represent what they...

Caring, trustworthiness, and responsibility—these are only a few character traits in focus of a lesson based on stories from the Civil War era. Class members explore several influential lives while reading biographies that highlight...

Use this multidisciplinary lesson to delve into these subjects: English language arts, math, science, drama, and character education. After reading, discussing, and making interpretations about Go To Sleep, Gecko!: A Balinese Folktale by...

Read the story The Great Smelly, Slobbery, Small-Tooth Dog: A Folktale from Great Britain by Margaret Read MacDonald and choose from multiple activities to learn about the tale's theme—kindness. With so many options, your kind kids will...

What does empathy look like? Encourage your pupils to put themselves in another person's shoes with several writing and discussion activities that relate to a featured short film. Over the course of the instructional activity,...

Engage your pupils in short story and short film. Using a still from the film as inspiration, pairs compose short stories, which they later share and compare with other members of the class. They then watch the film and respond to a...

Who would have thought that inanimate robotics could actually teach us so much about being human? As Ken Goldberg describes his fascinating work and advancements in robotics, he simultaneously offers four valuable character lessons....